“Quests are personal journeys, and every step is taken alone.” –Deepak Chopra, The Way of the Wizard
If there is a subtle message in my novel The Sun Singer it is this: the great words of the great masters about our life’s journeys are—at best—hints. The ideas from the rest of us are mere notions.
The words of the masters may suggest to us that there are other worlds and other levels of consciousness and other levels of awareness. And they may also suggest techniques that will help us find the doorways, paths, enlightenments, and awakenings we desire.
After that, the great words are lies insofar as our journeys are concerned. The great masters’ great words describe the great masters’ journeys. As such, they are the gospels of the great masters’ experience.
My journey is mine alone. Your journey is yours alone. Neither journey can be undertaken by following in the great masters’ footsteps or by concretizing the great masters’ thoughts into a recipe book. We alone know the terrain upon which we’re walking and when all is said and done, the great masters’ view from the mountaintop will never be ours. Attempting to see what they saw creates blindness.
I am continuously writing my story just as you alone will write the gospel of your life, and it will be based on your awareness of your own experience. Nothing else matters; nothing else exists. You and I are both the creators of our paths and the ones who walk upon them enjoying the scenery and surprising ourselves with the wonders we encounter.
From the Archives: This post was first published in my blog in 2005.
Malcolm's Round Table 
I agree, and I don’t agree. No one else takes our exact same steps, true. But that doesn’t mean we’re always alone. Someone else can walk by our side, on a parallel path. Alone…but together.
It’s nice to have a soulmate walking with us even if his/her path has slight variations.
Malcolm
I have a male friend who recently returned from his own Quest. He sometimes called it a Vision Quest, Journey into Self, and other catch phrases. He went to the NE part of the US where he had never been and sent updates almost daily. What did he learn? He’s still sorting it all out.
It may take him a while to know what he learned.
And I have to giggle at the thought of sending electronic messages on a vision quest! My, this world is changing! 😎
My toten animals don’t do texting and probably would look askance if I had an iPhone or a computer anywhere near enought to boot up.
Malcolm
Mine couldn’t bear it. And where would a snake carry a cellphone?
🙂