There are three stages in one’s spiritual development,” said the Master. “The carnal, the spiritual and the divine.”

“What is the carnal stage?” asked the eager disciples.

“That’s the stage when trees are seen as trees and mountains as mountains.”

“And the spiritual?”

“That’s when one looks more deeply into things—then trees are no longer trees and mountains no longer mountains.”

“And the divine?”

“Ah, that’s Enlightenment,” said the Master with a chuckle: "When trees become trees again and mountains, mountains.”

I was looking at a sunset last Friday evening. An old man came up to me and said, “What are you looking at? You seem all enraptured.” I said, “I’m enraptured by the beauty.” He came back for two weeks more and saw me looking again last evening. He said, “I see the sun and the clouds and the trees but what is this beauty?” I said, “Beauty isn’t a thing but rather a way that you will come to see everything. Even the cracks in the sidewalk on a crowded street. Your society taught you what to look for but not how to see. Love sees through what hate looks at.”