SPIRALS: What is within is without, What is without is within.

WHAT IS WITHIN IS WITHOUT; WHAT IS WITHOUT IS WITHIN

The title of this post is mine (although I'm sure others have said exactly the same), but I borrowed the quote in the picture above from A Course In Miracles (ACIM). I like to pick and choose from different traditions and ways of knowing and thinking; and ACIM has a lot of concepts that resonate with me.

One day, while walking in the woods, I came up with this mantra; "What is within is without; What is without is within." Essentially, it came to me after spending hours thinking and discovering spirals both in my mind and in nature. I started seeing spirals everywhere! Even on our wedding plates!

And, I had been making them all my life - doodles of spirals here and there. Arranging things in the natural world (rocks, etc) and things I make (sculpey beads) into spirals. 

I even made spirals out of the spirals!

And, finally, it just got to be so overwhelmingly present in my mind and thoughts and the outer world, that I had to go looking for a reason. 

It turns out spirals - as you probably know and as I guessed - are part of nature's design. They abound in the natural world - shells, hurricanes, galaxies, flowers, DNA helix. You name it, there is a spiral or some hint of it in natural design! And, spirals are a mathematical event as well - remember Fibonacci numbers or the Golden Spiral? I barely do, but when I looked it up it sounded vaguely familiar! 

What does science have to say about why spirals are everywhere in nature and the universe? Discover Magazine attempted to answer the question, but I was dismayed to read the first line: "The short answer is, sadly, we don't know." Is it because we are spinning and moving at the same time, here on Earth or out in outer space? 

In any case, I realize that if spirals are inherent in nature and we are part of nature, then spirals are inherently part of us. Not just in our DNA, but in our psyche. There is something about a spiral that is incredibly inviting, comforting, warm, and a little bit like home! Spirals are also like labyrinths - a maze that essentially has one way in and one way out. Labyrinths are an incredible symbolic and mythological creation. They refer to the womb, they refer to rebirth, and they refer to the never-ending journey inward and outward, the ebb and flow of libido, and the wax and wane of our energies just like the moon.

So, it's natural to want to be in a spiral or to be attracted to a spiral. And, even more importantly to me in my journey, the spiral is HEALING and RESTORATIVE. Try making a spiral out of anything. Spirograph it! Draw it! Craft it! Then, trace your fingers through the spiral in and out and let me know what you feel and think!