‘Years ago I used to meet people at receptions, and many of them were magnificent, highly educated, cultured people. But let me give you an example of the kind of conversation I would sometimes have with them.

I am talking to an elderly man who tells me that he is seeking truth. I immediately look suitably impressed, ecstatic even, for as you well understand it is a very honourable occupation to seek truth; it is greatly to his credit! Then I ask him, ‘And have you not found it yet?’ ‘No, alas!’ ‘But you are still seeking?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Ah, that is wonderful! But is it so difficult to find truth? How old are you, sir?’ ‘Seventy-five.’ ‘Seventy-five, and you still have not found truth?’ ‘No.’

We find the truth but do not accept it
Well, at this point my expression begins to change and I say, ‘My dear sir, let me tell you that you have found truth several times in the course of your life but you have never accepted it. I can also tell you why you have never accepted it.’ At that he looks at me with astonishment. ‘Yes’, I go on, ‘It is very easy to find truth, for it is everywhere.

You have certainly met it and seen and heard it, but you have never accepted it because you have had too many others things in mind. You have been looking for your own brand of truth, and when you met the truth and it failed to match what you had in mind, you said, « No, no, I am looking for a different truth, one that will give me money and pleasure, one that will be my servant and allow me to be the master. »

If we really wanted to find the truth we would have found it a long time ago
But truth, my dear sir, is not a servant; it is a princess, and it is we that must be at her service. The trouble is that you do not want to serve; you want to be served. I can only conclude, therefore, that you have never really sought truth; you have only sought a servant to gratify all your whims.

If you had really wanted to find truth you would have found it a long time ago, for it is always there. Even now today it is there if you want it, but you do not really want it.’ Well, I will not tell you how such a conversation ended!’

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov
Complete Works Vol. 26, A New Dawn: Society and Politics in the Light of Initiatic Science