Everyone starts a journey because they want something more. They might feel unhappy, stuck, or like something's missing. They don't always know what they want, but they feel a strong need for it. Like in stories, Cinderella dreams of a prince, or Gepetto wishes for a child. Some search for a lost parent or a hidden treasure.
Goal: Search for a better life or a better way
Fear: Conformity, becoming entrapped
Response to Dragon/Problem: Leave it, escape, take off
Task: Be true to a deeper or higher truth
Gift: Autonomy, ambition
People always want to find something better, like climbing a mountain to see a new view or learning new things. This feeling pushes us to explore new places or try things we never did before. The Seeker listens to a call to grow and rise up.
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
The Seeker wants a better future or a perfect world. You see this in the Jewish tradition where people say, "Next Year in Jerusalem," dreaming of a better place. Many came to America for freedom and a chance to succeed.
This dream of a perfect world drives people to make life fairer. Leaders like John F. Kennedy inspired people to explore space or create programs to help everyone have equal chances. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of a dream where everyone is equal. In the 1970s and 1980s, people wanted more freedom and to grow their minds.
Everyone feels a pull to explore the unknown, whether it's a new place, more money, freedom, or a bigger understanding of life. We start by wanting to feel safe and connected, like when we were babies. But no matter what we achieve, that feeling doesn't go away. We keep searching until we find our true selves. To do that, we must listen to the call to live a bold life.
The Call to the Quest: Crossing the Threshold
The call to adventure can come at any time, but it’s strongest when you're young. This is when you explore new places, ideas, or experiences. It’s a time to learn about the world through travel, school, or trying new things.
If you had a good start in life, you might feel excited about this adventure. The joy of something new can make you forget your fears or sadness about leaving home. The adventure could be college, a job, marriage, the military, or anything new you choose.
Later, you might look back and realize you made choices just to leave home. Even if those choices weren’t perfect, they helped you start your own life. If you’re less confident, the first step might feel scary, like a small walk instead of a big trip. Some feel lost, like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, searching for a place to belong.
This urge to explore hits again in middle age. As a young person, you look for the right job, love, or place to live. In mid-life, you ask those questions again. You might wonder if your job or partner is still right for you. You think about what you’ve done and what you still want to do, especially as you realize life doesn’t last forever.
For many, life feels busy with kids, work, or bills. Going on an adventure seems impossible. You might want to go back to school or travel, but responsibilities hold you back. Feeling sorry for yourself can help you understand what you really want.
The call is different for everyone. It’s about living a life that means more to you. Often, it starts because you feel stuck or out of place. You want to be yourself, but you also want to fit in with family, friends, or work. Breaking those rules can be hard.
At first, we try to fit in to make others happy. But over time, that creates a struggle between who we are and how we act. This struggle helps us grow. Being different is what makes us special, but it can make us feel like we don’t belong.
We start by trying new things without a clear plan. Sometimes we act like we fit in, but inside we know we’re different. Or we act like rebels, always doing the opposite of what’s expected. Either way, our surroundings control us.
Many of us worry that being ourselves means losing our job, family, or friends. To grow, we need to step away from what we know. That doesn’t mean leaving everything behind, but it means thinking for ourselves.
Sometimes, we don’t choose to leave. We might feel pushed out because a relationship ends, we lose a job, or we feel trapped. In those moments, we might feel lost and unprepared for what’s next.
Often, we know what we don’t want before we know what we do. We might leave one thing after another, searching for what feels right. Each time something doesn’t work, we move on, always looking for something better.
The Myth of Exodus
The story of Exodus is like a guide for answering this call. Egypt represents the life we’re used to, even if it feels like a trap. Pharaoh is the part of us that wants to stay, and Moses is the part that wants to break free. When things get really bad, it pushes us to change. But even after we leave, we don’t find the perfect place right away. We wander for a long time, sometimes wishing we could go back.
During this wandering, it helps to have something steady, like a job or a friend. That stability makes it easier to handle all the changes your heart needs.
Sometimes, we feel empty and unsure of what we want. The best thing to do is try new things until something feels right. For a student, it might be a class that excites them. For someone else, it could be a new love, job, or adventure. When we feel really lost, even small choices, like what to eat, can feel hard because we’re used to others deciding for us.
We can find clues about what we want by noticing our daydreams. Those images are inside us. When we’re lost, we need to trust that something good will come if we keep going.
Our hearts want to know who we really are and to feel part of something bigger. That could be through love, work, or growing wiser. In old age, we might want to leave our bodies behind, especially if we’re sick, and see what’s next.
It’s never too late to answer this call. Sometimes we try things that don’t work before we find the right path.
Sometimes we don’t fully commit to our journey. We become Wanderers, not Seekers. We stay distant from others, avoid close relationships, and keep moving without settling. Even if we have a job or family, we feel like something’s missing, always waiting for something better.
It’s never too late to answer the call to adventure.
When we truly commit to ourselves, we stop wandering aimlessly. Our search becomes deeper. We look for truth and meaning, not just a new place or person. This search often feels spiritual, even if we don’t use that word. We want something that lasts forever.
At the highest level, the Seeker finds the truth they were looking for. In real life, we all find some truth and can share our questions and wisdom with others.
The Road of Trials
Once we start our journey, we face tests to see if we’re ready. These tests check if we’ve learned from other parts of ourselves, like being hopeful but not naive, or knowing who to trust. If we make mistakes, we keep facing challenges until we learn.
The Seeker sees this call as a big moment, a step toward becoming their true self.
We often face a big challenge, like a dragon, to test our bravery. If we fail, we’ll keep meeting challenges until we’re stronger. We also get chances to help others, which shows our kindness. In stories, helping someone can bring magic that saves us later. Knowing when to help and when to step back is important, and we must help from the heart, not for our own gain.
