What is Spiritual Growth?

One of my students recently asked me to define spiritual growth, which was a great question - I talk about it all the time but I hadn’t sat down and figured out what I meant by that in a long time. It’s always a good exercise to get into the present with things.

You see, our culture focuses heavily on the physical and mental aspects of living - all of the measure of our success tends to be outward, that which can be observed, proven, and quantified. Little attention is paid to spiritual or energetic growth - which is inward focused, hard to “prove”, and qualified.

What is Spiritual Growth?

In spiritual growth instead of creating something outside of you that people can see, you are raising your energetic vibration to have more, and/or creating space for the new thing you’re wanting to create or have. Sometimes it’s a thing, like a new apartment, a new job, a different relationship style than you’re used to - sometimes it is more energetic or ephemeral, like a quality of energy - for instance more grace, more forgiveness, more permission.

Students who come to study at Art of the Seer Academy are attracted to spiritual growth; they want it for themselves and they like to be around others having it, it makes them feel good to be in spaces where there is permission and possibility for that kind of magic to happen.

Ira Glass talks about how people who go into creative work do it because they have good taste, they can discern something that others can’t and they want to create things that speak to their own discerning vision of what feels valuable, creatively. To the creative, the psychic, the mystic (and I use all three of those interchangeably here) it is the energy in, of, and behind things matters most. Another way of saying this is not just the accomplishment matters, but the how and the why and intent.

How does it work?

The funny thing about spiritual growth is that it is very similar to any physical or mental training. Think of it like you want to run a 5K, it is a goal you set for yourself for the year. So what do you do to get there? You train, you read about it, you copy the masters (no need to reinvent the wheel), you start to gradually build your endurance and strength and technique until you can have the thing you want to have, in this instance, the accomplishment of running the race. The same is true, in process, for anything you want to have, experience, or create. Getting there takes a marrying of both time and space.

In all beginners who set out to grow into a new vibration, a new craft, technique, etc there is always a “skill gap” - which is the space between where you are when you start and where you want to be when you have it. Think of it in terms of physical space; in spiritual growth you are raising your vibration to have more (vertical space), and simultaneously creating space in your life/reality (horizontal space) for the new thing you’re wanting to create or have. It’s an expanding of the self, or spirit. As you open up that new space, the tension between what you have and are now and what you want to have in the future which is the space you have to both claim and fill with you so you can create in it. That’s creative process of spiritual growth.

In all growth, including spiritual growth, there are growing pains and an intensely awkward period while you are in your process. Think of it like growing your hair out - there are weeks when it looks great, and weeks when you can’t do anything with it. This is the natural way of things, and you only need to look around you at mental and physical growth process to see how this works - and it’s the same in spiritual growth.

Most people get intimidated by and made uncomfortable by their own energy and the energies they encounter in these awkward spaces of growth and change, and get frustrated, so they quit or stop. Usually this is right when something is about to happen, or change - the pressure of the energy becomes too great, they aren’t conscious or aware of what’s happening, so it feels like failure, or they run from the tension right before the energy resets itself, or their sense of self grows. Sometimes we buckle under the pressure of the energy being projected onto us by the world around us - people, places, things - that are invested in us staying the same and not changing, so we consciously or unconsciously create inertia and get buried under it. The energy we are trying to move through in our own growth process becomes thicker and thicker the more we put our focus and attention on it - and it can feel untenable. This is a real thing that happens!

Why would you commit to Spiritual Growth?

Well, first of all, for many of us, it makes life infinitely more interesting! Particularly as we get to adulthood, and have achieved many of the things our families, communities, and culture have laid out for us to achieve, or what we have set out to create in our early lives, it becomes time to turn our attention inward and start mastering who we are in those lives, not just on the having them.

Of course, the opposite side of this is true too - sometimes we hit all the walls and can’t do what we thought we wanted to do, or become lost in it, or find ourselves unfulfilled in the lives that have been laid out before us, and the only thing left to do is course correct into the unknown, or we decided we want to create great change in who we are in the world. Usually we move cities, change careers, change relationships - but wherever we go, there we are - until we realize that outward change isn’t really the satisfaction we are seeking, and we start to turn inward, and focus on growing spiritually.

Our bodies and minds like to be challenged, they enjoy the resistance of rubbing up against challenges and obstacles. The same is actually true in spirit. There’s a wealth of research on how atrophied our physical selves become if we do not work out and exercise these parts of us regularly. But if we don’t bring our spirit along with us and incorporating growth into one’s life and practice, we can miss out on something important. Spiritual growth can make life fun and engaging again! When you’re working on yourself in this way, and in a process of spiritual growth, things that were boring and mundane take on new life and new meaning for us, which can be very enriching and exciting.

Our Spirit likes to create. Think of the endless creativity of children; always making up some new game, story, or adventure. Always finding the connective things between experiences. Always in their imagination, or inner life, seeking who they are in every experience. Reconnecting to this part of yourself might just be the tonic you are looking for to inject your life with new meaning and growth.

A last benefit of spiritual growth is that when you focus on yourself energetically, you get seniority with certain energies, situations, and limitations you encounter in the growth - so next time you encounter them, you aren’t as intimidated/challenged/frustrated by them and can glide through and past them with ease to the higher vibrations or having, magic, and fun. It doesn’t mean you don’t encounter them anymore, but when you do, it’s more familiar and easily managed. This only comes with direct experience.

Here at Art of the Seer Academy, we focus on spiritual growth, which is why everyone in a class or a training is there for a different, very personal reason; every experience we offer can be a step towards mastery for each individual. All you have to do is show up and bring your fun, interested and creative spirit and watch what happens for you.