The stage-specific challenges of the spiritual journey are depicted with remarkable accuracy and clarity in one of humanity’s most beloved classics, The Wizard of Oz.

Dorothy’s journey goes through the stages of:

1. getting “lost” from home and finding herself in an entirely different, strange new world (Munchkinland)
2. being encouraged to find her way back home
3. attaining spiritual Illumination (“I Am”) when she first perceives the Wizard
4. being disappointed to learn that further work is required of her to bring her awareness of the Wizard’s potential into form (actualization). He sends her off again.
5. being purified: in facing her trials, her three companions, Tin Man (the mind), Scarecrow (the heart) and Lion (the will to act), are all brought into higher expressions of themselves
6. returning home

This is precisely the path we all follow in life, as spiritual beings. The story’s enduring appeal comes from its universal spiritual relevance.

Now let’s see how we can recognize these same evolutionary growth cycles in groups of people.

Next