Hi Kenneth,
Thanks for your answer. I wish you could have told me that McKenna's trilogy was a fantasy from beginning to end, but deep inside I know it's for real. I recognize too many of McKenna's landmarks. The black hole inside. The unbound terror lurking right beneath the surface. And I can identify particularly well with Julia's process of spiritual autolysis...
On the other hand, I couldn't have asked for a better answer, so thanks a lot.

Although McKenna devotes an entire chapter (albeit a short one) to The First Step (book 2, chapter 21, pp 165-170) to The First Step, he is quoting episodes from Melville's Moby-Dick to explain what The First Step is. It is too much text to quote here, but put in plain words it seems to be the point on the path where reaching the goal (attaining arahatship) becomes the top priority of one's life: One has seen enough of the truth to be able to return comfortably to delusion. So in an attempt to answer the question myself: I wonder if the MCTB equivalent of The First Step is somewhere along the line of “A&P activated desire for enlightenment”: http://bit.ly/K5VPe
I'm aware that McKenna is a pseudonym, although I have no idea who the real person behind could be. Tom Stine seems to argue that McKenna is really Adyashanti: http://bit.ly/wFWNm While I have only seen a few glimpses from a couple of videos with Adyashanti, the personalities of McKenna and Adyashanti seem to me to be miles apart, like night and day. I guess Tom Stine's arguments are stronger, but I'd be interested in hearing other people's opinions on this matter (not that it really matters, does it?).
Cheers,
Klaus