I love this time of the year when the leaves are all vibrant with the colors of autumn, it’s awesome. It also signals that Halloween is here; the time of year when the veil between the physical and the spiritual world is thin. People also tend to think more about death as summer ends and the winter approaches. And rightly so, for our lives are mirrored in the natural world around us, and like the leaf, we too will physically die; our winter too will come. But, this is nothing to shy from, death is not to be feared; for it is only a natural transformation from one level of existence or consciousness to the other. And when we leave we do not take anything with us, well nothing physically anyway, but, we do take along our spiritual growth; that is the level of spiritual and personal growth that we have attained with us. By spiritual growth, I do not mean how ‘religious’ we have been, but rather how interiorly we have matured, we could ask ourselves questions like these: how much character have we created; how much bridges we have built, how much we have loved, how much of unity consciousness have we developed, how did we serve, how did we leave the world a better place than when we found it, how much attention did we give to our sacred center; our ‘I am’ presence, how much of a relationship have we built with our Creature and all of His creation. The spiritual growth that we have accumulated in this life is carried forward with us into the next life, so if you did not, for example, learn how to truly love, to be compassionate, trustworthy, or generous in this life it will take another few runs for you to get it right. In each life we have spiritual lessons to learn, personal growth if you prefer, but, whichever way you phrase it, it still has to be done, so it makes sense to try to get ahead as much as you can so that things will be easier for you in the next life. Whether we realize it or not spiritual growth is the most important aspect of our lives. Because it not only enhances the quality of the life we are now living but also it has consequences for a very long time to come after. Put it this way, we have to think eternal here; that may seem overwhelming, but, it is like everything really; you have to think longterm. What we do in this life is the foundation for the next, so we have to be building whats strong and solid, something real and worthwhile, not something that can blow away in the first winds of winter. But, always remember and reflect on the fact that spiritual growth is and will be the only thing that we take with us when we die, and that is why spirituality should always take center stage in our lives.
