Spiraling Progression

We are familiar in our work with the concept of spiritual progression being helikos tropon (in the manner of a spiral), as the ancient traditions assert. But as helpful as this term is, there is more to it.

Let’s begin with the simple equation of balance. Spiritual traditions speak of the necessity of balancing “yin” and “yang” forces (positive with negative, masculine with feminine, etc.). It would be a mistake, however, to perceive such an achievement of balance as ever static or unchanging. Just as in nature or the physical body, such balances between opposing forces are always dynamic, ever changing and needing continual readjustments to the flux of energies within the inner and external environments and at work at every level of existence within temporality. In spiritual progression nothing stays the same or is static, it too is dynamic.

But there is a further element. Dynamic equilibrium is a spiraling movement. The continuous play of opposing forces in spiritual experience has the effect of moving the entity or person that experiences it forward in an ever expanding spiral in the direction of transcendence and its corollary, immanence (both up and down the vertical axis). This means, then, that the progression of spiritual awakening, growth and transformation is always open-ended in a “lively infinity” of possibilities. Maturity and transformation are not simply the integration of opposing forces achieved as a delicate balance, but a series of continuous “unveilings” into the always-new. The Kingdom that we yearn to know is not spherical and self-enclosed, but is itself open-ended, alive and growing in surprising ways as we enter and interact with it.