The predominant state of mind today is an appetite for novelty

In the absence of any certainty or sense of absolute truth, the predominant state of mind today is curiosity, the appetite for novelty: ‘What else is there to discover?’ Those who are not really satisfied by materialistic science and philosophy begin to take an interest in spirituality. Of course, there is nothing wrong in showing interest and sympathy for all forms of spirituality.

It becomes dangerous only if you spread your interest too thin, if you never make up your mind to choose one method of work and stick to it. Please understand what I am saying: it is not a question of being Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, or none of the above.

Human beings are constructed with a vital need for spiritual nourishment

It is a question – and it concerns each one of us, believer and unbeliever alike – of adhering to a few essential spiritual truths and of putting them into practice. About this there can be no uncertainty. Spirituality is not something that we are free to choose or not choose as with other disciplines such as sport, the languages, the arts, and so on.

Given the way human beings are constructed, spirituality is a vital need, and as long as people refuse to acknowledge that need they will continue to engage in all kinds of activities that are not only absurd but also dangerous both for themselves and for others. Because of their nature, if they do not find the nourishment for which their souls and spirits clamour, they will be continually tormented by a sensation of inner emptiness and hunger which they will try in vain to satisfy.

A human being is a bottomless pit which can never be truly satisfied by material possessions, social success, pleasure, even great intellectual satisfaction. It should not surprise us, therefore, to see that so many extremely intelligent and gifted people end by falling into the worst kinds of aberration. Unable to find what they are looking for – unaware, even, that they are looking for something – they are caught up in an endless quest for ever more public exposure, more power, more money, more territory, more forms of pleasure, and to get these things they are ready to subjugate or destroy all who stand in their way.

Accept to live in uncertainty, but with a spiritual ideal

But even when they achieve the goal they sought for, they are still not satisfied, for they never succeed in filling the void that is like a yawning chasm within them. The only way to fill that void is to accept to live in uncertainty but with a spiritual ideal. A spiritual ideal links us to a higher world from which we receive nourishment.

Many so-called spiritual people are no better. They want the same prizes as materialists, and in pursuit of them they use the means of initiatic science. This is why I say they are even worse than materialists, for they degrade the most sacred principles. They may be visibly satisfied and pleased with themselves for succeeding with these means, but heaven, does not appreciate being used for selfish ends.

To be continued…

Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov,
Izvor Book 239, Love Greater than Faith
Chapter 1, The Uncertainties of Modern Man