Understanding the Life of Service

[thoughts of a   ~burning woman~ Sha’Tara ]

The development of great societies goes through many processes of thought and action.  I want to touch on these processes and compare with the level of ‘spiritual evolution’ extant on planet Earth today. 

What constitutes a great society?  Primarily it is one that eschews violence, whether it be as a means of resolving conflict between individual entities or groups; as a means of profit for an individual or group; or as a means of entertainment for an individual or group.  In a great society there is little fear.  The people and their systems have developed a mechanism that guarantees safety for the ‘small’ or the weak and powerless, hence no one is ‘small,’ ‘weak,’ or ‘powerless.’  That mechanism is empathy.  You could say that empathy is the ‘mechanical’ aspect of compassion for whereas compassion is always and ever a choice one must make, empathy is a sense.  The true empath cannot choose whether to feel the happiness or the pain of another – it is an autonomic response.  A world of fully developed empaths will not experience exploitation or oppression for whatever one feels, all feel.  That makes sense, does it not?

How do great societies become such?  It’s as simple as it is difficult.  It begins with an individual who sees ‘service’ as its sole purpose; who commits to live an entire life fully dedicated to the service of others.  This realized and accepted purpose broaches no excuses for failure. 

What does ‘service to others’ mean exactly?  I’m not sure there’s an easy, or simple answer.  I know it begins with a rejection of a lesser society’s values – across the board.  Whatever makes the lesser society function, the individual committed to service will abandon completely.  They do not achieve the purpose, so why flog a dead horse, as the saying once went?  Rejecting society’s values entirely allows an individual to begin anew.  Having spent years assessing the things that do not work, the would-be ‘servant’ casts a fresh look over the ‘field’ and enters phase two: personal change.  It stands to reason that if I am not willing to change myself according to my observations I too will fail, utterly and ignominiously – even if I become a best seller on subjects related to servanthood – there are too many of those.

In one lifetime an individual may succeed in changing enough to begin experiencing the fruits of servanthood.  Those fruits - more on that in a later essay - will at first taste quite sweet.  Then as understanding develops, they become bitter-sweet.  In the end, as such things go, they will be most bitter indeed.  In societies such as that of Earth the truly good is never easy, never simple, never cheap because it stands alone against everything that puts itself as better, unique, superior, successful or necessary to attain the ‘good’ life, whether here or in the hereafter. 

The change an individual choosing servanthood needs to undergo are in these most demanding areas: self-denial.  Self-sacrifice.  Detachment from all ‘special’ relationships, including those of love and family.  Eschewing of personal property, comfort and convenience.  Love of enemies, individual or collective.  Taking responsibility for everything in one’s life.  Acceptance of the burden of on-going self-judgment.  Equally rejecting praise or condemnation coming from others.  Standing alone with every thought, every decision and every move.  Dying alone to face the future alone with only one’s personal integrity as passport to wherever.  Acceptance of all the demands of self-empowerment as presented by compassion.

I think that if one individual does this and another sees it and chooses a similar path, that a lesser society can change.  Without knowing much about her, I long ago ‘chose’ Mother Teresa as my own example of servanthood.  I’ve heard ‘stuff’ said about her but whether good or bad I caught her vision of a better world.  Now it’s my vision also, though it may manifest in a totally different context.  

I can just imagine a few raised eyebrows by some reading this who know me personally.  I’m not going to make excuses for what I say and do that do not match this rather impeccable description of servanthood.  Yes, I have chosen that path rather late in this life.  I don’t know how far I’ll get on it but I know I will never look back.  In my own eyes I’m a total failure at it, yet I know I will ‘make it’ in the end.  If that’s the carrot on the stick in front of me, let it be known that I am holding the stick and I hung the carrot on it.  Let it also be known that if my view of ‘self empowerment’ seems bleak or dismal to some I choose to see the difficulties of the path rather than bask in the illusion that there’s a wonderful rest spot just around the next corner.  Or that I can manifest that rest spot right here and now. 

So why would I not choose to follow an easier path?  I don’t know.  It seems to me there isn’t any that I can trust.  Maybe there is no easier path.  If I’m prepared for the worst, who or what can hurt me or shock me enough to make me lose my balance and fall?

“Now is not the time to fight.  Now is the time to endure.  Exercise caution.  Wait.  If persecution should come, accept it, allow it, do not go looking for your ‘rights’ and fight back.  Do not struggle, for all those who fight now will lose.  There is a time coming when fighting will be required.  But the weapons needed to win that fight have yet to be forged.  Patience.” 

[As recently given to me from ‘The Teachers’ - Sha’Tara]