Perhaps everyone living on earth strives for harmony with oneself and happiness. Some move away from civilization in search of themselves, while others are forced to spin in this Ferris wheel, but spiritual growth is also subject to them. In principle, anyone can take a step towards it, but how?

But before answering this question, you need to understand what spiritual growth is in principle. To be honest, this term is not entirely accurate and represents a misunderstanding, but it is well established.

For many people, spiritual growth remains the search for an answer to the question of what is the meaning of human life, for some the answer will be to raise a child, and for others it will be following the law and the word of God, and what is this if not strengthening the human spirit.

Spirit - it already exists with us, as such, it does not need to be developed, it is perfect. However, we cannot fully see and feel it, since it is entwined with a web of prejudice, speculation and lies. So, spiritual growth is the path in which we destroy this web and become aware of ourselves and the world around us.

Getting rid of prejudices can sometimes be difficult. We are accustomed to living in a world of lies and deception, so many things that we take at face value may turn out to be just unnecessary coal. But in the context of spiritual growth, you need to direct the truth precisely towards your personality and your ego.

You can’t imagine how many false judgments about oneself can form in a person’s subconscious. However, if you do not accept things as they really are, you will not be able to develop further.

For example, I'm very for a long time I was convinced that I could read any person like a book, just by looking at him. My judgments were often brought to life by my deduction. Although I was usually the only one who noticed this. However, as I got to know some people closer and closer, I realized that in many ways I was wrong. It turned out that a person is such a multifaceted creature that it is simply impossible to understand who he really is unless you get to know him well.

Can you imagine what would have happened if I had not realized this simple thing then? Surely I would still consider myself some kind of oracle who can read a person in a couple of seconds and would never be able to truly get close to people.

If we don't understand why we don't love ourselves, we will never be able to understand. Even if we redo a bunch of exercises. Without understanding, it is impossible to truly achieve results.

And there are whole hangars of such self-deceptions within us. But the more often we clean them up, the more we will understand ourselves, and, therefore, the stronger our spirit will be. Knowing what we really are will make achieving happiness much easier, right? I already talked about this on the “” page.

A person’s personal and spiritual growth have strong overlaps. To put it in modern language, they are synchronized. The more we understand ourselves, the more opportunities we have for self-development. By recognizing the fact that we have far from perfect memory, we can develop it (Post on topic: “”). By realizing that we spend too much time on small things, we can get rid of this bad habit.

Spiritual growth a person is a continuous state. Yes, at some time you can do this especially intensely, for example, during meditation, but the search for answers happens even when we don’t even think about it. Remember how, while doing your usual thing, you suddenly became aware of some important fact. We may even wake up and our first thought will be “I’m doing something wrong” or “what I’m doing is wrong.”

Basics of Spiritual Growth

Below you can read a few useful tips about how to start your development. The basics of spiritual growth are where you should start if you have just embarked on this path. However, some tips can be useful even for experienced ones.

Firstly, become aware of the fact that your spirit is the true you. Be willing to find out what you really are. So to speak, introduce this idea into yourself

Secondly, start thinking positively. Just take everything away negative thoughts or replace them with good ones. There is a plus in every minus - right?

Third, listen to your heart and do your deeds as it tells you. Let's say that while working, you might come up with some inspiring idea for a blog post. Stop for a moment and think about what your heart is telling you. IN similar situation, I bet my heart would tell me to write down the idea and get on with the work instead of giving up everything to blog.

Fourthly, enjoy what you have this moment. Just imagine that you don't have all this as realistically as possible. This exercise usually works.

This development is necessary for everyone today. We are too caught up in being constantly manipulated. Less and less people experience real, genuine happiness.

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To determine the purpose of our lives, it is important to understand why we were created. A person can experience the highest happiness only through love. In our world, however, we see different understandings of what love is. Such different understandings lead to opposite consequences. We understand that true love is selfless dedication, devotion and responsibility towards another person and the world around us.

Spiritual growth and true love

"Essence true love– to give, to live for the sake of others and for the common good. True love gives, forgets what it gave and continues to give without ceasing. True love gives joyfully.” (Dr. Sun Myung Moon)

When we embody this love in our families, in relation to nature, with loved ones and friends, in relation to our country, towards the world and God, we realize the highest purpose and meaning of our lives.

What does it take to embody such love? To do this, you need to develop your personality and character in the ability to embody selflessness and dedication, which are the essence of true love. In other words, we must grow spiritually.

What is a person? What are the structure and functions of man? If a person has a dual structure, then what is the relationship between his spiritual and physical selves? AND How does a person’s spiritual growth occur??

