The Spiritual Journey – What is it and how do we know where we are along the path?

The spiritual journey is not going from some place to some other place, but a natural process of unfolding our awareness to the realization that we and the entire universe are not separate, but one. The nature of the One is to express itself in the many. We are that expression and at the same time we are the One, pure existence itself.

The process of our personal unfoldment is mirrored in all natural processes which we observe in our daily life, but we do not understand what we are seeing. Take the simple flower, it starts as a seed, grows through the tender shoot to become a beautiful fragrant flower which also enhances the beauty of the entire garden. It does not jump from seed to flower. The flower is the fulfillment of the potential within the seed through the process of growth.

The process of growth is the transformation from involved potential to evolved full expression. This transformation occurs within the universal laws of time, space and causation. If this transformation were not a process but happened all at once, creation would be over in the wink of an eye. Always remember that we, the flower and the entire universe evolve and unfold  within the same process. Only the appearance is different, not the substance.

What does it matter where within the process we happen to be.  It is not the end of the process we should seek, but the realization that the process itself is its own end. This realization brings joy to the heart and peace to the mind.

We no longer try to run away from ourselves in the past or the future, but live and take enjoyment in each present moment.