Imagine the spiral in three dimensions, instead of two. It spirals upwards and outwards into time and space. It cycles past various themes or dimensions, returning to those themes or dimensions again and again, but from a different (higher, more evolved, more mature, wiser) point of view.

According to the spiral, a lifetime does not travel in a straight line but cycles ever-proximate to the center––however one defines that center. The center could be your soul, your purpose, the core mission of an organization, a key value, or consciousness itself.

Buffalo travels in a spiral, and horses, too. The structure of DNA is a double-helix polymer, a spiral consisting of two DNA strands twisted around each other. Even the heart itself, scientists have recently discovered, is shaped as a spiral.

In nature, nothing argues with this momentum. The caterpillar doesn’t resist melting to become a butterfly, the tadpole doesn’t freak out when they grow legs, and the willow doesn’t try to live in the desert. But humans, especially modern humans, battle change and evolve all the time. Rather, we want the universe to bend to us and not the other way... See more