In the unfolding journey of spiritual life, there comes a present moment when the shimmering ideal of awakening begins to take on the weight of reality. At first, we are filled with enthusiasm. We read Autobiography of a Yogi, we meditate with fresh devotion, and we long for the Real. But somewhere along the way, we enter what a friend recently called “the icky middle”—that strange, tender place where the early inspiration meets the work of transformation.