Personal growth is impossible without an inner turning point, because it allows one to move from a state of unconsciousness—devoid of self-control and conscious choice—to a more mature and responsible state of being founded on freedom and consciousness.

Transformative Journey to Conscious Freedom

Personal growth is impossible without an inner turning point, because it allows one to move from a state of unconsciousness—devoid of self-control and conscious choice—to a more mature and responsible state of being founded on freedom and consciousness. In an unconscious state, the ability to critically assess actions is absent, leaving a person vulnerable to negative influences, with decisions made automatically and without the involvement of will or reflection. As noted in one of the sources, “An unconscious state is characterized by the lack of willful control and rational choice in accordance with established values; there is also no conflict of motives in situations of moral choice... It is very important that consciousness has no means of verifying the truthfulness of the unconscious, which creates the preconditions for the deepest errors and temptations” (source: link txt, page: 43).

The transition to consciousness facilitates liberation from these uncritical automatisms. As emphasized in the material, “According to Saint Theophan of the Solitary, the foundation of our personality is freedom and consciousness. Lacking freedom and consciousness, we lose the ability to know truth in general” (source: link txt, page: 44). This inner turning point is a process of self-awareness, during which a person renounces the passive acceptance of negative automatisms and begins to actively pursue the search for truth and the meaning of life.

A personal experience described in one of the sources demonstrates how profoundly life can be transformed through such a turning point: “Once, on the threshold of adolescence and youth, I was struck by a thought... It was a genuine inner turning point that changed my entire life. I experienced it with enthusiasm... It was my true conversion, the most powerful of my life, a conversion towards the quest for Truth” (source: link txt). This experience underscores that it is the turn towards consciousness and the renunciation of unconscious behavioral patterns that creates the opportunity to embark on the quest for the Highest Truth and, consequently, to make significant progress in inner development.

Furthermore, restoring the sovereign status of the “self” through self-suggestion underscores the importance of returning to conscious freedom: “All suggestion, therefore, is based on the deepest layers of the self; and the deepest layer of the self is the ‘Ungrund,’ or freedom. In this way, another aspect of personality is restored in its true meaning—not the subconscious, but conscious freedom” (source: link txt, page: 549). Thus, liberation from an unconscious state occupies a key role in the process of personal growth, enabling a person to gain control over their own life, resist negative external influences, and move toward true freedom and understanding.