“A Quest of any kind is a heroic journey. It is a rite of passage that carries you to an inner place of silence and majesty and encourages you to live life more courageously and genuinely.” –Denise Linn, Quest – A Guide for Creating Your Own Vision Quest

“The more you push yourself to understand something that you are not ready for, the less likely you will be to achieve understanding. You must surrender, let it go, and be fluidic. You cannot force this door [the door to your awakening] open. It does not work like that.” –Eric J. Pepin, The Handbook of the Navigator

“Resistance is an opposition, due to some belief, to experiencing something just as it is. It’s an attempt to create from consciousness rather than from awareness.” –Harry Palmer, in The Avatar Journal, Summer 2005.

“Quests are personal journeys, and every step is taken alone.” –Deepak Chopra, The Way of the Wizard

“The hero adventures out of the land we know into darkness; there he accomplishes his adventure, or again is simply lost to us, imprisoned, or in danger; and his return is described as a coming back out of yonder zone. Nevertheless—and here is the great key to understanding of myth and symbol—the two kingdoms are actually one.” –Joseph Campbell, The Hero With a Thousand Faces

If there is a subtle message in my novel The Sun Singer it is this: the great words of the great masters about your life’s journey are—at best—hints.

The words of the masters may suggest to you that there are other worlds and other levels of consciousness and other levels of awareness. And they may also suggest techniques that will help you find the doorways, paths, enlightenments, and awakenings you desire.

After that, the great words are lies insofar as your journey is concerned. The great masters’ great words describe the great masters’ journeys. As such, they are the gospel of the great masters’ experiences.

Your journey is yours alone and cannot be undertaken by following in the great masters’ footsteps or by concretizing the great masters’ thoughts into a recipe book. You alone know the terrain upon which you are walking and when all is said and done, the great masters’ view from the mountaintop will never be yours. Attempting to see what they saw creates blindness.

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 are both the creator of your path and the one who walks upon it enjoying the scenery and surprising yourself with the wonders you encounter.

Copyright (c) 2005 by Malcolm R. Campbell

The Sun Singer and Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire are available in multiple e-book formats at Smashwords during Read-an-Ebook Week for only $4.49. Sale runs through March 13.