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APPLICATION
THE NOTION OF GROWTH
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presently experiences a denser stage. We only feel profound compassion and appreciation for his or her particular path.
Only two gunasthanas (no. 1 and 4) permit an unlimited duration of stay. In all other stages we may remain for only limited time. This structure gives the gunasthanas an intrinsic dynamism which explicitly directs our life towards the liberation from all influences that obstruct the full unfoldment of our consciousness.
1 - The first stage of development (mithyaktua) is experi
enced as a state in which we are deeply absorbed by our convictions, emotions, our activities and by the events the world confronts us with.
Though subjectively we might feel that we are fully in control of our life, any closer and deeper look reveals a completely different picture: - How often do we feel victimized by events we are
hardly able to bear, less alone control? - How often do we experience that any stability we achieve either breaks down sooner or later, - or solidifies our life so thoroughly that inside and around us nothing is capable of moving us any more? - How often do we really feel satisfied by a situation we
are in, or by the things we do and feel - and for how long does this satisfaction really last? - How often did our emotions tumble us from highest happiness to deepest misery (and vice versa) in one single second without us having much influence on this process? - How often is our attention either arbitrarily drifting from object to object like a butterfly in the wind, or so deeply absorbed in one particular concept, emotion or
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