A Reflection A Day... Makes a Hamba Awake

A bird asks how long the journey is, and the hoopoe describes the seven valleys of the Way

Another bird said:'Hoopoe, you can find
the way from here, but we are almost blind -
the path seems full of terrors and despair.
Dear Hoopoe, how much further till we're there?'

'Before we reach our goal,' the hoopoe said,
'The journey's seven valleys lie ahead;
How far this is the world has never learned.
for no one who has gone there has returned -
Impatient bird, who would retrace this trail?

There is no messenger to tell the tale,
And they are lost to our concerns below -
How can men tell you what they do not know?

The first stage is the Valley of the Quest;
Then Love's wide valley is our second test;
the third is Insight into Mystery,
the fourth Detachment and Serenity -
the fifth is Unity; the sixth is Awe,
A deep Bewilderment unknown before,
the seventh Poverty and Nothingness -
and there you are suspended, motionless,
till you are drawn - the impulse is not yours -
a drop absorbed in seas that have no shores.

~ The Conference of the Birds,
Farid Ud Din Attar

I have yet to read further
the detailed explanation of hoopoe the traveller.
Come explore these places with me,
and together discover the wisdom of these valleys.