Hegel's Spiral

I won't pretend to understand Hegel or any other philosopher. Perhaps if I studied their writings more with a good teacher, I would begin to scratch the surface, but perhaps not. Still, there is one aspect of Hegel's philosophy that I have always liked (although perhaps I misinterpreted it before writing about it now). So, all of this can be taken with more than a grain of salt.

As I understand Hegel, he believed that there was a "dynamic movement towards the whole so that the whole is an overcoming which preserves what it overcomes. Nothing is lost or destroyed but raised up and preserved as in a spiral" (not my words). 

My interpretation of this is that, as we go through life, we are moving not simply in a circle (although sometimes it seems that way), but instead we are on a spiral where we have the opportunity (without a choice) of seeing our center and our experiences from a different angle thereby giving us a new perspective on that which always lies within.

We overcome (although I, for one, do not like the work "overcome", and perhaps would prefer "understand", so) we understand in a new way our life experiences and do so while preserving (or incorporating) that which we understood.

So, in our lives, we have to hope that our spiral is an upward one that moves toward the whole as opposed to a spiral that heads downward to a disintegration of the whole (or perhaps what is left after a disintegration also is whole).  I guess I just love the thought of having the opportunity to circle around and around our experiences and essence, and in do so, gaining new understanding.  It is like the movie or book that can be read over and over again during our lives and each time, we understand the story at a different level, yet the story remains the same.  Very cool (for me).