You know, somebody once told me that in France in medieval times, if you wanted to go on some kind of spiritual journey, if you were really lucky you would meet somebody who might have been a teacher (you were never quite sure), and that person would say to you, “What is it that you wish to do?”

And you would say, “Well, I want to be a shoemaker.” He’d say, “There’s a wonderful shoemaker in Lyons who may be somebody quite spiritual. I’ll send you to him and you can apprentice with him. The only rule is that you must never, ever discuss anything spiritual with him.”

And so you would go off and work for this person for four or five years as an apprentice, and then you would really get to know how to make shoes, and he would say, “You know, you really know how to make good shoes now. There is an opening in a partnership in Dijon with a very special man who makes shoes. I can get you that partnership, but you must never, ever discuss anything spiritual with him. You must concentrate on making very beautiful shoes.”

And so off you’d go to Dijon and work for years, and shortly before his death the old man would say, “Well, soon this business will be yours. You’ve become a really fine shoemaker. Now, one of these days, someone who is younger than you may come wanting to learn something spiritual from you. Only tell him about making shoes.”

André Gregory