‘Dear teacher, how long will it be before we reach the summit and see the amazing view?'
‘I really don’t know. It’s entirely up to you.’
‘What do you mean it’s up to me? Have you not been here before? Can you not tell how long it will take?’
‘I have been on this beautiful journey many times before and have seen the view. It is truly awesome. But I cannot say how long it will take until we get there this time.’
‘I still don’t understand what you are saying. How can you not know how long it will take when you have been there many times before?
It makes no sense!’
‘I don’t know how long it will take until you and I together, until ‘we’ reach the top. That’s what I meant when I said that it’s up to you.’
‘Ah! I’m beginning to see what you mean. It’s my responsibility to set the pace. And when do you think you’ll...I mean we’ll...know?’
‘I’m your friend and your guide. I’ll walk with you for as long as it takes. You will know when you are approaching the summit.’
‘How will I know, dear teacher?’
‘You will know when you no longer need to ask the question. When you learn to stop thinking about reaching the summit, about arriving somewhere else, about gaining something. And when you start to see, really see, sense, feel, taste, admire in awe, and be completely present to the beauty of the heaven that is right here, right now.’
‘So what is the point of striving to reach the summit at all?’ ‘There is no point in ‘striving’. Striving, needing, grasping is the work of ego. The only point is to Be. Embrace Life totally. That is where the summit is. The view from there is infinite and eternal. Be consciously aware of that and you will start to live and not just exist. Too many people live for the future, for the next this, the next that. And, in the process, they forget to live at all, to live now, the only time that ever exists.’
‘Thank you. I am really starting to enjoy this journey. It’s fun and the air is pure. The flowers are amazing. The sky is immense. The climb is demanding but exhilarating. I do realise I’m only at the bottom...’
‘No, dear friend. Now you are at the top. We have arrived.’