I awakened in my usual “chair.” My hand slid over the hard cushioned surface without being able to identify the material, it had a tension like woven material might give but was much harsher than cotton. I peered into the darkness ahead of me and yet could see very little. “Aaraak?” I queried tentatively.

“Yes” he replied, “We are here. You will be able to see in another minute or so.”

“Why don’t we meet in a smaller room with better lighting?” I suggested.

“That type of decision is made by others. For now this is where we will meet; you know how to get here, and that alone makes it the right place. It is relatively easy here in every way so waste no energy on how or why another arrangement might be superior. Can you see me now?”

“Yes, although not particularly well.”

“Good. Have you been doing the ‘circle’ breathing?”

“Yes, but nothing much seems to be happening. Following my breath with awareness was much more dramatic. With that exercise I had no doubt that something important, something transformational, was happening.” I could now make out Aaraak and his two companions on the stage in front of me, but very little else.

“Do not concern yourself with feelings and results with our ‘little’ practices.” His ability to flex his voice in subtle ways and put quotation marks around words and phrases without interrupting a sentence never failed to impress me. “These preparatory practices take many years to complete. The circle breath is like a brick in a wall. Each brick is very important. Without every brick being in place you have a much weaker wall. And in order to put bricks on top of other bricks, each course must be placed in its correct place and properly cemented. There is no sixth course without the fifth course being placed beneath it. And our spiritual development is exactly like this. All of the sheaths of your being must be stable and functioning properly before the spiritual work can even begin. Probably you have noticed that most people keep themselves busy with less than noble pursuits like shelter, sex, power, and money. Once the spiritual work begins it has many, many levels. It is a lot like going to school. No one starts out in graduate school. After weaning there is preschool, grade school, high school, the university…”

“So I should just keep slogging away at any practice that you give me, without regard to getting a result?”

“Ah, the impetuousness of youth!” Aaraak laughed. “It is not as boring as you make it to be. You should trust me in my guiding you because it is more efficient, and because I have traveled this same path, I know many of the pitfalls that await you. The other pitfalls that you find will be known by my teachers and companions, therefore we will be able to solve those problems as well. Furthermore, from time to time you will have heightened awareness or ecstatic surges or maha aha’s. In other words there will be times when you get a kiss from the universe, a big giant YES. And in that moment you will know, beyond doubt, that everything is okay, that you are doing the correct thing, that you are on the right path. Of course there will also be moments of despair, what the Christians call the ‘black night of the soul’. Without two sides to a coin it cannot be flipped or rolled. Nonetheless, you do not need to ‘believe’ in me, nor do you need to believe in anyone else. This journey can only be undertaken by those who are willing to walk every step themselves. Enough on this sidebar, let me return more directly to your question about ‘slogging away’. Once you have the good fortune and good karma to connect with a mystery school there are many advantages to slogging away. In order to access the higher experiences, you need a proper foundation. Without that foundation the truth is blinding, the reality is overwhelming. The most essential thing about mystical experience, or any other unveiling of the universe, is being able to integrate what becomes available with who you are. Mental institutions have many patients that had great and marvelous experiences but--without a foundation, without a school, without a teacher--they did not have the capacity to integrate. In practice, one should not expect a particular result in a particular timeframe. That is a setup for failure. Have faith that in building a proper foundation you are preparing yourself for future successes. You will not always have the experience that you are expecting but you can always have the experience that you are having. I hope that you understand this.”

“Mystery school?” I shot in, too excited by his passing mention, to pay proper attention to his lecture. “You represent a mystery school?”

“No,” he chuckled, “That was a verbal convenience. I understand perhaps everything about mystery schools and that is a topic for another day, I do not want to go there right now. Calm yourself down, we have just begun a process that will be decades in the making and by itself will take you beyond the restraints of your imagination.”

“Oh.” I managed, rather feebly, “Okay.”

“Let us tinker with your practice a bit. I want you to sit properly, as discussed before, and dismiss as many worldly distractions as possible. Now close your eyes and follow your breath in the way of six magical seconds. Do this until you feel stable and strong with your attention on your breath. Now we are going to make an adjustment, which is really just the first expansion of our use of the ‘circle’ breath. Again you begin with your attention at the tip of your nose, take a deep in-breath that travels down your front to the lower part of your abdomen. Allow the exhalation to begin naturally and exhale up the spine, allowing the breath to shoot out the top of the head. Just as the breath exits the skull, give a little emphatic push to largely empty the lungs, this will be audible but is not a full-blown snort. It is desirable to do this at least ten times in a sitting, at least once a day. It is important to give yourself a little time to integrate the experience and reenter the everyday world. This can be done by opening your eyes and looking at the world. Still a little spacey? Then turn your head to the right and then the left twice. Now take your right hand and run it up and down your left arm twice. Next take your left hand and run it up and down your right arm twice. Lastly, if you have some water on hand take a sip. Grounding yourself is an important part of integrating experiences that take you beyond your limited self-definitions. Any questions?”

“No. The magical qualities of breath do continue to unfold for me and I am amazed that myself and so many others seem to go forward in life without much awareness of what is, literally, right under our nose!”

“The power of breath is awesome, it can seem like magic to the uninitiated but it is natural, completely natural. If we take a savage from the wilds into a house in Wisconsin and turn on our everyday appliances, he will see each one as being proof of magic.”

“I know you are right, Aaraak, but the ignorance of my everyday companions, random passersby, my family and friends, rather overwhelms me. I harbor contempt as well as compassion and know that both of these feelings are directed at seeing aspects of myself in all others. I know that I will be a wise one, chosen to soar above the crowd, and at the same time I share their stupidities, their mistakes, their passions…”

“All of this is true, Dennis, and it is good that you recognize it. The lotus is a beautiful flower and yet it grows out of the mud. All humanoids are like this. They live in the mud and yet they have the possibility of flowering. The Great Ones are neutral, they see all duality as you might view a passing movie. Whenever emotions arise in you, pay attention to them, they are what I call ‘educational indicators.’ They are directing you to aspects of yourself that need to be reviewed. Another insight for future contemplation! Of course, first we must build a foundation so that you can actually do contemplation. Talking about wonderful things is okay, but doing them is where the ecstasy is.”

And I was gone before I could put my next question together. Sudden beginnings and sudden endings had become part of my life.