The great and rare mystics of the past . . . were, in fact, ahead of their time, and are still ahead of ours. In other words, they most definitely are not figures of the past. They are figures of the future.
Ken WilberRead
What is it in you that brings you to a spiritual teacher in the first place? It's not the spirit in you, since that is already enlightened, and has no need to seek. No, it is the ego in you that brings you to a teacher.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The search for a spiritual teacher stems from our ego, not from our enlightened spirit.
This quote by Ken Wilber emphasizes the idea that our quest for spiritual guidance originates not from a place of enlightenment, but rather from the ego's sense of lack or desire for growth. The enlightened part of us does not seek out teaching, as it is already complete; thus, it is the ego that drives the pursuit of a spiritual teacher, revealing our underlying motivations and attachments.
Themes
SpiritualityEgoEnlightenmentTeacherGrowth
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the quest for personal development, this quote can illustrate how motives often come from our ego.
More from Ken Wilber
All quotes →The understanding of "evolutionary consciousness" is perhaps the most important thing lacking in spiritual practices today. Evolution means growth and development. This means that there are aspects of reality that have not yet arisen in our consciousness. But they will arise if we grow.
Ken WilberRead
Perhaps the best place to begin with an integral approach to business is with.. oneself. In the Big Three of self, culture, and world, integral mastery starts with self. How do body and mind and spirit operate in me? How does that necessarily impact my role in the world of business? And how can I become more conscious of these already operating realities in myself and in others?
Ken WilberRead
As you you deeply into your own awareness, and relax the self-contraction, and dissolve into the empty ground of your own primordial experience, the simply feeling of Being-right now, right here-is it not obvious at once?
Ken WilberRead
So it is a good idea to start simple, I think, and be very careful. There is a spiritual opening in the Kosmos. Let us be careful of how we fill it. The simplest is: Spirit or Emptiness is unqualifiable, but it is not inert and unyielding, for it gives rise to manifestation itself: new forms emerge, and that creativity is ultimate. Emptiness, creativity, holons.
Ken WilberRead
It is flat-out strange that something-that anything-is happening at all. There was nothing then a Big Bang, then here we all are. This is extremely weird.
Ken WilberRead
Similar quotes
Some tell me Preach the pure gospel! This reminds me that the Communist secret police also told me to preach Christ, but not to mention communism. Is it really so, that those who are for what is called a pure gospel are inspired by the same spirit as those of the Communist secret police?
Richard WurmbrandRead
Every individual matters and has a role to play in this life on Earth.
Jane GoodallRead
It is a strange fact that freedom and equality, the two basic ideas of democracy, are to some extent contradictory. Logically considered, freedom and equality are mutually exclusive, just as society and the individual are mutually exclusive.
Thomas MannRead
The real cure to immigration, obviously, is to make sure that there is prosperity around the world so that people don't have the motive. Not just prosperity, but freedom.
Roger ScrutonRead
Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. Everything passes away except God. God alone is sufficient.
Teresa Of AvilaRead
Since 9/11 we have somehow come to accept the 'radicalization' narrative, which basically holds that people become terrorists through a series of consecutive, traceable steps laid out for them by large international Islamic organizations. Reality is messier, and also smaller.
Masha GessenRead