Change is growth. Growth is an ever-present and ever-changing phenomenon that can occur only with changes. Spiritual growth means acknowledging the flexibility within and accepting the impermanence of things. Salvation from the external reality is not something that can be attained since reality changes all of the time as well as our own perception of it. What we feared years ago is at the present time something to which we have become accustomed. What we wanted to learn back in the past is something we teach others today. Change is the life force in life. It is an energy that is constantly in motion. In the Gospel of Mary Magdalene (22) we find more of Jesus’ words: “All nature, all formations, all creatures exist in and with one another, and they will be resolved again into their own root.” And in the Gospel of Philip: “All that is composite will decompose and return to its Origin; but those who are awake to the Reality without beginning or an end know the uncreated, the eternal.” We need to view life as a continuous string of events without a beginning or end. Perceiving life as constantly changing shows us that we attribute qualities and timeframes such as past, present, and future to our existence.
When I was a child, while visiting the Rila Monastery suited in the Bulgarian mountains, I saw a wall painting of the Wheel of Life by the iconographist Zachary Zograph. It can still be seen today. The painting depicts life in a circular versus a linear form where human life is depicted to be progressing within the four seasons from spring to winter and back. In the center of the painting is a temptress woman holding a cup full of the pleasures of life, and at the peripheral human life is shown as eternal transition from life to death and life again. As a child, I marveled at the painting and also experienced disappointment and fear while I wondered if that was all there was to life.
Spiritual development is a process of continuous growth within change. Existence in itself is something we struggle to explain or comprehend. Each individual therefore experiences spiritual growth or inner development subjectively. It should not be surprising that different people report similar experiences during an enlightening experience. Everything in nature is connected, and one person can tap into the same information as another one. However, how each person experiences this situation and then tries to explain it to others occurs on a totally personal and subjective level.
Excerpt from : Guru in Jeans: Inward Journey to Psychospiritual Awakening
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