Spiritual Growth

[sparklekaz]

It is said that human beings go through cycles of growth. The cells in the body are constantly dying and being replaced by new ones. So when it is said, that each moment or day we change and are reborn, it isn’t just a metaphor, it literally does happen.

Mentally our experiences are changing us, idea’s, belief systems are all growing and evolving. Life is always generating a condition of flux and transformation within. No wonder, we suffer life’s growing pains which we call, longing, frustration, euphoria, depression, all these are symptoms of the inner upheaval.

I often laugh to myself, when I think of when I was a child and a teenager, how I thought that being an ‘Adult’ would be wonderful. All grown up, having all the answers, never making mistakes!! How wrong I was! The truth is, we never have all the answers, we still make mistakes and we never stop 'growing up’.

The mind and spirit never stop growing, but the physical body starts to age. As physically we start to slow down, the mental and spiritual aspects of being human, literally speed up. In some ways, I feel more like an nervous insecure teenager now, then I did when I was one! The only difference is, in those days I had my parents and extended older family members to turn to for support and guidance.

Being a 'teenager’ in spiritual terms, comes to us at a time in our lives when for many, we no longer have that emotional support system in place. Also not all we are close to and who know us, understand this inner drive that pushes us onward, this overwhelming desire within, to question, to learn. It is like we are pulled on invisible wires toward something that we cannot explain or fully understand ourselves. Yet we know it is there just as we know the sun is in the heavens, even if we cannot see it on a cloudy day.

Intuitively, we have now reached that point in our awareness, when we 'know’, we no more can seek outside of ourselves for answers. This is the time of our initiation, a time when we alone, must journey into the recesses of our being. We alone must find the key that will unlock that part of ourselves, that has been hidden. That secret part of ourselves that knows all the answers to all the questions our lips have burned to ask.

It is also a doorway, a connection to the Divine energy source, that we are all a part of. Opening that door and walking through it, will be our Graduation Day. At this moment, we are 'a-part-from’ rather then 'a-part-of’ this source. I believe Life is simply the journey from one to the other.

It is said that Life is Growth, but Growth is Optional. Ultimately, your metamorphosis will be governed, by your personal commitment to your own Spiritual Growth. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. For I also believe a very important part of spiritual growth, is the knowledge and insight gained from sharing with other like-minded people.

Love and light
Kaz

[donq]

Hi Karen,

I'll be back on this one later. :-)

[hera]

This touched a nerve for me @sparklekaz, particularly your final paragraph, as I am currently in the throes of examining what I need to be doing to fast forward my evolutionary journey; which lessons I need to learn.

My head tells me that growth can only come through change which you so eloquently described and yet my heart and feet remain firmly planted in the patterns that I have established thus far in this life's journey.

That makes it sound as if my life has been a constant static existence which would be totally untrue, as the events of the last 12 years have been cataclysmic and shaken me to the core, but through that period coping strategies have developed which something is telling me need to change.

So, do we wait for something/someone to come along and kickstart the necessary change for our evolutionary growth which sometimes happens, or perhaps some of us are able to examine ourselves and see what's required and move forward, propelled by knowledge and understanding acquired through life?

Your post has arrived at an interesting moment. There is a new moon today in Scorpio asking us to look beneath the surface and search for deeper meaning and as it's making lots of aspects to my own planetary set up your words have rung a bell and made me dig even deeper.............so scorpionic

[gruntal]

One of the enigmas of Spirituality is the duality of being ourselves and being a part of the whole. We know what we think but the others have a shield around them. Except eventually the barriers become bleared. Nothing on the outside can be known to us except thru our internal senses. But there is a state of being where we no longer "talk to ourselves". At that state it is like talking to a different person.

How many versions of us exist?

So growth can be just that or looked on as a joining. At one level we grow but at another level we just activate parts of us we did not know existed.

Alas it would seem a physical existence is necessary for the process and any one life time is vert short. Plus there are physical cycles and most of our time is spent just relearning how to be civilized human beings.

It is also questionable if Spirituality is any substitute for Carnality. Only when you master the one and realize it's limitations will you seek the other.

[donq]

Hi Karen,

I could not help but think of this quote of Thomas A. Edison:

"I have not failed. I've just found 10000 ways that won't work"

Whether Edison really said that or not (someone said he didn't say like that), it still inspires us. My point is that success doesn't always mean Growth. Nor failure means declining. So many times, we could grow from our mistakes better than our success, if, and only if we could keep our right attitude of mind. The more we made mistakes, that means, the more we really know how/what it didn't work. And that only means we get rid of what doesn't work more and more and come closer and closer to choose rightly about what would really work.
 
You said:

"For I also believe a very important part of spiritual growth, is the knowledge and insight gained from sharing with other like-minded people."
   
So true! Buddha also said that the sources or conditions for the arising of right view (hence, wisdom/spiritual growth), are another’s utterance (in our time also mean good books); inducement by others; hearing or learning from others (good spiritual friends). And another one is reasoned attention; systematic attention; genetical reflection; analytical reflection.

[sparklekaz]

Hi Hera,

Welcome to the forum

I can totally understand where you are coming from, and everything you said really resonated with me. Particularly the statement "through that period, coping strategies have developed, which something is now telling me needs to change". This is something that I have also recently had to acknowledged to myself. That strategies I developed to help me cope with intense periods of stress, conflict and upheaval in my life, have become ingrained. Its as if we become 'stuck' in fight or flight mode, if that makes sense.

Its not easy stopping what has become familiar, to risk seeing what happens if we change the pattern. Not only do we feel out of our comfort zones, but those around us can feel unsettled by it also. Particularly if it has kept things settled, albeit not ideal. People will go out of their way to avoid confrontation or differences of opinion that are poles apart. So they will happily sit in the middle ground, neither giving way, but not facing or resolving anything either.

I do believe everyone we meet, potentially has the ability to help us bring something to the surface. To look at a situation from a different perspective. Someone very wise said, that everyone and everything is our teacher. And those we have the most contentious relationships with, often teach us the most. But knowing or understanding that from a higher philosophical perspective, does not always make it easier to deal with, does it.

Ah, so the new moon in Scorpio is to blame for all this inner delving. I am a Scorpio, and seem to be always delving lol so that does make a lot of sense.

Thank you for sharing

Love and light
Kaz

[sparklekaz]

Hi George,

I found what you said very interesting. Particularly "One of the enigmas of Spirituality is the duality of being ourselves and being a part of the whole. We know what we think but the others have a shield around them. Except eventually the barriers become blurred. Nothing on the outside can be known to us except thru our internal senses."

Yes, the duality of being ourselves and yet part of the whole. That is something I struggle with. Yet, it is clear that though we are all superficially different, deep down, we all have the same hopes and fears. The same insecurities and weaknesses. We are so alike, and yet different. I try to look at it as I would a plant or flower. Colours can vary, shape and size, yet all is part of the whole plant. Being fed and nourished from the same sources. I loved the expression you used. "growth could be seen as a joining. And that at one level we grow, and on another parts of ourselves are activated we didn't know we had." I believe we have become 'cut off' from our spiritual selves. And that as we become more aware, we slowly but surely find ourselves becoming 'whole' again. You've given me plenty of food for thought.

Thank you for sharing

Love and light
Kaz