There is a sport called bogsnorkeling where you have to swim through a peat bog, with a snorkle, fastest one wins. You are immersed in the bog, can't see anything, it is thick mud with plants and things of varying viscosities, the kind of thing you can't imagine putting your face into, and then can't imagine pulling your entire self out of. You can't swim on top of it, you have to be in it. And you can't use conventional swimming strokes, that's against the (doubtless alcohol-inspired) rules of the game. You have to wiggle yourself through the muck, hoping you're going in the right direction, as it conspires to suck you under for good.
Nothing but sheer willpower can insert you into that bog. Nothing but insistent belief can get you through it, nothing but supreme effort can extract you at the end.
That bog is enlightenment. Good luck.