stages of human history, nations and religions, 
worlds, solar systems, even universes, are all expressions 
of this evolutionary impulse. none of these abide, 
but only come and go 
as they fulfill aspects of this vast cyclic progression.

the continuity within this flux
is the divine spark of being, sometimes called
the "monad" (the one indivisible self) or "pilgrim",
whose course of development 
toward unimaginable heights 
demands that it pass through
and experience countless modes of being,
from atom through human to star.

visible reality grows from within
outward: what we see is but an expression
of the inward spiritual state
and developmental requirements 
of the pilgrims.