We’re remodeling the master bathroom. 

We’d been smelling something for months and suspected that there was mold hidden in the walls.

We didn’t know the half of it—the hidden damage was deeper than we imagined.

Mold had spread up the walls.

The floorboards around the toilet had almost completely rotted away. As we removed all the drywall, deeper damage was revealed. Many of the original joists were rotting and some appeared charred, apparently from some long-forgotten fire.

“This is good,” says Devi.

“This is what happens when you remodel an old house,” she tells me. “You find things that were hidden and need to be cared for.”

She’s right. Before we install new fixtures, lay down tile, and apply coats of fresh paint, we want the deeper structures to be sound.

Deep change isn’t simply cosmetic.

This is true for bathrooms, for nations (have you noticed?), and for our individual lives. Deep change is not brought about by surface readjustments or quick fixes. When we choose transformation, we work from the ground up.

Expect to be shocked.

On the path of transformation, you will encounter hidden history. That’s the nature of the awakening path.

It calls us to bring awareness—loving awareness—into the hidden places of the soul. It calls us to reveal and welcome all that has been covered over and neglected.

What you first see when uncovering the damaged and forgotten places is rarely pretty.

Cosmetic changes can be pretty, but they are never lasting. And, they are never—if you look deeply—truly beautiful.

Beauty isn’t something you add to life.

It’s the very nature of life itself. Whenever life is seen and embraced fully, Beauty—with a capital “B”—is revealed. This is true whether we’re gazing at a sunset or—wonderfully—staring into the rotting floorboards of our personal or collective history.

You smell the mold, right?

You know something needs attention. You can feel that it’s time to dig in and do the deep work. To renew the foundations, revitalize the structures, and bless the hidden places.

It’s (spiritual) remodeling time!

PS: I’m offering a free class on the Bhagavad Gita—if so inspired, join the call here. 

~

Author: Eric Klein
Image: wolfgangfoto/Flickr
Editor: Leah Sugerman
Copy Editor: Travis May
Social Editor: Yoli Ramazzina