Word Allergies:
No.1 “Journey” and “Growth”

There are some words that I am allergic to when used in the context of spirituality. Two of them are journey and growth.

Both of these words encapsulate really positive ideas and images. They have the connotations of movement, hope, change, possibilities, potential. Nevertheless, they need tempering.

The bottom line is this: God is here, now. There is nowhere to go; no growth can change that.

Journey
What’s the journey I need to make? It is the journey I make from the future (plans, fantasies, projects, imaginings, including wanting to have posted this post) to this very split second, to the tapping of the keys, the miracle of my dancing fingers, the feeling of being alive. It is the journey home.

Growth
Not all growth is good: economic growth increasingly seems suicidal; cancerous growth is fatal. It is clear in so many teachings that there is a certain self – the ‘ego’, the ‘false self’, the ‘small self’ – that need to diminish. So what is to grow in ‘spiritual growth’?

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