What does the voyage To the Lighthouse represent?

In the 3rd and final section of Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse various surviving members of the Ramsay family and entourage gather at the family (vacation) house on the Isle of Skye, and few things happen: the now-widowed Mr. Ramsay makes an awkward pass at the never-married painter, Lily Briscoe. He's 30 years her senior and a real grump, and he seems to need a woman who will adore him and wait on him and feel sorry for him and tolerate his many immature outbursts of pique (the late Mrs. Ramsay was not suitably tolerant of his egocentric behavior, leading to some bitter quarrels). Lily recognizes that she could never love Mr. Ramsay, tho she feels guilty about pushing him off. Meanwhile, Mr. Ramsay takes two of the children (the 2 youngest?), Cam and James, on a boat ride to the eponymous Lighthouse - seems to be a sail of several miles in length w/ some difficult navigation (there are references to a # of shipwrecks in which men drowned in these waters - Mr. Ramsay seems obscenely indifferent to the fate of working mariners - all part of the job, says this pampered philosopher). Interestingly, Cam and James make a pact to defy the "tyrant" - they seem to both hate their father, who never speaks to them w/ any kindness or encouragement. Interesting - but not much comes of this (James seems to acquiesce when after many hours at the tiller his father compliments him on his boat-handling). Long and short, they get to the Lighthouse - there was talk of bringing some supplies to the "men" at the light, but it's not clear they ever did so - no more mention of the tuberculous child at the light. Did VW just forget this? And then there are the 2 men - the McAlisters? - who come along on the boat, presumably to do all the hard work of the voyage - they play no role whatsoever, as Mr. Ramsay, like the others in his circle, pays no attention to those who wait on him (was VW equally indifferent, or is she offering a subtle critique of her social set?). Finally, not a lot happens: they get to the Lighthouse, look back, see how small the Isle of Skye looks from across the water; back at the house, Lily Briscoe completes her painting of the Lighthouse and the channel, just as VW completes her novel. So what does the voyage represent?: the artistic process and the creative act, perhaps; also the voyage of time through the lives of various people who pass through the same portal (the house on Skye) - or even the voyage from life to death (hints of maritime disasters, the memory of oldest brother, Andrew, dead - instantly - from shrapnel during the War); very little connection to history or to state of affairs in Britain at the time of this novel - though the world was turning upside down, VW is removed and indifferent - though all readers will recognize the hints of darkness and her much later suicide on the eve of WWII, which it is said she could not bear to endure. 

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