The Stages of Our Spiritual Journey

At the same time that "A Course in Miracles" emphasizes the non-dualistic nature of reality, which is infinite and eternal, beyond our experiential categories of space and time, we are also told that our journey is a process occurring over time. Thus we do not go directly from illusion to truth, but need to take the "little steps" (W-pI.193.13:7) that will lead us to our goal. These steps constitute the stages on our spiritual path. Friedrich Nietzsche's "On the Three Metamorphoses," from his masterpiece "Thus Spoke Zarathustra," offers a most helpful way of conceptualizing the journey. Using Nietzsche's parable of the camel, the lion, and the child, this book unfolds the process of spiritual development woven into the teachings of the Course. As these teachings demonstrate, the process is essentially a journey that proceeds in and through the world and on to spiritual maturity, this final stage marked by the ease of being in the world but not of it, seeing everything now through the eyes of forgiveness.