Part of my spiritual path includes reading some of the work of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, two powerful writers and leaders in the field of Enlightenment. I have visited their Ashram in Pondicherry, India, twice, and hope to be there again next November.
The Mother was a French woman, who first saw the sage Aurobindo in a dream. She later came to Pondi and made it her home.
While much of her writing has fascinated me, lately, I've been reflecting on what she called the 12 Attributes. She created a logo or design to further promote these 12 powers. The twelve psychological attributes are Aspiration, Perseverance, Gratitude, Humility, Sincerity, Peace, Equality, Generosity, Goodness, Courage, Progress, Receptivity. I just bought myself the medallion, above, as the 12 stones around the edges are such a beautiful reminder of the attributes. The amethyst in the center represents me...it is my birthstone, after all!
As a lover of language, I have meditated a while on these words...how she chose them and manifested them. I can understand the idea of practicing receptivity and sincerity....but then, what about the word PROGRESS? How does that fit in?
Tonight, I realized I have been regarding PROGRESS as a noun...when I believe she used it as a verb, as in, "to move toward a higher and better state." I was thinking of PROGRESS meaning the result of some action, as in, "we achieved progress."
In all aspects of life, we are flowing onward, moving and progressing. Somedays, like now, when I am seeing little progress getting over a wicked flu bug, I wonder if I have been progressing. But, then I see the questions I have been asking myself, and the flights of fancy my bedbound mind has taken, and I can see, I am moving. As long as we are alive, we are evolving, we are progressing.
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