If you could sum up the purpose of life in a single word, just one, what would it be? Love? Enlightenment? Salvation? Family? Friendships? Growth? What if there was a word that drew all of these ideas together?

Epektasis is an ancient Greek word that was used to describe the endless expansion and unlimited possibility of an authentic spiritual transformation – a transformation that can lead to the fulfilment of a potential within each of us that is beyond our wildest dreams.

Spiritual traditions emphasise different aspects of this transformational journey: Christian mystics speak of the journey towards union with God through divinization or theosis – the idea that human beings may take part in the very life of God through union with the Divine. The great Buddhist and Hindu sages speak similarly in terms of the liberation and enlightenment that comes through the realisation that we already are that One – that we are not separate from the pulsating heart of the universe. The Islamic mystics, the Sufis, yearn for baqa or the ‘life in God’ that comes from surrendering to the transformative power of divine grace. These are not simply once-off events resulting in a new static state. They describe a dynamic invitation into ever deeper and richer transformation, like the unfurling of the petals of a rose, or the transformation of a caterpillar into a stunning butterfly.

Spiritual growth and transformation necessarily overflows into the rest of life, so Epektasis also encompasses the journey of deepening transformation in our whole beings, in our intimate, family and social relationships, in society, in our relations with all sentient beings and with the earth itself. It is an invitation into the deep, transformative journey of sacred activism – the fusion of our spiritual path and its natural overflow into the world.

Epektasis is not something to be ‘achieved’ or to become attached to, like the ultimate goal on our bucket list. We are already beloved of God, children of the Divine, and held in grace. But there is always the possibility of allowing more of that grace to shine through us and to allow its healing warmth into the corners of our souls where we feel vulnerable, limited, constricted and maybe even ashamed. Through this transformative, sacred journey of love, healing and grace, we can grow into divine beings more beautiful, luminous and powerful than we had ever imagined possible.

Epektasis is a state of grace, a journey to be taken and an ever more brightly shining vision of our future selves. Not bad for a single word.