Sanctuary

There is a secret place.  A radiant sanctuary.  As real as your own kitchen.  More real than that.  Constructed of the purest elements.  Overflowing with the ten thousand beautiful things.  Worlds within worlds.  Forests, rivers.  Velvet coverlets thrown over featherbeds, fountains, bubbling beneath a canopy of stars.  Bountiful forests, universal libraries.  A wine cellar offering an intoxication so sweet you will never be sober again.  A clarity so complete you will never again forget.

This magnificent refuge is inside you.  Enter.  Shatter the darkness that shrouds the doorway.  Step around the poisonous vipers that slither at your feet, attempting to throw you off your course.  Be bold.  Be humble.  Put away the incense and forget the incantations they taught you.  Ask no permission form the authorities.  Slip away.  Close your eyes and follow your breath to the still place that leads to the invisible path that leads you home.

~ Mirabai Starr

from the Introduction to

The Interior Castle
by St. Teresa of Avila