The Rise and Fall of The Spiritual Path | About Lotus

Do you know how a lotus blooms?

Whether within murky waters or a quiet river bank, the lotus’ seed buries itself, taking root in the mud, where it can remain ungerminated for years…

Until conditions are right.

As it evolves into a seedling, its leaves rise up as its roots hunker down. Many leaves produce until reaching the water’s surface, where they begin to unroll into large canopy-like structures. The stalks begin to rise 6 to 8 feet above the water, as does the lotus bud.

The flowering bud slowly opens up, one petal at a time, in the light of the day. Night falls, the flower closes itself up and sinks back into the murky depths only to do the cycle over again the next morning. Naturally, their blooming period only lasts a few days.

Reflecting on this life cycle brought about the connection of our ever-evolving spiritual journeys which informed the creation of my painting, Lotus.

At the time of creation, I was going through a reflection period of where I was at with my life. Despite a major promotion and raise at my job, thriving personal relationships, and life generally being stable, I was chasing what I can only call a “spiritual high” that I “lost” a few years before. From settling into adulthood and sustaining a budding career, I lessened my discipline on my spiritual routine, prioritizing my new responsibilities and promising to come back to myself later.

I was craving the ease and flow I felt a few years prior, forcing myself to get back into the old routine that served me so well at the beginning of my spiritual awakening. All the time spent meditating to cultivate peace fostered increasing frustration instead because nothing felt different. It felt the same as yesterday. Why does it feel like nothing is progressing? Why does everything feel blocked and going nowhere??

I fell for the hustle culture “dream life” of constant productivity = success and happiness and that YOU are the only one responsible of changing your life for the better, conflating it with the personal growth I gained from following my spiritual path. That “spiritual high” was really a culmination of thinking that spiritual progression and constantly “evolving” was the key to constant success and never ever feeling bad or dealing with anything negative ever again in my entire life.

Embodying that train of thought led to making poor choices out of ego and constantly needing to “win” against my old self. Naturally, this led to major burnout years later.

The fallout from this mindset was the biggest lesson I needed to learn.

Rising from murky waters, the lotus calls us to ease into our path one petal at a time. It calls us to surrender to what once was and forge a new path. It reminds us that change is within the palm of our hands. That change, however, cannot be forced. There is a natural unfolding that must happen; a life cycle of beginnings and endings that grow and evolve as one gains higher levels of consciousness. The periods of “nothingness” or life-straight-up-kicking-your-ass are essential to the moments of pure beauty and expansive bliss.

If you would like to have this reminder in your home and support my work, limited edition art prints of Lotus are available here.