The human pilgrim is a spark of the divine Flame, descending through all realms of matter, to reascend through a perfected humanhood to godhood, cycling back to divinity. It is not a closed ring, but a continuous rounding course, expanding and advancing, so that the path of its previous round is covered with a broader sweep of progress. A typical example of cyclic growth is found in the expanding curves of the chambered nautilus, and even in the shape of the common snail shell. A craftsman will find suggestive lines in a spiral spring, or will see a more perfect symbol in the progressive curves of a helix spring. However, no symbolic form can begin to picture the intricate movement and complex character of the countless wheels within wheels of time, of conditions, and of conscious unfolding life that are always operating together.
Universal motion follows a spiral course upon all planes of being, physical and superphysical.
The same evolutionary pathway is continued through the material, the mental, and the spiritual realms. The greater cycles include numerous lesser ones of various sizes, characters, and interacting influences, as we shall see. There is nothing haphazard in all this, because everything moves with the coordinate precision of intelligent guidance. We are in a universe of natural law and order. We know that nature does not move by disorderly and causeless leaps and bounds.