Many say that we live in a time of accelerated development. It is provoked by dynamic changes in the environment, discoveries in science and technological achievements. These are the external drivers of change. But aren’t there internal ones as well?
We humans are at different levels of development, which can also be depicted as steps in a large scale. Few have yet discovered and developed their inner talents and deep thoughts and feelings. Most people simply follow the demands of existence – to earn money, to consume and own, and to raise families. They still lack the desire to get to know the deeper layers of themselves, to discover what potential lies within them. The problem with this is also in today’s culture, which completely directs the focus of attention to the external, but not to the internal.
For many, reaching maturity means being able to support oneself. This is a very limited and superficial meaning of this very deep and multifaceted word called maturity. There have been great geniuses in history – creators, scientists, explorers and discoverers and even saints who did not fit into the culture of the time and could not make a living. They were assisted by other people for their survival. At the same time, there have always been plenty of degraded and stupid people who have been placed high in the social hierarchy, or others who managed to accumulate by themselves a comfortable and wealthy living.
Today, the situation is not much different, except that there are more opportunities, but nevertheless, many still lack favorable opportunities to develop their talents. For people who have turned their attention to the material realm, there are opportunities and most of them succeed materially. But for others, whose focus is on the intellectual, creative, spiritual side of life, the opportunities for commercial and career development are not many. In many cases, ideological orientation hinders material success. Most of the idealistic thinkers are forced to live far more modestly than the pragmatic thinkers.
Causes of Degradation
The lack of good enough conditions for personal development causes many to take the path of degradation. It is also a path of development, passing through the lowlands of life, meandering through the labyrinths of various complications. Many need to go down the path of degradation to know their true natural needs. It can vary in many forms and degrees, but what they all have in common is that each of them begins with an excessive accumulation of problematic thoughts and feelings, leading to the quagmire of life. These thoughts and feelings lead to various states in which a person loses large parts of himself.
As the ancient Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius said: “character is destiny.” But what constitutes character? It is a collection of many characteristics – qualities, values, understandings, skills, talents. At the root of all this are thoughts and feelings – they are the driving forces that shape everything else. Esoteric literature goes even further in explaining that thoughts and feelings are constructed from the energy levels of the spirit.
Today, many people complain about not feeling well. A person’s ability to feel good is already considered a whole art, about which many books and articles have been written. The problem is in the thoughts and feelings that a person is capable of experiencing and in those that he is not. Still, most people experience more negative thoughts and feelings than positive ones. It is a consequence of degradation and immaturity. That’s why they don’t feel well. Their souls are filled with too much negative energy that makes them feel bad. It creates tension, disharmony and heaviness. This leads to increasing dissatisfaction. At times, it also feels like a fiery energy, similar to a corrosive current. Spiritual teachings explain that until this energy is cleared and replaced by positive energy, one cannot feel good. Religions from ancient times to the present teach us that when a person does unhealthy things for him, he will feel bad emotionally, and when he does good deeds, he will feel emotional satisfaction. Unfortunately, in today’s highly materialistic culture where everything is measured in terms of money and material possessions, we have forgotten this spiritual compass of good and evil. For the sake of money, many force themselves to do things that strain and burden them. But all this does not remain without consequences, but causes permanent damage in the spiritual plane, which cannot be erased quickly and easily.
Mental problems can be much longer lasting than physical ones. In many cases, the former lead to the latter. Spiritual teachers explain that when germinating in the soul, every single negative thought or feeling is made up of negative charges that cause soul damage. Increasing it multiple times, it is they who create the negative energy that poisons us from within.
Development can go hand in hand with Degradation
Of course, a person cannot help but experience negative thoughts and feelings. On the contrary, it is desirable to discover them and express them in order to be able to throw them out of the soul. Most people are not capable of knowing and sensing which thoughts and feelings are healthy and which are unhealthy. Therefore, in many cases, development goes hand in hand with degradation. We are developing in one respect but degrading in another. When the negative grows at the expense of the positive in us and takes precedence over it, then we are on the path of degradation. Then we feel worse and worse. Otherwise, the process is developing. When the positive energy in us grows and surpasses the negative, we begin to feel better because we experience more love, joy and harmony. The final point of spiritual development is reaching the fullness of the Christian virtues, at the core of which is unconditional love. Modern man is still very far from this supreme love which banishes all suffering.
How free is our free will? It is obvious that it is limited by external conditions and circumstances. But it is also much more limited by internal factors for many. These are the problematic thoughts and feelings. Esotericism says that they have been developed since past lives and we are now reaping the fruits of them. Today’s problematic psychological states are a consequence of their layering. The mental suffering they cause us is a form of purification. They draw out and transform negative charges into positive ones through the tension they create.
The dominant thoughts and feelings within us define our lives
As Marcus Aurelius said, character indeed determines destiny, but it also changes. These thoughts and feelings, which are more developed in us, determine our choices, actions and lifestyle. Each person is made up of different thought-emotional constructions, built up over a long period of time from past lives. For some, they are more, for others, less. This means that some people are richer mentally or emotionally than others, ie. are capable of experiencing more or less thoughts and feelings. Most of them are in shades of gray – they are a mixture of positive and negative thoughts and feelings.
Our development depends on the accumulations within us
If a person has degraded more in their past lives, they will progress more slowly because they must first clear their problematic thoughts and feelings before they can progress. When they are more, they act as brakes on development, creating a state of stagnation. Always positive thoughts and feelings lead to spiritual edification, and negative ones to degradation. The more negative the thoughts and feelings, the lower their vibration (energy emission) and the more destructive forces they possess. The more positive the thoughts and feelings, the higher their vibration and the greater their constructive potential. They are also called bright thoughts and warm feelings. It is man’s ability to pursue high ideals and virtues. The more light and warmth a person experiences, the more satisfied and joyful he is with life, because that is where his essence is.
Evolution is a Long Way
How can maturity be determined? Certainly, the material meaning of the word that some people give it, which is limited to being able to make a living legally, is rather flat and empty. From history we see that in the past, societies were less evolved than they are today. But how far does evolution go? There are certainly many steps to climb, and each person is at a different step. It can only be summarized with general strokes that developed people are more positive, more aware, more sensitive, with more developed predispositions than the rest. Accordingly, the undeveloped are the opposite of this.
Nowadays, there are many upheavals – health crises, natural disasters, military conflicts. They are an expression of the excessive negatives that today’s culture has accumulated. Their purpose is to change it. To turn people’s focus from outwardly oriented to inwardly oriented, from the surface to the essence, from the material to the spiritual in life. For some it will happen faster, for others it will happen more slowly, depending on the filling they have developed in themselves.
