Each of us is a separate and sacred being, a being made most real when it weaves itself into the pattern of all Being. The harmony of all Being includes each of us within it, and its health requires our individual effort. So we live; each of us a needed part of the Universal Soul -- each in all, and all in each, one pattern, one truth, one body.
Migratory birds fly very high, for three reasons. First, at a high altitude they can see better where they are going. Secondly, they are above the predatory birds that may prey on them. Thirdly, in that rarefied atmosphere they can fly very swiftly and easily. That is a parable of the way of prayer. Our souls are migratory souls. Our home is not here, but with God, to whom we seek to rise on the wings of prayer. We want to get high to see where we are going ... to rise above the noises, the fuss, and all the complications that distract and rob our lives of their own spiritual quality ... to pass swiftly to our true home, the communion of our souls with God.