Two people leave the same meeting and describe two different days. Here is why: we never see the world directly, only through the mind — a glass that distorts differently for each of us. A plain example: a lake. The water is disturbed, ripples running — lean over and you will not make out your face: it is torn into pieces. Let the water settle and you see yourself clearly. The mind is like that: while it swings between elation and depression, anger and attachment, you will get no true picture of the world or of yourself. When the mind grows steady, wisdom gradually arises. The full picture we cannot draw on our own — that takes grace. But something is in our hands: sadhana, the practice of equilibrium.