"...Have you ever joined a caravan to cross the trackless wastes of the deserts? Yes, some among you have. I joined one once following a star, hoping to find a Christ, and I was rewarded. I remember well the preparations of the leader of that caravan who agreed to accept on certain terms pilgrims from various parts of the world who chose to band their strengths together, and then after the goal was reached, to go their several ways.

I remember how fierce this leader was. I remember thinking at the time how heartless, for I had not in my conscious mind a memory of the desert, the wasteland and conditions of nature against which the puny form of the physical body would be required to stand. He was a rough man and an uncouth one, and he spoke in rough terms. He asked us each one if we carried with us a knife, and someone asked why. He said "It is better to (lean or) die upon the knife than to die of thirst in the desert, if you should weaken, because we cannot stop, we must be on our way!" Some among our number left the band. He examined well what we carried. He insisted that those who carried too much of worldly goods unload their camels or their horses and place in their stead plain water. There was grumbling because in the exchange of costly goods was money and interest and reward. Some there were who hid those worldly goods in the skins in place of water, and they died upon the deserts. He asked us if we wore beneath the silken garments of the day protection against the heat of the desert sun, lest we be stricken as we moved relentlessly forward. Many other things were asked--he was relentless in that discipline. Those of us who abided within his counsel remained with that caravan to the end, and others' bones are bleaching yet beneath the desert sun.

Now I seem to hear down thru the ages the shout of the leader as he gave forth the signal to proceed. From group to group the call went forth! The sneering camels rose on their reluctant legs, the fiery horses champed at the bit, the lumbering elephants followed slowly as the Ho! Ho! Ho! of the leader resounded thru the heart and spirit. I stand in that place today, friends of my heart."