The Spirit of Quest

When a person, through suffering or through a spirit of quest, begins to ask questions as to what is God, what is Spirit and Soul, why two natures, divine and beastly, fight within him, there is the first awakening. To ask questions, to express honest doubts about one’s beliefs and habits, one’s religious and social practices, is a healthy sign. An inquiring soul has awakened and is ready to enter the great School of Life. Just as our physical body goes through phases from conception to birth, so also with the soul. The inquiring, awakened soul begins to use his mind and reason – that is his moment of conception. But between conception and actual birth there is a period – for the body it is nine months; for the soul that period is indefinite and depends on the effort the mind makes to learn and to apply what is learnt. The inquirer can shorten the period of the antenatal life of the soul by his own endeavors. If he uses his mind and reason perseveringly, he will come to the next stage. That soul, purifying himself, gaining knowledge which enlightens, unfolds the calm and tranquility that bring to birth a faculty higher than reason – intuition.

© "The Theosophical Movement" (December 2002) published by Theosophy Company (India) Private Limited, 40 New Marine Lines, Mumbai 400 020. Reprinted with permission.

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