How could something as beautiful as the gentle lotus flower come from such a dark, dank, hidden place? I guess it’s not so much a question of how, as it is a matter of fact. It just does.
This hardy plant’s roots grow deep in the muddy sediment of a murky pond. Its nutrient rich tuber “seed” has all that it needs in potential form for the ascent to begin into plant-hood.
As the plant grows in an unseen world, it draws up nutrients through its stem and uses it to mature into the form it was meant to be, the beautiful lotus flower.
I don’t know whether it’s a painless process for the plant to grow or not, but the path to its realization is certainly a clear one: its development unfolds by way of the dark, muddy material at the bottom of the pond.
This is simply the best metaphor I know for the transformational process: from existing seed full of the raw materials required for its growth, into the full realization of what it was meant to be.
As the caption in the art piece above reads: “No mud. No lotus.”
I can’t help but think about how psychological growth unfolds for we humans. While change happens in the present moment, we don’t see it unfolding. It unfolds in a world outside of our conscious awareness. It’s interesting that much of the time this growth is fed by the murky pond of our own internal darkness: our life experiences and their gyrating thoughts and feelings, memories and reflections, the choices we’ve made and their inherent consequences, our dreams and how they inform our lives, not to mention the internal conflicts we live with and sometimes resolve.
Remarkably, ingeniously, we use all of this and more to grow our own seed of potential in a world outside our awareness into who we’re meant to be: our real self. This is without a doubt true beauty in another form.
How ready are you to transform the “mud” in your life into true beauty?
