How do you design a soul quest?

Certain words inspire my soul. Quest, like imagine, resides near the top of my “words that inspire list.” The inspire me to do. to undertake!

In this post I am going to give you some guidance on imagining, preparing and undertaking a soul quest.

A Conscious Soul Quest

What is a soul quest? It is a deep question you are asking, an unknown destiny you are fulfilling and a long mysterious inner journey you are traveling. Each quest leads us through the deserts and jungles of life to the heart of one of the four areas of life: our contributions, our relationships, our well-being and our moral/spiritual development.

A soul quest is not a desire or a hunger for experiencing pleasure or avoiding pain. To quest we must welcome suffering and labor and know we will be blessed with the achievement of love and the celebration of wisdom when the quest finds its end.

Some think of quests as adventures that naively unfold. I know others think of quests as clearly defined disciplines. My quests have always been a mix of the adventurous and the disciplined. The more conscious we become of our soul questing the more kind the discipline becomes and the more wild the adventure.

Lately, my quest has been to understand questing, making the process of the quest as conscious as possible…not the adventure of a fool, but a wise wandering and searching of a self-imaginer. This has been a quest of moral/spiritual development. 

Conscious Questing is a practice.  When you practice anything, you get better at it and the benefits increase exponentially.

We are always questing. The soul was created by the gods to quest…to seek the unknown. To live a life without soul questing indicates an absence of a sense of destiny.  Our ability to quest reveals the difference between the human being and the beast and the human being and the gods.

The Five Archetypal Soul Quests

There are five archetypal quests. Conscious quests always begin with a question.

Who am I? The quest of finding, knowing and becoming your true, beautiful and good self. (Seek the wisdom and joy of an imagination of where you stand and what you see, the peaceful harmony of all you are and the ongoing deeds of your goodwill)

What do I need? The quest requiring healing the past, liberating the present, and empowering the future.  (Who wouldn’t be happy to be developing and increasing wholeness, freedom and strength?)

How do I get it? The quest requiring clarity, creativity, perseverance, devotion. (Imagine discovering the force of focus, skills, energy and love  in your striving.)

Who will help me? The quest requiring vulnerability, trust, receptivity and humility. (Yes, there will always be help though it won’t always be recognized as such.)

How will I overcome the obstacles? The quest requiring equanimity, fortitude, resilience and confidence in the face of attack, sabotage, abandonment, doubt and despair. (Yes, hidden in the shadows of the soul, you find your inner battlefields. Be prepared.)

The five apply equally to each of the four areas of life: contribution, relationship, well-being and moral/spiritual development. For example…Who am I as a mother? What do I need as a mother? How do I get it as a mother, through mothering? And so on.

Only One Question at a Time!

We can only work with one archetypal question at a time. My questions around my work right now focus mostly on “Who will help me?” and “How will I overcome obstacles?” Although both are hugely demanding, I must choose one.  So I can go to sleep with the pre-quest question, “Should my first quest be for help or for understanding my obstacles?” If I attempt to do both, I will fail on my quest. I can only take one step in one direction at a time!

Soul quests as journeys take place during our sleeping but we prepare during our waking hours. We must prepare for our journey by declaring our quest which is the simple process of writing down the question ( one of the simple five archetypes or a unique expression of one of them , speaking it out loud and opening our heart before we fall asleep. A soul question awakens in the sleeping heart. It is not about daytime logic or expectation. You will need a willingness to change, evolve and let go: You fall asleep your existing self holding a heartfelt question, go on your quest, and wake up your future self holding an ability to respond to the question with wisdom and love. 

There is more to share about soul questing, but that will wait for future posts.  If you have any questions or thoughts on soul questing, please comment here. Your questions and thoughts will help all of us as we quest for our future selves.

Much loving support to you on your soul quests.  Good questing!