The Power of Seeking

Being a spiritual seeker is much more than just a label. Of course, there is nothing wrong with calling yourself a Seeker, but if that is all that you do, you will never experience any of the real-world – and often life-changing – benefits that come from the actual practice of seeking.

Calling yourself a Seeker when you don’t spend at least some of your time actively seeking is much like calling yourself a cyclist when you don’t even own a bicycle – it might sound impressive to some, but ultimately the label itself is hollow and meaningless.

Spirituality for Seekers exist to encourage you to actually do the work of seeking, and not to simply think or talk about that work.

In one of my early posts (What Is a Seeker?) I defined a Seeker as ‘an individual who is actively looking to discover and use spiritual truths with the intention of living a richer, happier and more meaningful life, but I didn’t go into very much detail about the ‘actively looking’ part of that definition.

Today I want to address that topic, and I sincerely hope that you will take your time and consider my words carefully, because if you find that they resonate with you, and you begin seeking in earnest, you will unleash a power in your life that is almost impossible to describe.

‘Seek, and you will find.’ – Matthew 7:7

Seeking is the act of looking for something. A treasure-seeker is someone who looks for treasure, a pleasure-seeker is someone who looks for pleasure, and a spiritual seeker is someone who looks for spiritual truth.

However, there is more to it than that, because the spiritual seeker will always find what he or she is looking for.

The treasure-seeker can set out and seek for days, weeks, months or years and never find any real treasure. Similarly, the pleasure-seeker can look in all sorts of places and never find any real pleasure.

But, as Jesus famously told his followers, those who seek in the spiritual sense will always find what they are seeking.

Unfortunately, most people who are familiar with the ‘seek and you will find’ promise don’t take it seriously enough to apply the principle and reap its rewards.

The Rewards of Seeking

The rewards of seeking in the spiritual sense can be truly infinite.

• In the spiritual realm, seeking can strength your connection with the divine, increase your awareness of yourself as a spiritual being and reassure you of your eternal and deathless nature.
• In the psychological realm, seeking can bring you as much love, joy, peace and happiness as you could ever want.
• In the material realm, seeking can improve your health, increase your physical energy, revolutionise your personal relationships and put you on the road to total abundance in your career and finances.

In short, there is no problem in your life that spiritual seeking cannot transform into something positive.

But there is one important condition….

You Must Seek Correctly

‘Seek, and you will find’ is more than an old saying. It is, in my experience, a basic principle of the universe (which I have previously referred to as the Resonance Principle and which others call the Law of Attraction) but here Jesus presents it together with the key to unlocking its full potential.

That key is to seek, which means to look in a deliberate and specific way.

The Resonance Principle is constantly at work in the life of every individual on the planet, but most people who read about it from Law of Attraction books make the mistake of thinking that it only works now and again. They therefore try to work with the principle by creating a vision board or writing down some affirmations, and so on, but then they live the rest of their lives as if the principle doesn’t apply to how they behave at the workplace, or in a traffic jam, or in a crisis. Sometimes those people get what they placed on their vision board, or what they were affirming for, but just as often they get something completely different which isn’t at all what they want.

The principle of seeking, as Jesus presented it, is a neutral principle, and like a two-edged sword, it can work for you or against you. If it is used consciously and deliberately then you are likely to be amazed at the results that you get with it. However, if you leave it to work without you using it in a deliberate and conscous way, it may well bring you the very things that you hoped to avoid.

‘For the thing which I fear comes on me, That which I am afraid of comes to me.’ – Job 3:25

The Old Testament character of Job complained that his fears had come upon him, but according to the principle of seeking which Jesus taught, that was only to be expected. After all, fear is nothing more than seeking out the negative aspects of a situation. Job focused on the downsides – seeking the negatives – so much that he eventually found what he was looking for. His big mistake was in not realising that he was effectively seeking his own downfall. If that realisation had occurred to him sooner, he might have changed his habits, begun seeking correctly and experienced a complete turnaround in his situation.

How to Seek Correctly

Whatever you seek, you will find, so to seek correctly means deliberately seeking what you want to experience, and to completely cast out of your mind that which you do not want. You don’t need to focus on the latter half of that equation, as that would mean focusing on what you do not want. Instead, focus all of your attention, as consistently as possible, on seeking what you do want in any and all situations, and that alone will force what you don’t want out of the picture.

Do you want to experience better health? Then you should focus your attention on all of the good aspects of your health right now. It may be that you have a certain illness or condition, but if you focus on that you are only seeking more of the same. Of course, you can and should treat the illness or condition, but as far as your mind and spirit are concerned, you should seek out the areas of wellbeing that are not affected by that illness or condition and appreciate them fully.

For example, if you have a broken leg, be sure to get it treated , but start focusing on the fact that you also have a second leg that is perfectly healthy, as well as two arms, functioning internal organs, and so on.

Do you want to experience greater levels of financial success and abundance? Then you should focus your attention on all of the prosperity that you currently enjoy, even if it isn’t as much as you would like to have.

You have access to the internet, for example, which is a form of abundance, and so you should appreciate it. You may also have a car, which is better than no car. Or you might have an umbrella to protect you from the rain, which is better than no umbrella. If you have some money, no matter how little, appreciate it fully. And even if you have no money, you can focus on the abundance of the natural world, which is all around you.

Do you want to experience better relationships? Then you should focus your attention on all of the things that are already going well in your relationships. Forget about any problems that you may be having and seek only the good in the relationships, so that the good may flourish and the problems may wither away of their own accord.

The Principle is a Promise

You don’t have to be a Christian to benefit from the words of Jesus any more than you need to be a farmer to benefit from a sack of potatoes. Simply consider that Jesus presented this principle as a promise.

Seek, and you will find.

Not, ‘Seek, and you might find’ or, ‘Seek, and you could find.’

Seek and you will find.

In any and every situation or circumstance, no matter how challenging it might first appear, make it your job to seek out the positive aspects, however small they seem, so that they can flourish and prosper. Seek out the calm in a crisis, the silver lining in the cloud, the benefit in the bad news, or even the spiritual lesson that you are learning from the experience itself.

Seek out those things and focus on them.

Appreciate them.

Express gratitude for them.

And let the power of this spiritual principle take care of the rest.