Come together over Me

 Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn't, pays it. Compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe.

(Albert Einstein)

You may have heard the story about the king who wanted to reward a wise wizard. The wizard had only a simple request, to take a chess board and to put one rice corn on the first field, to put 2 on the second, 4 rice corns on the third, 16 on the fourth, and so forth. Happily, the king obliged only to find that at the end of the 64 fields he would have been bankrupt had he followed up! Well, as the story goes, the embarrassed king didn’t. He simply had the wizard beheaded and the awkward mathematical problem was solved. Lessons learned, please use the most powerful force in the universe according to Albert Einstein for spiritual missions.

I observe the power of exponential growth in my yard when I look at the ever-growing Ivy. When I planted it a few years back, I was initially quite disappointed about the slow progress. Then one day critical mass was reached and it just took off from there. Now I spent days every year curtailing its enormous growth. Ivy functions along the same mathematical principle. The root expands together with the leaves, and the leaves keep multiplying, year after year. Behold the power of compounding when you see Ivy covered buildings as just one example.

A spiritual path builds on itself along a very similar mathematical process. One day we see the self in its narrow-minded action and we search for a different way; that’s the day when a new way of perceiving the world is born. Alas, it takes sone time to make the transition. Patiently a higher authority show us all self-imposed interferences, and day after day we throw our baggage of the past overboard. With every step along our spiritual path our footing gets stronger. The deeper we go into the new magical world the more potent we become, and the more sensitive we become to other self-imposed hindrances to experience even more magic. 

Progress may appear slow to the spiritual newcomer. We try to put our best foot forward but occasionally we feel disappointed about the lack-luster progress, both inside of us, as well as in the environment that we operate in. Then one fine day an inner shift kicks in and we experience rapid changes. We have reached critical mass in the mathematics of spiritual compounding. The people who drained our energy before are leaving, while much kinder friends arrive to help us see our mission through. The Law of Spiritual Compounding states that if we keep on taking little steps in the right direction, the feedback mechanism over the years are really, really big. Every good deed comes with dividends on top of the dividends earned in all prior years. Early progress may seem slow but in later years we experience abundance in all areas of our lives. As a matter of fact, the process never stops. Spiritual ascendency continues all the time.

Consider another mind-blowing mathematical formula that calculates the value of a telecommunications network, also known as Metcalfe’s Law. It states that the value of a network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users in the system. Just imagine if you spend your life developing and sustaining a network of connected friends, at work, at home, in the community you live in, and so forth. No scheming, no expectations, just taking genuine interest in the people you love and care for. The good-will of this network will bring you amazing results over the years.

Only the power of compounding good intentions over years and decades can approximate GOD’s love for us. It is simply limitless. While we can never quite reach GOD’s Kingdom while living here on planet earth, we can use the Law of Spiritual Compounding to come pretty close. God says to us, ‘Come together over Me!’ Will you join?