Transformation takes time, the seed grows -- alchemy is real but the Gold one seeks is not really Gold, after all. The reward is different than what it says in the brochure.
Art, poetry, music, sex . . . flowers that bloom -- all these are doorways. There is a world, a spiritual world, that is just as real as the one most of us see. It is tangible . . . you can touch it, but not with your fingers. You can taste it, but not with your tongue.
This earth is a prison or a paradise, it is up to you. When the inner and the outer become one . . . then this world IS paradise. The pearl of great price is not easily found but it is always nearby. It rests within you.