Ascension Day is a Catholic holiday celebrated 40 days after Easter Sunday. This year the day fell on Thursday, May 21. Can you think of what you were doing on May 21, 2020, or on Easter Sunday? For many Americans and many more around the world, that day was experienced at home, most likely performing very similar tasks and activities as the day before. The world was, and still is, on a global quarantine. We were asked to stay home to stop the spread of a viral infection.

The number 40 appears many times in many traditions. It is referenced several times in the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments. It has often been referred to as a symbol of testing, trails, judgment, and perseverance. The number 40 is viewed as a symbol of faith and perfection. Perhaps the most common references we have of the number 40 in religious traditions come from Bible stories—references such as the story of Noah’s ark and the 40 days and 40 nights of rain that flooded the earth. The Hebrews sojourned 40 years in the desert before arriving at the promised land, and Jesus’ fasting and his temptation in the desert lasted for 40 days and 40 nights. These three stories alone paint a clear image of the meaning and symbolism of the number 40.

This period of 40 days/years can also be called “the wilderness experience”—a period of testing, the experience of being lost in a completely new environment, where life’s outcome is unknown and every new step brings a new, unforeseen challenge.

The wilderness experience is what the world is going through now. Every region, every county, and every living organism is going through it. Individually, and as a group, we are part of this experience. It is like walking through a cloud of fog—the fog of life—and this fog is a reflection of ourselves. The fog is the “stuff” or energy we accumulate during our life’s journey; it is what we call karma, the law of cause and effect in action, and in a manner never seen or experienced before.

Each experience is quite unique and personal; there are no two alike. Just as no two nations have had the same experience dealing with the Coronavirus outbreak, no two individuals will have the same experience. As members of a larger group, both national and international, we all are impacted, and our individual actions affect the whole.

The wilderness experience is a reflection of who we are—in particular our hidden secrets and dark personality traits. The wilderness comes dressed in shiny garments, and can slowly eat us away if we fall prey to its charms. The experience is here to test us, and only the pure, honest, and gentle traits will sustain us and lead us to come out victorious.

This period of test and reflection will offer gifts, too, but only at the end, after the fog has disappeared and the false gifts have been denied. Only then will we see the beauty of the new world. On that day, we will have full vision restored.

In America, we are going through our own unique experience, and I tell you, the fog is dense and it’s hard to see far ahead. We need to be prepared, as the ghosts of our past deeds venture near. They wander, lost in the fog, and are looking for prey to seduce. They will do so until we offer forgiveness and come to peace with our past. We need to heal the wounds and look for a fresh new start.

There is a promise of a new world full of hope, a new world where no two days are alike. The new world is made from dreams come to life. The new experience is built by human hands and human minds. The young, students of the past, witnesses and participants of the present are forging the new world day by day, and will not stop until the work is complete.

The wilderness experience is different for them, as life, in general, is a brand-new experience; it is fresh and is just now being built. So, they walk with more confidence and speak with a louder voice. Their strength is in their numbers, their ability to communicate and work together. They are the future, and the virtuous ones will lead us into the new world.

Only the power of sharing will lead us out of this fog. “Sharing is divine,” Maitreya says. Divinity is Light, the Light that will guide us out of the fog, out of the wilderness into the New Country of Love.

No one walks through the gates of Heaven alone.