Many of us understand the analogy of the garden but when we look at the earth we see such noise, so many notes out of tune. We choose to see Mount Everest, an insurmountable task. We ask what can I do? The only thing we can do is take responsibility for ourselves, our own journey to wholeness. An acorn is not an oak tree overnight. The most common block to taking the journey is that we choose to see Mount Everest, and not the next step.

We need first to accept ourselves and each other and take positive steps to meaningful relationships. Relationships in which we can learn to demonstrate a harmonious balance of our mental, emotional, and physical components and through these move to a growing awareness and expression of our spiritual essence, our Inner Selves. This is taking steps in the journey to wholeness. In this journey we will experience joy and pain in the removing of the layers of conditioning which prevent the outward expression of our Inner Selves.

In the process of releasing our layers of conditioning it is necessary to recognize them in the first place. We can^'t give up something we are not prepared to be conscious of. These layers of conditioning are vulnerable parts of our psyche. It takes courage to explore them and the stimuli behind our fears and fantasies.

Our conditioning has had value to our survival, the survival of our culture, and our species. It is a part of our Personality Consciousness. We need an environment of trust if we are going to be able to look constructively at our own consciousness and to welcome others to help us in that process.