– from Volume 2, The Notebooks of Paul Brunton
PB has a great deal to say about this topic. In Chapter 1 of Volume 2, he calls the Quest “the most important adventure in human experience.” (para #77) He says, “We ought perhaps to have particularized the significance of this word, for many men and women are engaged on the food-quest, the pleasure-quest, and so on; only a few, however are on the Philosophical Quest.” (#40) He speaks of the quest as “an adventure as well as a journey ” (#49), and calls this adventure, “spiritual mountaineering.” (#52)
Para #17 is a personal favorite. It reads, “It is a quest to make a life of better quality, both inside and outside the self, in the thoughts moving in the brain, in the body holding that brain, and in the environment where that body moves.” Para #54 continues, “Its ideals offer an invitation to nobility and refinement. ‘Become better than you are!’ is its preachment. ‘Live more beautifully than you do!’ is its commandment.” (#54)
“He who stands on the threshold of this Path is about to commence the last and greatest journey of all, one which he will continue to the end of his days. Once begun, there is no turning back or deserting it, except temporarily. And since it is the most important and most glorious activity ever undertaken, its rewards are commensurate.” (#78)
The above references are from Chapter 1, Volume 2, of the Notebooks of Paul Brunton.
Chapter 3, The Independent Path, is a “must read” for aspirants. Para #22 says: “He must walk at his own pace, not society’s hasty trot. He must choose his own road, not the most trodden one. The way of life which his neighbours follow does not suit him, so he must alter it. He holds the desire to fashion himself creatively into something better than he is at present, something nobler, wiser, and more perceptive. But they hold no such desire, are content with static existence.”
In Chapter 6, Self-Development, PB gives a general description:
– How am I to start upon this process of true self-knowledge? The answer begins with this: first adopt the right attitude. Believe in the divinity of your deeper self. Stop looking elsewhere for light, stop wandering hither and thither for power. Your intelligence has become falsified through excessive attention to external living, hence you are not even aware in which direction to look when you seek for the real Truth. You are not even aware that all you need can be obtained by the power within, by the omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient Self. You have to change, first of all, the line of thought and faith which pleads helplessly, “I am a weak man; I am unlikely to rise any higher than my present level; I live in darkness and move amid opposing environments that overwhelm me.” Rather should you engrave on your heart the high phrases: “I possess illimitable power within me; I can create a diviner life and truer vision than I now possess.” Do this and then surrender your body, your heart and mind to the Infinite Power which sustains all. Strive to obey Its inward promptings and then declare your readiness to accept whatsoever lot it assigns you. This is your challenge to the gods and they will surely answer you. Your soul will be slowly or suddenly liberated; your body will be granted a freer pathway through conditions. You may have to be prepared for a few changes before the feet find rest, but always you shall find that the Power in which you have place an abiding trust does not go into default. (#1)