Physical self

Our physical self consists of a soul body and a physical body. The soul of the body is the subjective part of the physical “I”, responsible for the physiological functions of existence, reproduction and vital activity. Therefore, the physical self controls instincts such as the need for food, sleep, comfort and sexual desire. The physical body is a physiological organism consisting of various organs, muscles, bones, etc. For the full development of a person's physical self, air and sunlight (yang nutrients) are required, as well as a variety of food and water (yin nutrients). The physical self transmits vital elements to the spiritual self.

Spiritual self

The spiritual self was created as the subject of the physical self. It can only be felt through the spiritual senses. However, as a result of the Fall of man, these feelings practically did not develop. Therefore, even if a person is religious and believes that he has a spiritual principle, he still has many questions regarding what happens to the soul after death. Does he cease to exist when he loses his body? Does it take any real form in the spiritual world? What is his further fate in the spiritual world: does he merge as a substance with God or continues to exist independently of Him? If so, what is our spiritual origin?

According to, every person has a physical self and a spiritual self. In terms of form, the spiritual self is similar to the physical self. It can communicate directly with God. Having left the physical body after death, the spiritual “I” remains forever in the invisible world. Man desires to live forever, since his spiritual self is of an eternal nature. The spiritual self consists of the soul of the spirit and the body of the spirit. The soul of the spirit is the center of the spiritual “I”, responsible for, and man. Thanks to her, a person’s life acquires true value, because under its influence he begins to strive for truth, beauty, goodness and love. The soul of the spirit is the essence and subject of the spiritual “I”, the place of possible residence of God. The spirit body is the body of the spiritual self, similar to the physical body (the body of our physical self).

How does the spiritual self grow?

For the development and improvement of the spiritual self, food is required. The yang nutritional element for the spiritual self is the life element coming from God, through which a person's heart develops and he becomes the embodiment of truth. And the nutrient element of the “yin” type for the development of the spiritual “I” is the vital element coming from the physical “I”. Acting according to the Word of God, the physical self generates the vital element of goodness necessary for the development of the spiritual self.

The spiritual self can only develop through interaction with the physical self. Having received the vital element from the physical self, the spiritual self in return returns to it a certain element, which is called the spiritual element. The spiritual element imparts spiritual joy to man and guides the physical self so that man can become the embodiment of truth.

Spiritual growth through the relationship between the spiritual and physical self

So, the spiritual and physical “I” are related to each other as subject and object, and the spiritual “I” develops and improves only on the basis of its relationship with the physical “I”. The quality of a person's physical life finds expression in the form of the vital element, which is transmitted to the spiritual self.

Therefore, the quality of the spiritual self depends on the quality of physical life. Accordingly, the spiritual self, receiving the vital element of good from the physical self, becomes the bearer of good. And, on the contrary, the vital element of evil coming to him from the physical “I” makes a person evil. In order to correct one's unrighteous spiritual self, one must steadily follow God's Word, putting this Word into practice with his physical body, and then, as a result of the established conditions of good, his spiritual self will acquire the vital elements of good.

The relationship between the spiritual and physical self is similar to the relationship between a tree and a fruit. The ripe fruit is removed from the tree, which eventually turns to dust. Likewise, created for eternal life The spiritual self, having separated from the physical body, remains to live forever in the spiritual world, while the body returns to the earth.

Many believe that man's physical self became mortal due to the Fall. But that's not true. In the Book of Genesis, God warns: “... in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die” (Gen. 2:17). It turns out that Adam and Eve had to die immediately after the Fall. But Adam lived on earth for 930 years and fathered children.

Consequently, the cause of death was not that in which the physical body returns to the earth. When the first people, not following the commandments of God, committed the Fall, they died spiritually, that is, their spiritual self, which could communicate with God, ceased to function. Ecclesiastes says: “And the dust shall return to the earth as it was; and the spirit will return to God who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7). Therefore, the physical self returns to the earth according to the natural order of the universe. This problem is discussed in detail in the chapter “Resurrection” of the Divine Principle.

The sphere in which a person resides in the spiritual world is determined by the quality of his spiritual self, which, in turn, depends on what a person’s life was like on earth. But God, the Messiah and religion can only teach people how to escape hell and find the path to the Kingdom of Heaven. Everyone decides for himself whether to accept the teachings of God or the church.

In a world where God's purpose for creation is fulfilled, there is no place for Satan, sin and hell. According to God's ideal of creation, only the Kingdom of Heaven should exist. But because of sin, man, having lost his original value, became like garbage. The sphere where such a person resides is hell.

