An old sage dedicated his life to attaining enlightenment. He moved through one school of thought to another seeking God with absolute dedication. Over many years his life had been threaded and shaped by every different religion, dogma and guru he could find. Each one he ultimately and thoroughly tested, and each one he eventually left. When after many fruitless years he became convinced that God was not "out there" in the world, he turned to the teachings of the great Enlightened Ones and for many years thereafter he abandoned all doctrine and sought God through deeply practicing meditation, awareness and non-attachment.

As he did so many times before, the tired and weathered man sat with creaking sore limbs in his familiar spot for meditation and remained silent. He closed his eyes and relaxed into stillness. First there was nothing except himself sitting quietly steadfast, hearing just his breathe and the wind blowing through the trees. As his consciousness moved deeper, still but acutely alert, he became unaware of his body and entered into a blissful state of warmth and light floating in empty space. He had been here many times, and despite the temptation to stay at this stage indefinitely, he was intent still on moving further within. He encountered countless doors opening to all types of experiences, dreams, other lives, some of heaven, some of hell. He had explored many of these avenues before and therefore knew they did not offer what he sought, in spite of their alluring nature when he first discovered them. He persisted on untroubled, with fascination only for his one true goal.

At last with his mind intensely focused yet calm his awareness moved beyond and he was suddenly awake in a beautiful scene that could have been somewhere on Earth, but he knew of course it was not. He was sitting on a floating platform in the middle of a serene lake, with no pathway or boat to come or go. There were mountains covered with trees surrounding the small valley and the sun was just setting, creating a spectacular vista of hues all reflected over the still water. On the other side of the floating dock sitting across from him just several feet away was a young but wizened looking man beaming a generous smile. Looking at this young man he was uncertain of what he was seeing. He knew none of it was real to begin with, but something more subtle was drawing him in. In spite of his care to remain focused, the sage figured that somehow, somewhere he made a wrong turn. Perhaps there was one errant thought or fleeting desire that brought him here to this place, although he had never seen it before. He closed his eyes preparing to leave, when the young man spoke.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

The sage opened his eyes and looking down in front of him he found an assortment of delicious looking foods. He was amazed at the clarity and reality of the dream. He was tempted for a moment to accept, but then remembering it was all an illusion, he replied politely, "Thank you, but it is not food that I seek." And then as quickly as it had appeared, the food all but vanished except a piece of fruit the young man was now eating.

With a quick knowing smile and twinkle in his eye, the young man said, "Ah, you seek something more, shall we say, nourishing for the soul?" Then with a thoughtful look around, "What about all of this around you? Isn't it the most beautiful sight you've ever seen?" Then after a moment he added, as though letting him in on a secret, "We both know this is all a dream, but if you wish to wake up you can have all of this in your life."

The old sage looked curiously at the young man, who seemed now more like a boy excited about Christmas morning. Characters in dreams usually do not call attention to the matter of the dream being an illusion. The sage observed the boy as he tossed a pebble into the lake, creating ripples that spread out slowly and rhythmically across the water's surface. The young man appeared to be lost in a fanciful daydream looking out over the water. Cautiously the sage asked a perhaps impudent question. "Are you a God?…", and then continuing with some trepidation, "Or are you yet just another demon to distract me from my path?"

At this the young man laughed loudly. He laughed so hard the platform rocked gently in the water and tears were in his eyes. Seeing that the old man was not sharing the laughter but shifting in his seat uncomfortably, the young man regained his composure and looked back at the sage in earnest friendship, "You may call me what you wish, but I certainly have nothing but your best interests at heart. Ask me for what you want, and I'll give you what's in my power to give." After a moment of thought he added, "Would you like to go back to your life now? I'll give you a beautiful wife... children... land... prosperity?" With a casual gesture of his hand a view appeared, like a portal opening to another dimension, hovering in mid air just over the water on the side of the dock. Looking into the window the sage saw the life he was being offered and in spite of all his years of devotion to his quest, felt himself being pulled into it and yearning for the ideal life he had once dreamed of as a younger man.

The sage, now realizing that this encounter was different than any other he had before, became all the more determined not to get distracted any further. He replied in an even tone not to belie too much interest, "Yes, the life that you offer does sound very nice, but I have already lived countless lives as such and that is not what I'm looking for right now."

The young man heard this, seeming to understand very well, nodding his head. "Then perhaps it is Heaven you seek?" At this another view opened to the other side of the platform and the sage could see blissful beings of light full of love and divine wisdom beckoning and welcoming him to enter. His heart began to swell with pure unconditional love and joy as he felt his soul being drawn up gently into the warm embrace of the beings. His soul was becoming enveloped and he saw his own light body begin to form. As his soul was beginning to cross the threshold of the portal, a spark of awareness entered the sage's mind. He realized what was happening and then physically shook himself to bring his awareness back from even this temptation. Heaven certainly was a sight to behold, but it was only another distraction to keep him from his goal. He was sitting back on the dock now and by shear force of his will he moved his attention away from the love and light of the divine beings, instead fixing his eyes squarely back at the young man in front of him.