Spiritual Seeking
At its core, the Seeker wants to find what’s real—in ourselves, the world, and the universe. For many, this means searching for God. People have always given names to what’s sacred, like animals, nature, or ancestors. Some believe in many gods, others in one. Some see the sacred as male, others as female.
Many people today don’t believe in God but still have something sacred to them. Some feel it when working for peace or being creative. Others feel it in nature, family traditions, or moments of deep truth. Some find it in love or watching life begin or end. The sacred is about being real.
Whether we use spiritual or everyday words, the Seeker wants to feel something bigger than themselves. It doesn’t matter if we find the “right” way, just that we find a way.
Some people only feel the sacred in their own religion. Others are open to different beliefs. Some need words that aren’t religious at all. Women might connect more with a female idea of the sacred.
The sacred is everywhere, but we need to be open to it. Native religions see it in nature or ancestors. In Hawaii, people honor the volcano as a goddess. Even if these ideas seem strange, they show that the sacred can be anywhere.
The Seeker’s spiritual question isn’t always about God. It’s about what we value, what feels sacred, and what brings life to our spirit.
The Appearance of the Grail
The Seeker inside us looks for meaning, like a knight searching for the Holy Grail. Even if we’re comfortable, we feel restless without a sense of purpose.
Long ago, grail stories shared truths about searching for wisdom. Knights promised to find the grail, a symbol of vision or understanding.
The grail mixes old and Christian ideas. Some say it’s the cup from Jesus’ last meal, used to hold his blood. It became a magical object. In stories, it appeared and gave everyone their favorite food, showing spiritual nourishment. Only the pure could find it.
The Seeker will do anything to find truth about the universe and our lives. It might give up home, work, or loved ones for the quest. The search for the grail is really about finding our true selves.
Some say the grail helps us in death, giving us eternal life. The Seeker is ready to let go of the old self to find cosmic truth. But it’s not just about dying—it’s about letting go of pride to become new.
The quest teaches us that the sacred is inside us. When we find it, we don’t disappear. We come back to share love and wisdom with others. We become like the grail, helping others find meaning.
The Shadow Seeker, Self-Destruction, and Transformation
If we ignore the Seeker inside us, it can cause problems. It might make us want to be alone or act in unhealthy ways. If we block it completely, we might feel sick in our body or mind.
The desire to grow spiritually can turn into chasing thrills, like using drugs or chasing danger. It can also become an obsession with success or being better than others. Stories like Lucifer’s show the danger of pride. He wanted to be the best, so he was cast out.
Myths warn that wanting too much can be risky. Stories like Prometheus or Icarus show that trying to go too far without being ready can lead to trouble. It’s not the search that’s wrong, but thinking we’re above the rules.
Transcendence and Death
The need to go beyond ourselves is as strong as needing food or air. Some people risk everything for it. Artists work so hard they get sick. Mystics hurt their bodies to focus on spirit. Climbers risk their lives to reach new heights. Scholars spend their lives studying to find truth.
Levels of the Seeker
Shadow: Excessive ambition, perfectionism, pride, inability to commit, addictiveness in general
Call: Alienation, dissatisfaction, emptiness; opportunity knocking
Level One: Exploring, wandering, experimenting, studying, trying new things
Level Two: Ambition, climbing the ladder of success, becoming the best you can be
Level Three: Spiritual searching, transformation
Today, many people find transcendence through work. Loving your work can feel amazing, but working too much can hurt your body and mind.
In a world focused on things and success, the goal is often a better job or more money. People sacrifice their health for success, just like old spiritual practices. But this isn’t healthy, and many are finding better ways to grow.
When the Seeker takes over, we might hurt ourselves or give up important relationships to chase something bigger. Exploring pushes us to know more, be more, and do more. It’s like a seed breaking open to grow. We feel this at big moments in life, and even in death.
The Seeker also connects to death in a good way. A poem about women climbers who died on a mountain shows this. Their death wasn’t sad—it was the peak of their lives. They found a connection on the mountain they couldn’t find below.
Death is a small price for fully being yourself and part of the world. The Seeker wants to be our best self and feel one with everything.
In some beliefs, the goal is to let go of the self and join with the divine. This is like dying to your old self and being reborn as a spiritual person. Every Seeker becomes someone starting a new chapter.
From Seeker to Initiate
A caterpillar turning into a butterfly shows a huge change, like becoming a new person. It’s about letting go of the old self and living with spirit.
Many people chase goals like school, sports, or work. That’s great for young people. It helps them grow. But as we get older, the Seeker calls us to something deeper—a spiritual connection to everything. This change needs more than searching. We must let go of who we were to become someone new.
The next chapter talks about the Destroyer, the part that helps us let go to start this new spiritual life.
Exercises
Give some thought to when, where, how, and how much the Seeker expresses itself in your life.
- How much or how little is the Seeker expressed in your life? Has it been expressed more in the past or present? Do you see it emerging more in your future? Is it expressed more at work, at home, with friends, in dreams or fantasies?
- Who are some friends, relatives, co-workers, and others who seem influenced by the archetype of the Seeker?
- Is there anything you wish were different about the expression of the Seeker in your life?
- Since each archetype expresses itself in many different ways, take some time to describe or otherwise portray (e.g., draw, make a collage, use a picture of yourself in a particular costume or pose) the Seeker as it is expressed or could be expressed in your life. What does or would it look like? How does or would it act? In what setting does or would it feel most at home?
Daydream
Allow yourself to daydream about greener pastures, where you would rather be than where you are. Perhaps it’s a different place, a different job or work, a different partner, a different life-style. Then let yourself imagine how you would have to change to make it possible for you to live your fantasy. Are you willing to allow that transformation?
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