The charmer waits outside. He says you must go in alone.
The room is illuminated by a single beam of light that pierces through a hole on the ceiling, and lands gently at the centre of a lotus sitting in the middle of a pond that takes over the entire floor. The water is clear but sprinkled with leaves and fronds. The lotus is almost reflectiveness in the softness of its petals, dispersing the beam and bathing the room in its warm, rosy glow. As you enter, a stone merges into the place of the entrance and smoothens away into the wall. You notice the ceiling is glowing with tiny golden droplets, which twinkle in the shadows. Slowly, they begin to fall to the water – each drop chimes with a different tone as it dissolves into the pond. The water is a sparkling champagne gold now, and begins to spiral around the lotus in the centre. A voice emerges from the water, silky like honey, the voice of one who has found a place of peace within himself. It’s Paul, and he’s talking about his experience with meditation.
"I used to liken it to sitting in front of a nice coal fire that's just sort of glowing. That sort of feeling, that very relaxed feeling, a twilight feeling which I quite like. Are you dreaming or are you awake? There's a nice little state that they recognise halfway between it...
I remember having a great meditation, one of the best I ever had. It was a pleasant afternoon, in the shade of these big tropical trees on the flat roof of this bungalow. It appeared to me that I was like a feather over a hot-air pipe, a warm-air pipe. I was just suspended by this hot air, which was something to do with the meditation. And it was a very very blissful feeling. It took you back to childhood when you were a baby, some of the secure moments when you've just been fed or you were having your nap. It reminded me of those nice, secure feelings. And I thought, Well, hell, that's great, I couldn't buy that anywhere. That was the most pleasant, the most relaxed I ever got, for a few minutes I really felt so light, so floating, so complete."