About two and half thousand years ago, an Eastern king decided his son should never be exposed to any of the unpleasantness of the world, and was careful to see that the young man never saw evil or unhappiness of any kind. Despite his precautions, however, his son eventually saw three things that greatly disturbed him. The first was a decrepit old man. The second was a corpse. And the third was a wandering monk.

Now we can see why an old man and a corpse might be disturbing to a young man who had never seen anything of the unpleasant aspects of life, but what would be so upsetting about seeing a wandering monk?

Perhaps it was a hint to the young man that there is no home for us once we start to ask questions about the real nature of the world and of ourselves. The young man's father was desperate to keep his son at home, where life would be happy and predictable. But when the son saw the wandering monk, he began to suspect that, not only was there no security, no guarantee, no permanent happiness at his home, but in a very fundamental way there was no home.

The last three Steps of Program start us upon our final journey, and it is one that will never end -- indeed, it is a journey that seems to start again and again, over and over, as we practice Steps 10, 11 and 12. It's a journey of constant questioning and wondering, of letting go of whatever we are sure of and embracing uncertainty, of setting out every day with no fixed destination in mind, and of turning our backs on what seems familiar and secure.

The young man, by the way, went this journey himself, and after many years found peace and many friends. He slept where he found himself at the end of each day, wrapped only in his cloak, and he is known today as the Buddha.