The human soul from the point of view of the relationship between the soul of the spirit and the soul of the body

The relationship between the soul of the spirit and the soul of the body is the relationship between the inner nature and external form. When, combining their properties through the action of giving and receiving, the soul of the spirit (subject) and the soul of the body (object) form a single whole, a person is formed. When the soul of the spirit and the soul of the body of the perfect personality unite through the action of giving and receiving centered on God, the original soul is formed. The original soul always guides man to fulfill the will of God and the purpose of God. When the physical self returns to the earth, the existence of the body soul ceases, but the original soul formed through the action of give and take between the spirit soul and the body soul is retained in the spiritual self.

When the soul of the spirit and the soul of the body of a person perform the act of giving and receiving, based on truth or what one perceives as such, conscience is formed. A perfect person always follows God's perfect truth. At the same time, the original soul and conscience cannot diverge; on the contrary, they are united. Then the original soul and conscience are simply the inner and outer aspects human soul, guiding man to fulfill God's purpose for good and to live in accordance with His will of good.

Despite the Fall, the original soul still remains in man, guiding him in the direction of good. But fallen people have lost the absolute standard of truth, and since there are now different standards of truth, people's ideas about conscience also diverge. Having different worldviews or beliefs implies different views of what conscience is.

Having sinned and not reaching maturity, a person has fallen under the influence of the forces of evil, so his soul cannot sufficiently receive the element of life from God. Such a soul of spirit is not capable of occupying the position of a subject in relation to the soul of the body; on the contrary, it is under the control of the soul of the body. When such an imperfect soul of the spirit, as a result of the action of giving and receiving, merges into a single whole, an evil soul appears with the soul of the body, which is under the control of Satan. The original soul and conscience fight against this evil soul, which opposes God's will, and guide man towards goodness.

So, following the path of spiritual growth, we can become the embodiment of true love and realize the purpose and purpose of our lives.

“The reason for my appearance is not in myself, therefore the purpose of my life is not determined only by me, there is no doubt about that.” (Dr. Sun Myung Moon)

