Perhaps the most important juncture in life may be the juncture between the choice for service to self alone and the choice for service to others – and self.
Ignoring the self component altogether is a recipe for burnout. So as long as you realize that I’m not wanting to lose it by contracting the phrase, I’ll say service to self and service to others.
These are evolutionary stages, I imagine. I think they’re waystations on the road to the development of One-consciousness.
We have self-awareness by virtue of being human. We may lack an awareness of the situation of others or adequate early guidance or experience on why we should care. We just may not have developed overly much in the area.
I certainly was that way during most of my life – until March 13, 2015 and a heart opening. (1)
Graduating from service to self alone to service to self and others probably occurs by the time most of us are young adults. But for some it doesn’t.
Self-absorption or narcissism may develop. What’s the problem with that?
The problem is what I mentioned a few days ago: Love must flow. If we try to keep it to ourselves, as in self-absorption, it disappears.
I’m not aware of what the pleasures of a self-absorbed life are. Probably mainly sensory. But I don’t think they’d ever reach or provide the satisfaction of the kind of love I’ve experienced and have in mind. (2)
No one can ever own that love. We can only experience it passing through us as we give it away to others, as Michael told us:
“Love is the energy of the universe. It is the energy of the Mother. And it moves constantly, continually, eternally, infinitely. So, to have an experience of love, it [must move] through you.” (3)
In a life of service to others, love moves through us, even if that service is sitting meditating and sending love out to the world. We get to feel the love as it passes through us on its way out to others.
Feeling that love proves all that matters. We’re lost to it once it happens. Run into the lake of love, Sri Ramakrishna said. Jump into it. Fall into it. Just get yourself into it. (4) It’ll prove the answer to any and all of our problems. In the end, they were all just about wanting to feel that love.
One cannot be self-absorbed and feel that love. Knowing this and feeling the love flowing through us lends corresponding attractiveness to a life of service to others.
It blurs the distinction between self-interest and altruism. It turns out that it serves our self-interest to be altruistic. The more I do it, the more love flows through me.
If I’m attuned to the higher vibrations, I know that I receive my reward immediately and, at these higher levels, out of all proportion to my service.
One drop of bliss is out of all proportion to any act of service. The problem is our bliss, short of Ascension, is only temporary. But later, once anchored in a higher dimension, it’ll be both full and permanent.
Now that I understand that love must flow, I obtain the bliss I desire through flowing love to others in service.
I have both the bliss we’d normally associate with meditation and the ability to serve others by writing about my experience with it, which I love doing anyways.
I’m uplifted at this moment by a wave of love and bliss out of all proportion to my service in writing this article.
Through service I have the best of all worlds. I make a difference and have what must be the ultimate reward in the course of doing what I cherish. What’s not to love?
Footnotes
(1) On the heart opening, see “Submerged in Love,” March 14, 2015, at http://goldenageofgaia.com/2015/03/14/submerged-in-love/ ; “Activating the Wellspring – Part 1/2,” March 14, 2015, at https://goldenageofgaia.com/2015/03/14/activating-the-wellspring-part-1-2-2/; and “Activating the Wellspring – Part 2/2,” March 15, 2015, at https://goldenageofgaia.com/2015/03/15/activating-the-wellspring-part-2-2/.
(2) See Love Like We Never Imagined It to Be at https://goldenageofgaia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Love-Like-We-Never-Imagined-It-to-Be-1.pdf
(3) “Archangel Michael: Go with the Ebb and the Flow of Love,” channeled by Linda Dillon, April 3, 2014, at https://goldenageofgaia.com/2014/04/05/archangel-michael-go-with-the-ebb-and-the-flow-of-love/.
(4) Breathe love up from your heart; savor it; and breathe it out to the world. That’s one easy way. And it follows the pattern of the Mother: Creation, preservation, and transformation.