What does serving mankind really mean? When individuals serve the self through the exploitation of others, it is easy to recognize the injustice. But there is another type of injustice, one that appears benign on the surface but is just as insidious, precisely because it can appear so logical. It is the trap of believing that when we serve ourselves, we also serve others.
Consider whether the following service to self sound bite sounds familiar:
As long as we take care of ourselves and leave others to do the same, all is good in the world. All people should be free to create prosperity for themselves and their families. After all, if everyone just focused on being responsible, everything would take care of itself.
I take care of my family, my friends, and myself, and I take care of those who take care of me. Consequently, we are able to build a more prosperous world. I am careful not to get in another person’s way—so long as, of course, someone doesn’t get in mine. By focusing on self reliance there is no need to rely on others; the system works, right?
Not really. The idea of service to the self as a way of serving others is a clever distortion of what is really going on. Specifically, by focusing only on service to the self and those close to the self, we deny our true nature: the collective existence of our larger self.
We deny the whole, and thereby we embed ourselves more deeply into the illusion-of-separation.
From an economic point of view, this distorted reasoning keeps us from knowing the greatness of our collective brilliance—our true source of wealth and prosperity. The puzzle can never be complete unless every last one of its pieces is put into place.
When we are truly serving others, the notion of war is unthinkable. The same is true for the 30,000 children who die of hunger every day: when we act from spirit, their suffering is unthinkable.
With the rise of spirit consciousness come deep and abiding bonds with others, greater degrees of collaboration, and deep awareness that the each of us necessarily includes the all of us. What harms one ultimately harms all.
The bird is the flock, and the flock is the bird. It is hard to imagine us knowing ourselves as the flock, but in time, it will feel perfectly natural.
With spirit consciousness come also birth of true wisdom and a new form of human being.
From the book Henry’s Puzzle – Awakening to Infinity (2011) All Rights Reserved.
