Qualities of a True Spiritual Seeker

Many spiritual seekers are obsessed with trying to differentiate between the true spiritual teachers and the fake ones. But do you ever ask yourself: Am I a true spiritual seeker? What does that really mean, and what are the essential qualities of a student to walk on the pathless path? That’s what I’ll speak about in this episode.

In one sense, spirituality is about finding total freedom and leaving the prison of your mind behind. A true spiritual path is a journey into the unknown, full of uncertainties and adventures. Right now, you are living inside a prison cell, and perhaps you don’t even know about it. You were born there, you’ve been living there all your life, so you got accustomed to it, and now you think it’s normal.

You can’t see this prison for what it is, and even though you suffer a lot, it’s quite comfortable. So the first step on the path is to become aware of this cell, to see its invisible walls, to recognize its limitations. To realize that you were put there to rot until you die, living a meaningless life doing meaningless things, and then dying a meaningless death.

Become aware of this awful situation, don’t distract your mind from the pain, feel the suffering in your bones. Usually, you only face your conditions when the suffering is too much, or when you face the inevitable reality of death. Don’t try to escape this feeling, because it makes you feel truly alive, it puts you in touch with reality. Instead, use it as a springboard to motivate yourself for finding out what’s beyond death, beyond the prison, beyond the mind.

Actually, the window of the prison is wide open, you could jump out any time. But the problem is that the building is so tall that when you look out, you can’t even see the ground. But there’s hope. There’s a rope stretching from the window into infinity. You don’t know yet what’s exactly on the other end, but you know that this is the only way to liberation. If you step on it, you risk your life, but if you stay, a sure and slow death is waiting for you.

So the foremost quality of a true spiritual seeker is the willingness to start the path, and to stay on it until the end. It’s a burning desire, it’s a restless determination, it’s a relentless dedication. If you don’t have that, all other qualities are futile, everything else is secondary. Finding truth and freedom has to be the number one priority in your life. And if you know that life is meaningless without freedom and truth, it’s not a hard choice to make.

Be devoted but not to a teacher, not to a teaching, but to the spiritual journey itself. Even if you have to crawl through the rope hanging upside down, even if you risk falling down, even if you leave behind comfort and security, even if you don’t know what’s waiting for you at the other end, you summon all your courage and will, and walk through this path without looking behind. If you possess this kind of devotion, nothing can stop you.

Fortunately, there is some help to make your journey quicker and safer. These are the secondary qualities, represented by a pole used for tightrope walking. You carry this pole all the way to help you balance your body, in this case, to balance your mind. The qualities come in pairs, and they are polar opposites, and it’s your task to balance them out.

One essential quality is the sense of balance, which Buddha called the middle way. If you go to any extreme, you lose stability, and the pole that was supposed to help you can easily pull you down into the depth. Don’t lean too much to one side while forgetting about the other! These seemingly opposite qualities need to be integrated and balanced out without denying one or the other.

So what are these pairs of secondary qualities that all true spiritual seekers must possess? On one end, you find open-mindedness, on the other, critical thinking. One is stability, the other is flexibility. One is humility, the other is rebelliousness. One is connectivity, the other is non-attachment. One is meditation, the other is celebration. One is sensitivity, the other is strength. One is vulnerability, the other is courage. One is to enjoy pleasure, the other is to endure pain. One is receptivity, the other is discernment. One is faith, the other is skepticism. One is passion, the other is patience.

One last word of caution. If you go to one extreme, you may easily find yourself in another prison. For example, if you have too much faith, you fall into the trap of religion, while with too much skepticism, you get entangled in the web of rational thinking. Too much connection makes you dependent, while too much non-attachment leads to indifference. If you find yourself falling off the spiritual path, just focus on the opposite pole, and you’ll be soon in balance again.

In this free report, I’ll reveal my number one secret to spiritual enlightenment that almost nobody else speaks about. Download it now below, to find out what it is! I can guarantee you, you’ll be surprised!

Memento Mori!