Spiral Movement

Wisdom Teachings
Eternal Wisdom
Cycles
Number Seven

There is a directing nature within us that guides us so that we can evolve and achieve fulfilment. The knowers know the direction in which life wants to develop. Every morning during meditation we speak about it: “Let purpose guide the little wills of men, the purpose, which the Masters know and serve.”

But if we use our strength only for the daily routine, we are like a horse that drives a mill wheel and always moves in a circle. As long as all our thoughts and activities rotate only around ourselves, we always run in circles, from birth to death. We eat, talk and sleep; we take care of maintaining our body, our property, our work and those we call 'our people'. We remain as we are, with our fixed views and our cemented patterns of thinking and acting.

The circular energy of routine is called fire by friction and it is ruled by the law of economy. This energy does not allow growth of consciousness, everything is conditioned by matter. We feel the material limitations in many things that we want to do. Some of us are stuck in their financial situations; others are in conflict with their spouse; some are blocked by their health problems. The problems give us time and opportunity to review our patterns of thinking, to look at our work patterns or our diet, etc., and to plan our lives anew. There are people who learn from a disease and make progress after integrating the message of the disease. We can evolve beyond the problems if we have the attitude to learn and accept certain changes. We can adopt a way of life called Yoga Sadhana in ancient times and now called discipleship.

A central key to overcome limitations is to perform acts of good will without expectation and to be directed toward the needs of others. If we live with an attitude of service and offering, we will rise from the solidified state of our personality. Thus, we enter into a spiral movement that brings us to higher planes of consciousness.

The spiral energy is called solar fire. It makes the mind ascend and descend, and it is guided by the law of attraction and repulsion. It is the attraction to light and the repulsion of darkness; wisdom instead of material values. The two laws, the law of economy and the law of attraction and repulsion, are governed by the law of synthesis, which causes the forward movement of evolving souls. (A detailed understanding of the three laws is given in the Treatise on Cosmic Fire by Alice A. Bailey).

When we realize that we are not making progress over the years, we should ask ourselves what is hindering our progress. We should ask this ourselves, nobody else will do it for us. There is an observer within us who speaks to us from within. He is detached from our thoughts, our speech and our actions. He observes everything and informs us when we contemplate regularly. We should listen to him in the morning and evening and as often as possible during the day. We can ask him and then turn to the program that we perceive. If we adjust our lives accordingly, we will notice good changes and develop spirally.

In the objective world, there will always be problems as long as we remain stuck in the mind. When we connect with Buddhi, we can rise above the problems. Buddhi helps us to solve the problems; that is why the Master shows us the path to Buddhi because he knows that when we stand in Buddhi, we can solve all problems ourselves. We can also pray to the Lord to grant us strong will and Buddhi to practice the path.

As we strive to move upwards, this effort is recognized from above, and in time an answer might come from higher circles. Our prayers will rise to that level where the higher can respond. This will slowly open the way to the sky for us. This means that we stay with the mundane as our basis and we ascend to the higher planes.

Evolution is a process in which we can move in circles and ascend with each cycle. It is a spiral movement in which we ascend the path of evolution or descend into matter on the path of involution, depending on our way of life. Nature has given us freedom; we are endowed with will and discernment, and we have the ability to decide. Even though our past karma binds us, there is no fatalism in spirituality. Some people believe that everything is predetermined. Our karma binds us to a certain extent but we can restructure it through our will.

Through right action, divine will begins to work from within. It pushes us forward to improve our being in the course of time. According to the timetable of the soul, people at a certain point in time enter into a spiritual activity and find a meaningful work. If, however, the will is not pure but coloured by other motives, then we get into wrong relationships and karma will bind us until the right motives have been developed.

We pass life after life on earth in order to fulfil the purposes of the soul. What we do in this life is a continuation of what we have done in previous lives. When we entered the womb, we as souls had completed part of our journey through the spiral paths of evolution and reached a particular stage. The position of the planets at that time indicates the stage of evolution that our soul is passing through and shows the seeds of the future stages.

Every year is considered as a time cycle; every day as well as every lunar month are time cycles. If we reach the same point again in the cyclical movement of time, it is still not the same, even if it may seem so. Seven days form a cycle, which as a week is a unit, and after that there is a repetition. After one week we reach another Monday; but the next Monday is different from the previous one. There is no repetition in nature. Creation does not go backwards at any stage. Everything is always new. This is called “Apurva” in Sanskrit, never before. Many things repeat from week to week, from year to year. But in the cyclical movement of time we should always try to turn to a higher ring in the spiral. Then development progresses spirally.

In life, seven years form a cycle in which we can complete a step of evolution. Each step of seven should occupy a higher ring, then the movement is really spiral. In a series of seven lives we can then make a bigger step. Humanity also evolves in units of seven rounds in which we find the seven races. And also our planet appears in seven pulsations and then disappears again.

Once any time unit or any change has taken place it can never be retraced. We are forced to progress, but we should also act in a new way; otherwise our thought patterns will remain the same. Routine thoughts lead to dead life; mediocrity is a dull life; creativity is life. Let us not be the living dead but resurrect from the dead to life.

When there is creativity in our thinking and working, such creativity will continue to grow and expand. Creative thinking finds ways for growth. But it is not enough just to have creative thoughts; they shall have to be slowly manifested. To manifest a creative thought, we should acquire the related know-how. In so far as creativity is translated into action, the circular movement tends to gradually become spiral. Therefore, creativity is seen as a solution to move upward or forward.

It does not matter even if we fail a few attempts, but these failures can be a stepping stone to success. The more we create useful things for society, the more we will develop. As creativity continues to unfold, it touches the realms of the super-mundane. Real creativity comes from the origin of being. With every creative thinking and acting, the original substance expresses itself directly. This substance is the spiritual substance in us.

If we want to intensify our connection with it, it has been recommended since ancient times to align our mind with the divine will and to intonate a prolonged OM. When the sacred word OM is uttered in this way, there is a spiral movement upwards, creating a point of tension in the atmosphere. It is a call into the subtle world that attracts the related energies and enables the experience of the light of the soul.

Sources used: K.P. Kumar: Occult Meditations. Notes from seminars / E. Krishnamacharya: Spiritual Constitution. The World Teacher Trust - Dhanishta, Visakhapatnam, India