“It is as though you were sitting in a little sailing boat in the middle of a large lake, and had no idea how to manage the sailboat. If the current was right and the wind was right, you might get where you were going sooner or later. Or, you might bob around indefinitely and get nowhere. Or a storm could come up and you could be overturned and the whole project could end in disaster.
“But begin the Process, guided by another who has been through it himself and coped with the difficulties and found ways to solve them, and it is all different. You learn to take into account the structure of the boat itself, how it is made and how it responds to the water and the wind. The boat is comparable to your own personality. You learn about the currents in the lake; these correspond to the realities of life in which you are situated and which are somewhat predictable. You learn about the winds, which are invisible and less predicable, and these correspond to those spiritual forces which seem to give direction to life without ever showing themselves.
“In learning to sail you do not change the current of the water nor do you have any effect on the wind, but you learn to hoist your sail and turn it this way and that to utilize the greater forces which surround you. By understanding them, you become one with them, and in doing so are able to find your own direction – so long as it is in harmony with, and does not try to oppose, the greater forces in being. You may still have to face dangers – there may be swift currents or wild winds at times, but somehow you do not feel helpless any longer. In time, you may be able to leave your guide and sail alone, and one day you may even become a guide to others.
“You are not helpless any more…”
