The aspirant must realise, that, whichever spiritual path he is committed to, there can be no guarantee in succeeding to know, in a veritable way, the Infinite dwelling in him. Among all those who followed a given path, very few have attained this so out-of-the-ordinary goal. An uncompromising honesty towards oneself, a maximum of scruples, a painful sincerity and an extreme seriousness represent the only guarantee there can be in this domain – as is depicted by the life of great mystics.

         Any form of concentration, in a meditation practice, when accomplished by the aspirant with the required seriousness, implies without doubt some suffering at the outset – suffering that he cannot in any way avoid – and, according to his level of being, even perhaps for a long time.

         He will notice that, as soon as he will want to control the aimless wanderings of his mind, the force of habits being too strong, he will encounter a strong refusal in him; and the fight he will have to lead to win over this resistance will produce, at the beginning of this work on himself, suffering, until the day when he will become able – at least to a certain degree – to master his mind.

EDWARD SALIM MICHAEL To Awaken, a Matter of Life and Death chap 6