Ancient Egyptian mystery schools created situations for their students that made them experience events that they would not have chosen for themselves. The purpose was to conquer fear, a strength that withholds you from growth. Some people refer to this as ‘enlightenment’. The image shows an example of ‘tests’ the Egyptians would set for their students.

Imagine yourself as one of their students for a moment. After much preparation and meditation you find yourself at the foot of your challenge (A). You are looking down and see a small square of water at your feet without any knowledge of what is in the water or where the water leads to. After taking a deep breath of air you swim 2 feet through a small and pitch-black tunnel (B) underneath the stone wall. You face the light and swim up. All of a sudden you face two crocodiles (whom are well fed, but you do not know this). Can you sense the fear that would take hold of you? You push on, swim at great speed past the crocs to the surface and hear that you have not passed the test.

After a significant time of training you are permitted to retake the test. You know what you are going to face this time. Perhaps that makes it even worse. You swim to the bottom, underneath the wall and face the crocs. At the same moment your greatest fear takes hold of you, you need to find another way out. Fear clouds the ability to think straight. You have to go deeper (C). You swim underneath another stone wall and are faced with another dark tunnel.

This time it goes up. You swim up through the dark channel (D). You are not sure this is the right way! The oxygen is running thin so your fear is literally grabbing you by the throat. When you surface you fill your lungs with fresh air. Your master reports: "You have passed the test". Your fear sinks back into the water. You have achieved a new level of consciousness.