Q: How can God be recognized unless one is already well along the path?
A: The first evidence of the presence of God is an awakening curiosity or interest in spiritual matters. That is the crack in the ego’s dam. When the person begins to desire or practice spiritual goals or pursue spiritual information, the Presence is already taking hold of one’s life.
If the desire arises to surrender all obstacles to love and to God, then God is already present in the form of willingness. When one reaches devotion, there is already quite an advanced Presence that is dissolving the ego and illuminating the way. Spiritual progress and discovery are accompanied by joy, which is the radiance of the Self and quickly replaces the surrendered ego’s positionalities. Spiritual inspiration increases in intensity each step along the way. When the self stops looking to the world or to the ego, it discovers that is source has been the Self all along.