The young man seeming somewhat bemused, became more serious. He then proposed, "Perhaps you still think I am a demon. If you wish to fight your way through hell, I will not stop you if that is what you truly wish." Behind the sage there was the sound of distant thunder, then erupting out of the air a darkness emerged. Out of the depths of darkness came groping wisps of fingers, tentacles and all forms of horrible creatures of nightmares. A hypnotic haze of confusion came over the sage as he turned to look deeply into the abyss. He saw a million horrors and began to feel frightened as the dock began to tip in towards the widening portal and his perceptions twisted around as though intoxicated. He forgot who he was or how he came to be there and was overtaken by both fear and an intense desire to lash out and fight. As these negative thoughts took hold of his mind, the grasping limbs became more solid and more aggressive and the sage felt himself being dragged down into the nightmare. By shear habit of his training, the sage stopped struggling, closed his eyes, and went within himself to find sanctuary. He chose consciously and willingly not to fight and aggression left his mind. The claws, fingers and teeth that had been dragging him downward now lost their grip, slipping and slithering back to where they originated, and then vanished altogether. Once again, the sage found his composure and looked into the benevolent face of the young man, who was impressed by the sage's display of self control. All three portals then at that moment collapsed and faded to nothingness, leaving the sage and young man sitting peacefully in the center of the lake. Sounds of birds could be heard in the distance and the sage noticed that even in this illusion, life was thriving.

After a moment of silence, the young man said, "Well, I've offered you all that I have to offer. You did not come here to eat, you're not very interested in the scenery, you don't wish to live the ideal life I offered, you don't want to go to heaven, and you're too peaceful for hell…" He paused, then looked at the sage slightly smiling with a quizzical look, "What is it then that you want that I have not yet dreamed of?"

Their eyes met and with a shallow breath, almost embarrassed to ask, the sage said in a weak voice, "Who am I?"

The young man looked at him and laughed joyously. Not in a mocking tone but in such a way that the sage knew his question had been fully understood and appreciated. The young man still smiling looked directly into the sage's eyes and said without hesitation, "If you really must know… we are the same."

Unable to make sense of this statement, the sage replied doubtfully, "So you are saying I am a god? Like you?" His confusion grew at the implication. "Why then can I not do what you do? Why would I have to come all the way here to find you?"

Genuinely commiserating with sage's confusion, the young man clarified, "You misunderstand. I did not say you are like me. You are me. You and I are one in the same. This conversation is you talking to yourself, me talking to myself. You are looking in a veritable mirror. You have just forgotten that this is all a fantasy, an illusion, a dream if you will... ALL of it! There is no you, there is no me, there is no other. There is only one God, and we, I, you are it."

The finality and totality of the young man's statement left the sage's ears buzzing. He closed his eyes. He knew he had just heard the truth at last that he had so earnestly sought and in a flash his entire life passed before him. Every barrier that had ever bound him burst open simultaneously, releasing him once and for all. His consciousness soared onward through thousands of lifetimes and experiences, countless incarnations and existences that cannot be understood by any means of communication. Memory of all that is and ever was flooded into his cosmic mind as it expanded to a level of awareness that no human mind can even begin to fathom. He experienced every joy and every pain in the universe, every dark corner, and every glimmer of light. He was both the Universe and its experience throughout all of time all at once. In one simultaneous instant eternity was experienced in the blink of an eye.

After what was both a moment and forever, the old sage opened his eyes again to find himself back at the lake in the same place. It didn't matter if he was gone for a billion years, or just a second, the scene was the same. The young man was sitting at the edge of the platform with his legs dangling in the water as he threw bread crumbs to feed fish that swam vigorously around his feet. He turned to look at the sage with a playful smile that said without words, I told you so! The sage was giddy with joy and burst out laughing. They both laughed for a while, then sat in silence simply enjoying the moment, knowing absolutely that there were no more questions to ask, nothing more to seek, and nowhere to go but to be right there.

The sage was the first to break the silence after a while, "So what's next?"

The question was rhetorical, but the young man answered anyway, "Your guess is as good as mine. Whatever you want to do. There's no right choice, and there's no wrong choice. You are God after all.", he said with a wink. "You can even go back to forgetting if you so desire." Of course the sage already knew all this.

His thoughts were crystal clear and everything he wished to know he now knew. He had the power to do whatever he wanted, yet he was still quite aware of where this journey had most recently left off and that his body was back down on Earth sitting in silent meditation. He could certainly choose to leave it and start a new adventure, but he decided "I will go back to my life then, and I will find and guide my other lost souls who are ready to awaken." At saying this the young man vanished along with the scene of the lake and the sage drifted back in an instant to his body awaiting him on Earth.

When the sage opened his eyes, the world had changed. Or rather, the world was the same, but his view and understanding of it was forever altered. He was now seeing the world as it really was, and had always been. He looked at his body and then at those around him. They appear separate, but in reality All is One. He knew this now without a doubt, for he had experienced it on the most direct and visceral level and now he carried with him the memory of All That Is and how it came to be. The sage said out loud to himself, "I am they, and they are me. All are One, and all are God."

He got up and walked, as if doing it for the first time, realizing that his body now felt light and strong, like a young man – perhaps even the young man he encountered at the lake. He was so joyous he may as well have been glowing. He smiled and greeted everyone he passed, clearly seeing God, himself, in every single one, and in every living creature. Some saw this in him too and began to follow him as he walked down the road going nowhere in particular, but with literally everything to offer.