At the highest metaphysical level, my teacher was right: It takes no effort to be free. But interestingly enough, this spiritual freedom is of little help to me now as I face one of the most challenging decisions of my life. As life is so full of paradox, so is enlightenment.

Mother nature is begging us to show her kindness and humility and surrender our will. We must learn from these events and not become harder, prouder and more detached, continuing our indifferent consumption of limited resources, building more homes by the rising sea.

It is easy to understand the reactions of those who respond to the emotional vampires in their lives with umbrage, anger, ridicule and pain. Those feelings are real, but in choosing to nurture them we imprison ourselves.

Depending on where identity lies, there are many ways we can experience or speak about "step by step" or gradual and sudden awakenings.

The footprints we leave, danced in that awareness, change the face of the earth, as all footprints do. Yet these create a path toward the freedom that is our birthright and the freedom from which they come.

In part six Deepak talks about the role of passion for life and spiritual detachment in the reversal of aging.

Is that true? Should we detach in order to feel nothing for friends, family, beloveds who are not with us? Should we cut ourselves off from longing of any kind?

We have all met people who are so prickly and difficult that no one wants to handle them. In most situations walking away is an option, and you escape with no more than ruffled feathers.