Every spiritual life entails a succession of difficulties because every ordinary life also involves a succession of difficulties, what the Buddha described as the inevitable sufferings of existence.  In a spiritually informed life, however, these inevitable difficulties can be the source of our awakening, of deepening wisdom, patience, balance, and compassion.  Without this perspective, we simply bear our sufferings like an ox or a foot soldier under a heavy load.

Quoting Don Juan, “Only as a [spiritual] warrior can one understand the path of knowledge.  A warrior cannot complain or regret anything.  His life is an endless challenge and challenges cannot possibly be good or bad.  Challenges are simply challenges.  The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.”

Spiritual maturity understands that the process of awakening goes through many seasons and cycles.

We began to see that the spiritual path asked more of us than it appeared to offer.  From romantic visions of practice, people began to wake up and realize that spirituality required an honest, courageous look into our real-life situations, our family of origin, our place in the society around us.  [T]hrough growing wisdom and disillusioning experience, we began to give up the idealistic notion of spiritual life and community as a way to escape the world or save ourselves.

Quoting Lao Tzu, “She who is centered in the Tao can go where she wishes without danger.  She perceives the universal harmony, even amid great pain, because she has found peace in her heart.