Before we talk about the growth of the human spirit, let's remember what is the soul? But even earlier, let's look at our body.
How does the human body grow? We feed it, we feed it with fruits, vegetables, protein and dairy foods, and gradually, year after year, our body grows and we simply observe this process. We do not participate in the formation of our body; it grows according to a certain program that is embedded in our genes. And growth occurs within a clearly defined time frame.
It is impossible for a person to remain in infancy longer than prescribed by the program, or in adulthood. You can, of course, delay the period of fading by coloring your hair, tightening your skin, and watching your diet. But for this you need to make enormous efforts. Why are we doing this? For the sake of prolongation of the family, to look beautiful? But it is impossible to hide age. This is an illusion of our mind.
So, the body grows on its own, without our desire. What about the soul?
The soul is our emotions, feelings, thoughts, will. How do they grow? And this process occurs when we nourish our thin body(feelings, thoughts, emotions, will) intellectual food. This is what we read and watch. Art galleries, travel to different countries, news of the day, television programs, fiction different directions. These are our relationships with people, family, friends, and co-workers at work. Through relationships you can see the level of development of the soul. You could say this is our culture of behavior in society, our knowledge of the world in which we live, our professionalism and teamwork.
In society, our subtle body is called the psyche, and it is dealt with by such a science as psychology. Psychology monitors human behavior and makes recommendations on how best to use thoughts, emotions, will and feelings when communicating with people and with oneself. Suffering, something that brings us enormous unpleasant sensations, is a disturbance in the psyche, that is, in a person’s thoughts, feelings and will. Suffering is the indicator that constantly informs us about the wrong behavior and improper nutrition of our subtle body. This is similar to feeding the body with poisoned food and it will get sick and cause a lot of unpleasant sensations to a person, so feeding the psyche with thoughts and feelings poisoned by emotions, the subtle body gets sick and the person falls into a state of stupor - depression and stress.
We will not go into depth now, how to nourish the subtle body with the right food, what stages of growth it has, how you can grow your soul body only to the level of a teenager and remain at this age forever, never growing to the period of wisdom, there is a lot of literature about this, Our goal- spiritual body man and his nutrition, so that our Spirit grows.
The spiritual body of a person. How can I understand whether I have a spiritual body or not? Every person has a place where a spiritual body is born. But not every person sows grain in this place to activate the growth of the spiritual body.
What grain should be placed in this place so that our spiritual body is activated for growth.
To be born on planet earth, we need the womb of the mother and the activation of this womb by the male principle. And the process of growth occurs. Likewise, the spiritual body must have a womb that activates the growth process. A person’s womb is the heart chakra, that is, an open heart, and the spirit is activated by the Lord God himself.
The heart is closed when a person's will belongs to him, and he himself controls his heart. This is what the Lord Almighty has provided for us, giving us the right to decide for ourselves what to do and how to live.
But as soon as we begin to understand that there is One in the world who gave us all this life, and to actively seek Him, the process of preparing our heart to activate our spirit begins. A person opens the door to the bosom of his heart himself. In order for the seed of God the Father to be sown in our hearts, we must allow it through the surrender of our will, and therefore the rule of our lives, to the one whom you want to call your Heavenly Father.
The one to whom you completely entrust your life, as you once entrusted it to your earthly father, who activated you for life on earth.
You can say that I did not choose my parents, but this is not so, in the wheel of samsara-rebirth, there is knowledge that we go to earth specifically to those parents whom we consciously chose, and who our souls need for progress and future life.
To choose your parents for your future life outside the earth, you need to be awakened and aware of what you want in life? You can choose a holy person (Matrona, Xenia of St. Petersburg, Panteleimon, Seraphim of Sarov, Sergius of Radonezh...) you can choose famous person in the past, you can choose from the elements (wind god, sun god, water god, god from the Greek pantheon or Slavic Gods). To whom we turn, he will respond to our call
And usually, when we ask for something, we then have to give it with our energy. And this is the energy of our heart, the activation of which occurs by those to whom we give our will. Because requests are a sign that I cannot fulfill my desire with my will. You (to whom I am addressing) fulfill it for me, and I will serve you for it, since gratitude is the giving of energy from the bosom of the heart for the good deeds that the one to whom we addressed did us.
You can open the bosom of your heart to the Angels, these are Mother Mary, Archangel Michael, Archangel Gabriel, the Ascended Host. Help will definitely come from those who are already on the subtle plane. They are higher than us in development rank and will definitely help and activate our heart.
Will is what is most precious in our life. Will is the key that opens the door to the future for us. Free will and the right to choose—God the Father himself awarded us this privilege. Will is our choice for future life after death. Whatever we choose, we go there. To whom we give the keys to life (will is the key), he opens our womb and activates us.
Categories good, bad I don’t work here. Everything is decided by man himself, according to the right given to him by the Creator himself.
But there is a small nuance here.
The spiritual body is activated only by the Creator himself. Since we can get into the spiritual world by having a body that grows under the control of God the Father himself.
We recognize the right to be our Father, God, which means, like little children, we must surrender to Him, through surrendering our will into His hands.
Not my will, but Yours. Everything that happened for this moment seems to remain in the past and begins new life. It’s like you find yourself in another family, where you have your own Father, your own teachers, nannies, and helpers. Now all of heaven is taking care of you. This is a new territory called the God Realm. You find yourself in the nursery of God the Father himself. The main condition is to become a baby. The baby listens to his teacher the Father in everything and does what He says. From this moment on, all your miscalculations (sins) are erased. The Lord enrolls you in the University of God, where your studies begin. And your Spirit begins to be fed with information given by the Heavenly Father himself.
Each person individually undergoes training at the University of God. Prepared for everyone individual program. Therefore, there is no mass in spiritual growth, only individually. The Lord gathers souls into classes of up to 12 people and provides information for everyone to make it easier to learn. But still, the work goes on with each individual.
This is how the Spiritual body grows from year to year.
Bodies do not grow in the church, but through personal contact between God and man. The beginning of everything is the second birth from God the Father. And then the Path of growth under the supervision of heavenly teachers.
For humanity of this period, God gave a teacher - Jesus. He entrusted to Him the souls of those whom He himself activated for spiritual growth. And Jesus, the Son of God the Father himself, is our teacher. He individually selects the bread of life for our growth. This could be information about the lives of holy people, about the lives of celebrities, about the life of Lucifer, about the lives of our ancestors. But this is only information on a short time for our understanding and acquisition of certain qualities. Everything that comes into life during the period of spiritual growth is all bread for the growth of our spirit.
The main thing is not to cling to these personalities, otherwise they will be torn off with pain. They will not abandon you, since you no longer belong to yourself, but rather, they will tear you away and take you further. After all, you no longer have your own will to make a decision. God the Creator Himself, your heavenly Father, will decide everything for you.
Being born in the Spirit is like jumping from a plane without a parachute.
Can you jump into nowhere, without guarantees and dividends, only by believing in God? So you can be born again. Only faith...and nothing else. Having lost yourself, you will gain life again. If you save yourself, you will lose everything.

