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.
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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?
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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?
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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.
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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
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