There seems to be two distinct kinds of so-called ‘spiritual’ activity one can engage in. On the one hand there is a search and a seeking for external answers or The Answer – the ultimate healing Truth or as Zen teacher Barry Magid would say ‘curative fantasies.’

And on the other hand there is an ongoing rigorous curiosity into the nature of one’s own mind. Intense open-ended scrutiny and honest investigation of reality as we experience it for ourselves requiring no external beliefs, wisdom, teachings or guides.

Ironically, as the Buddha is thought to have said, ‘be a light unto yourself.’  Or as Robert Saltzman says ‘you can only find your own mind, no one else’s.’

Paradoxically it is the latter activity that actually reveals what the former seeks.