And then after death there is something to pass into the Spiritual world - this is a spiritual body, lovingly raised by God the Father themselves.

After all, the mental body and the physical body remain on earth.

P.S.
Matthew 4:10.
Then Jesus says to him: get away from me,
Satan, for it is written: To the Lord thy God
worship and serve Him alone.

Open 22:8, 9
“I am John, I have seen and heard this. When I heard and saw, I fell at the feet of the Angel showing me this to worship him; but he said to me: see that you do not do this; For I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and with them who keep the words of this book; Worship God."

Act 10: 25,26
As Peter entered, Cornelius met him and bowed,
falling at his feet.
Peter raised him up, saying: Arise;
I'm also a human being.

Rev.19:9, 10
9.And the Angel said to me: Write: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me: these are the true words of God.
10. I fell at his feet to worship him; but he said to me: see that you do not do this; I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who have the testimony of Jesus; Worship God; for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy

Along with concepts such as personal growth And physical development, we often hear about spiritual growth or development. And if everything is more or less clear on the personal and physical levels, then what is spiritual development? Looking for an answer to this question some delve into the study of esotericism, some become extremely religious, some read books, and some watch films about everything mysterious phenomena and places on the planet, but, unfortunately, many do not develop at all, do not become stronger or more self-confident, etc. The real question is, “What is spiritual development?” - very complex and serious, if only because it relates to those questions the answer to which only a person himself can give, no matter what teachings and views he adheres to and no matter what great thinkers he listens to. Agree yourself - ideas about spirituality cannot be adjusted to any standard, and there are no specific criteria by which to judge - since it is based on the philosophical concept of spirit. And if two people can agree, for example, on the size of a specific object, taking the measure of length as a basis, then, when talking about spiritual growth, each, even agreeing with the other, will certainly introduce something personal into their idea. Also externally - it is impossible to say about one person that he is more spiritually developed than another. Therefore, we would like to offer you some basic criteria by which you yourself can judge your development and decide on its direction.

Spiritually developed person

Who can even be called spiritual developed person? Personally, I immediately remember the Tibetan monks - with their calm acceptance of the world as it is. There are such amazing people and among Orthodox priests - for example, you can watch the domestic films “Pop” and “Island”. However, these are all religious people, but aren’t there spiritually developed people among ordinary people? Of course, there are, but they can’t be found everywhere in our world, full of bustle. And we are also full of false “teachers” who imagine themselves to be great, claiming that they have comprehended the essence of existence, but, for some reason, are noticeably nervous when lecturers, instead of listening to every word of the “great” with reverence, begin to ask “strange” questions, and even argue, defending your point of view. But let's return to the development of the spirit.

How are spiritually developed people different from others? It seems to us that, first of all, they are distinguished by:
1) Acceptance of the world - the world as it is and only evaluative perception can endow it with certain colors or lack thereof. Who is stopping you from making the world brighter, more interesting and more loved? Probably waiting. Get rid of expectations and the world will become a much more interesting place.
2) Awareness - accepting yourself and others as they are. Understanding of one’s actions, as well as: lack of interpretation, impulsiveness and rashness of actions.
3) Peace of mind - this is what many can envy. Peace of mind presupposes the absence of panic and anxiety, it is inextricably linked with the acceptance of peace. Peace of mind is NOT ignoring problems, but the desire to solve them and not worry in vain.
4) Unconditional love - love because you can and want to love, and not because you are loved or given gifts. Unconditional love does not imply blind submission to loved ones, it lives together with personal dignity.
5) Faith - moreover, not the one that is blind, but the one that is knowledge (you don’t believe that you breathe air, but you know it). Moreover, faith not only in the existence of beings of a higher spiritual order, but also faith: in yourself, your strengths, in what will happen as you know (remember the film “Peaceful Warrior”).

In addition to those mentioned, there are probably other features that indicate that a person is spiritually developed, but these seem to be the main ones to us.

Why do you need to develop spiritually?

Agree that being calm, believing, aware, accepting and loving is much more attractive than living in fear, grief and hatred. Moreover, it is more attractive, first of all, for the person himself, and then for those around him (a kind of pleasant bonus that a spiritually developed person hardly thinks about). Become calmer, stop overthinking, panicking, fearing, waiting, being offended, complaining... And very soon you yourself will understand what spiritual development is