There is no external mark of a truly spiritual person. You'll recognize it not by whether he or she wears a robe or a business suit, a turban or a baseball cap. How versed he is in the scriptures or whether he knows the rituals has nothing to do with it. It doesn’t matter whether he eats meat or not, takes his rest on Saturday or Sunday or whether he spends his days in devotion or in the office. The mark of a person who is spiritually advanced is that he or she has natural and spontaneous compassion.

— A Step Away from Paradise by Thomas K. Shor, Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo (Page 51 - 52)