Growth a fact of nature nothing springs forth fully formed but passes through a process of growth from inception to completion. The same principle that applies to the growth of the body also applies to the growth of the spirit—“from stage to stage.”
The stages of growth are described in many ways: by the metaphor of sprouting grain, or the four seasons, or grades at school. Only upon reaching maturity, which is a state of spiritual perfection, can a human being fully participate in the love of God and take his or her place in God’s Kingdom.
What is spiritual perfection?
It is unity of mind and body, when you are free from the constant struggle with the flesh to do what is right; it is, attaining the fullness of Christ; it is oneness with God’s constant and loving mind.
O man! Verily you are ever toiling on towards your Lord—painfully toiling—but you shall meet Him… You shall surely travel from stage to stage. Qur’an 84.6, 19
To the pupil training, in the straight way walking, By ending [his sins] first comes knowledge; Straight follows insight; by that insight freed He knows in very truth: Sure is my freedom By wearing out the fetter of becoming. Itivuttaka 53 (Buddhism)
By the… soul, and Him who perfected it and inspired it with conscience of what is wrong for it and right for it: He is indeed successful who causes it to grow, and he is indeed a failure who stunts it. Qur’an 91.7-10
Practicing step by step, One gradually fulfills all Buddha teachings. It is like first setting up a foundation Then building the room: Generosity and self-control, like this, Are bases of enlightening beings’ practices. Garland Sutra 10 (Buddhism)
The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.1 Mark 4.26-29
Muhammad is the Apostle of God; and those who are with him are strong against unbelievers, but compassionate amongst each other… And their similitude in the Gospel is: Like a seed which sends forth its blade, then makes it strong; it then becomes thick, and it stands on its own stem, filling the sowers with wonder and delight. Qur’an 48.29
Heaven has only spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Humans have only humanity, rectitude, propriety, and wisdom… There are only these four principles. There is nothing else. Humanity, rectitude, propriety and wisdom are origin, growth, perfection, and fulfillment. If in spring nothing has sprouted or been born, then in summer there will be no way for growth to take place, and in autumn and winter it will be impossible to harvest and store. Chu Hsi (Confucianism)
Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift… to equip the saints for the work of ministry, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; so that we may no longer be called children, tossed to and fro on every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles. Rather, speaking truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love. Ephesians 4.7-16
Becoming a Christian can be the act of a moment; being a Christian is the act of a lifetime. I have grown to understand more fully what Jesus meant when He spoke of spiritual commitment and conversion as being “born again” (John 3.3).
Physical birth is a process, moving from conception through the period of gestation to the miracle of the moment of birth. But birth is not only the end of one process—it is the beginning of another, the process of growth. The same should be true spiritually. My commitment to Christ was a “spiritual rebirth,” but this was to be followed by spiritual growth. Billy Graham, The Courage of Conviction (Christianity)
In regard to the principle of human life, God infused into it a capacity for reasoning and intellection. In infancy, this mental capacity seems, as it were, asleep and practically non-existent, but in the course of years it awakens into a life that involves learning and education, skill in grasping the truth and loving the good. This capacity flowers into that wisdom and virtue which enable the soul to battle with the arms of prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice against error, waywardness, and other inborn weaknesses, and to conquer them with a purpose that is no other than that of reaching the supreme and immutable Good. Saint Augustine, City of God 22.24 (Christianity)
The desirable is called “good.” To have it in oneself is called “true.” To possess it fully in oneself is called “beautiful,” but to shine forth with this full possession is called “great.” To be great and be transformed by this greatness is called a “sage”; to be a sage and to transcend understanding is called “divine.” Mencius VII.B.25 (Confucianism)
Sun Myung Moon
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
All phenomena occurring in the universe bear fruit only after the lapse of a certain interval of time. All things are designed to reach completion only after passing through a set growing period…
It is written in Genesis that God warned Adam and Eve, “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” (Gen. 2.17)
They had a choice either to ignore God’s warning and lose their lives, or to heed the warning and live. The fact that they had the potential either to fall or to become perfect demonstrates that they were still in a state of immaturity.
The universe was designed to reach perfection after a certain growing period, described in the Bible as six days. As one of God’s creations, human beings are also bound to this principle. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Creation 5.2)
We should not think that when God created Adam and Eve from clay, He created them as adults. Rather, God created them as infants. God went through the same process as a mother who gives birth to her baby, cradles it and raises it.
Everything in the universe develops through three stages, and humans are no exception. Beginning from infancy, Adam and Eve grew through childhood and their teenage years.
The next step was to be their maturation… An individual proceeds from an infant to an adult, marries and becomes a parent. In a human being’s stage-wise growth, God wants to see the embodiment of His own lengthy growth process— his youth, His adulthood and His advanced age.
Thus, every child is the substantial manifestation of God’s invisible history. This shared experience binds the child and his or her vertical Parent into one. (225:198-99, January 20, 1992)
God Himself must have gone through stages of growth—infancy, childhood, etc. You should know that your wife is the invisible God grown into a substantial physical being…
As parents watching your children grow, you will relive the days when you were growing up. It is the same with God. God watched with amazement as Adam and Eve grew and created their horizontal sphere of life.
Likewise, when you have your children, you will experience a force of love that will expand your (horizontal) world. (297:151-53, November 19, 1998)
For a tree to bear fruit, it must go through a summer season when the growing fruits absorb vitality elements from its root, trunk and branches. Through this process it gains the perfect life force to produce fruit that will bring forth new life.
In this regard, we sons and daughters… should search deeply within ourselves as to whether the fruit in our hearts is full of the power of life, by which we can be born again happily into a new world.
No matter how many years go by, how much it rains or how fiercely the wind blows, our inner life force must not be invaded by the evil of our environment but must go the path of continuous development.
That is the only way we can welcome the spring and become a seed—a matrix to produce a second life wherever it is planted. (32:37, June 14, 1970)
To yield good seed, you have to go the path of love. This means that you must be born in love, grow with love as the purpose of your life, and walk the path of love your whole life long. Even at the moment when you depart this world, you should leave with the intention to return to love. (138:99, January 19, 1986)
Spiritual growth can be compared to education… When someone is studying for a Ph.D., does he deny what he learned in kindergarten? Not at all. All his prior learning, well digested, formed the foundation for his efforts to earn the Ph.D. (111:129, February 8, 1981)
You must receive an education in God’s love. For how long? Until you can understand all the Father’s values and standards. In other words, you grow by receiving your parents’ love until you are fully mature. (51:172, November 21, 1971)
God’s central concern is with human beings’ internal nature and character. He intends that, as we experience true love, we will come to reflect His true love and grow to perfection. God created the power of love to be the strongest among all internal forces.
Through experiencing the power of such love within the realm of Heaven’s love and law, people are to increasingly resemble God, their Parent. (279:206, August 20, 1996)
We need to embody true love. The way to embody true love begins by living as a filial child, then a patriot, a saint, and finally a divine son and daughter of God. At that stage, we can experience the innermost emotions of God’s heart. (September 12, 2005)
Sun Myung Moon