“Mountains cannot be surmounted except by winding paths.”– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Spiritual paths are by nature long and winding. We may for a while be able to see where we’re going and where we’ve come from, and have a sense of great progress. Then we may turn a corner and travel a long while without seeming to gain any ground. The pace is actually the same all the while, it’s just that sometimes, we stumble upon breathtaking vistas that seem more significant than the muddy trails and barren slopes we’ve been trudging through. Every amazing experience or leap in consciousness is built upon many apparently mundane steps, all of which are essential to the journey as a whole.