The sublimation of the human will to the Greater Will is the prime challenge of the spiritual Journey. In fact, this transference of one's allegiance from self to Self, and to God, IS the essence of the spiritual Path. All other aspects of this Path -- all practices, all tests and trials, all teachings and disciplines, and all of the love and the adversity are a part of the great drama of the gradual fusing of the mortal, lesser self with that which is immortal and immutable. But in order to become one with God, the soul itself must first possess an identity, rounded out and matured as a worthy offering to give back to its Creator.

Though a world of increasing deafness shattered Beethoven's dreams of success in the outer world of society, it also caused him to turn within. And while human relationships came and went, Beethoven was discovering God, the eternal companion. This reorientation of his soul may well be the primary reason for the higher level of composition in his second period creations ... stemming from a fundamental need to express through music new and deeper worlds of soul-experience. Whereas before he composed for himself, in his second period, Beethoven was consciously striving to become the musical servant of God.