Spirituality: RH'L7

The Story so Far

The Quest for Pleasure-RH'L1 is self-centric and demands the discovery of what gives most pleasure.

So there is a preoccupation with wishes and wants.

The Quest for Meaning-RH'L2 is socio-centric and demands the development of purposes and projects that feel personally worthwhile.

So there is a preoccupation with social ideals.

The Quest for Enlightenment-RH'L3 is self-centric and demands the discovery of reality in a way that benefits all who take heed.

So there is a preoccupation with existential mysteries.

The Quest for Salvation-RH'L4 is socio-centric and demands the development of ways to rescue those in dire need.

So there is a preoccupation with human suffering.

The Quest for Creation-RH'L5 is self-centric and demands the discovery of what should be willed into existence and how.

So there is a preoccupation with tools/resources, the medium used, & social context.

The Quest for Obedience-RH'L6 is socio-centric and demands the development of personal duties and obligations.

So there is a preoccupation with roles, rules, procedures & authorities.

Spirituality: The Quest of Quests

Function:   To connect with ultimate or absolute reality—taken to be divine.
i.e. happiness depends on perceiving and reaching «God» or «Absolute Reality» or «Nothing» or «The All» or «Oneness»; achieving «Moksha» or «Nirvana».

So there is a preoccupation with full transcendence of reality via [divine] union.

In this way of being aware, mind and body are one, and that one encompasses everything i.e. «consciousness». This oneness is also referred to as non-duality. It is sometimes viewed as salvation (from the self and its suffering) or liberation (from the self and its suffering).

However the spiritual realm may be conceived (and there are many ways not relevant here), the focus in the Quest is on a sacred «otherness» found around us and within us. This absolutely essential support for our mundane life, and the profane everyday world, is understood and interpreted within a particular religious tradition (or via more recent New Age conceptions of spirituality). At the extreme all is Spirit.

So: The purpose of life is «to become one with the divine» in oneself or in a God-equivalent.

In its purest state, Spirituality-RH'L7 is non-dual being. However, as listed below, the Quest is commonly found in a combined state.

Why is Spirituality a Quest?  

At the beginning, God is an adventure. As a person comes to appreciate what that means, the Quest starts taking over more of their daily life. Entering the divine realm is a wholly positive state and yet it cannot be sustained or maintained: that would make life impossible. So Spirituality is perpetually sought. Those on a Spiritual Quest organize their life around having spiritual experiences and being with like-minded others. As with any Primal Quest, many factors affect how far life is taken in that direction.

Correspondence to Root Hierarchy: The Spiritual Quest depends on Willingness-RHL7 because the spiritual realm is a matter of imaginative awareness. Without a positive willingness to see beneath or beyond or through everyday reality, the spiritual realm is forever concealed. Personal inner states like faith, hope and love that characterize the spiritual realm are maintained purely through willingness.

► Jump to how the Spirituality Quest works in practice.

The lower Quests can all be harnessed as part of Spirituality and even become the prime focus:►

Spirituality focuses on oneness, non-duality, mystical states, spirit, God

+ pleasure → focus on states of bliss, ecstasy, divine love;

+ meaning → focus on God's purpose, your destiny or calling;

+ enlightenment → focus on divine mysteries;

+ salvation → focus on being of service to those in dire need;

+ creation → focus on abundance, miracles, blessings;

+ obedience → focus on institutionalised tenets, rituals, divine commands.

► See this analysis applied to all the Quests.

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There are no higher levels of Will and no more Primal Quests. In describing these, only the surface has been scratched.

• There is enough for an initial review.
• After that, I will focus on the differing practical implications that flow from taking each Primal Quest seriously.
• That provides sufficient understanding to enable simultaneous comparisons of all Quests in this framework.

Originally posted: 8-Jun-2012. Last updated 29-Apr-2015.