About Service

Written by Zentai in 2005 from the "Beyond the 12 Steps" series


About Service

Service:
Service is an attitude founded on the recognition that the world has supported you, fed you, taught you, tested you, whether or not you earned it. Understanding this simple truth can move you to do what you can to repay a foundless debt of gratitude. Service is both a means and an end, for in giving to others, you open yourself to love, abundance, and inner peace. You cannot serve others without uplifting yourself.
I first glimpsed the power of service as a therapist. At first, most of my attention was dedicated to myself - my progress, my problems - until I realized that I enjoyed helping others learn new elements even more than learning those elements myself. When I learned and acquired new knowledge, one person benefited; when I gave that to others, many could benefit. Years later, after a lengthy search for personal enlightenment, my exclusive self-focus again shifted to learning not only for my sake, but for the sake of others. Coincident with this shift, extraordinary masters and teachers began to appear in my life, and doors opened within me and in the world.
Submitting ourselves to the needs of others makes heroes of us all. There are countless ways to make a difference - like stopping to assist someone in need, reaching down to pick up a piece of litter, sharing your talents and energy with others in practical ways - this is what it means to be a part of the human family. Again, I repeat; you are not here to contact your higher self; you are here to become it. Serving those around you in the spirit of love becomes enlightenment.
We begin to serve our world by resolving the apparent contradiction between working on oneself and serving others, followed by a reflection on the gift of life; finding your calling; putting your money where your heart is; and how small, everyday acts can make a big difference in the world.
People think service is a kind of charity - strong people giving to weak people, healthy people giving to sick people, rich people giving to poor people, together people giving to people who aren't so together.
To me, true service is an experience of wholeness, fulfillment, fullness, self-reliance, and self-sufficiency for all parties - an experience of the magnificence and infinite capacity of human beings. When I'm really in service, I disappear. My identify is no longer present. I am one with he or she or that which I am serving. It is actually an experience of Spirit, of unity and wholeness. There is nobody giving and nobody receiving. None of that is happening. There is only an experience of unity. We begin to see that we are the expression of one soul. An act of service is an act of love and trust. It's also an act of responsibility and of courage - a stand for the integrity of human life.
Years ago, a single incident reconciled for me this apparent conflict between social activism and inner work. It happened during a period of intense spiritual growth work on myself - meditation, contemplation, visualization, and self-analysis. One afternoon in Osaka, Japan, as I was walking with an old man, Tanaka san, we came upon several large posters on the side of a building. One showed the gaunt faces of starving children; next to it was a plea to help oppressed people around the world; the third pictured the plight of endangered species.
"You know (speaking in Japanese, of course) , Tanaka san," I said, pointing to the posters, "I feel guilty, or selfish, doing all this work on myself when there are so many people in need-" Tanaka san stopped abruptly, turned to me, and said, "Take a swing at me." "What do you mean, take a swing at you?? Did you hear what I said?" "Come on," he urged, moving like a boxer, goading me. "I'll give you some yin if you can slap me on the face."
I figured this was some kind of test, so I took a swing - and found myself on the ground in a painful wrist lock. As Tanaka san helped me to my feet, he made this point. "You notice how effective the right leverage can be?" "Before you help others, you need to understand them. Before you can understand them, you need to understand yourself. Then you will know how to exert the right leverage at the right place and at the right time. The more clarity and courage your actions reflect, the more impact your efforts will have."
Ben Franklin once wrote, "God helps them that help themselves." As you transcend your own limitations and tendencies, you will naturally show loving-kindness to others.
Once you establish physical and spiritual sufficiency, and find enough free attention, self-worth, and will to cultivate a balanced, energized body; once you rise above the storms of mind and emotions to trust your intuition, meet your shadow and face your fears, embrace both your sexuality and your humanity, and awaken your heart - you will have nothing left to do, and nothing that gives you greater meaning or joy, than simple service. Let me be clear about something here. Being of service does not imply letting others "use" you, exploit you or take advantage of you.
Given that no one ever perfectly masters all the lessons, and that work in each lesson contributes to mastery of all others, ask yourself: How can I begin to share my energy, my talent, my heart with others? What would I choose to do if I were already whole and complete? How would I spend my time, my energy, my life? What will be my priorities?
A final day awaits us all. We may know in advance when our end is near, through declining health, a terminal illness, old age. Or we may have only a few seconds' notice, or none at all.
When the executioner raises his scythe, how many of us may want to say, "Wait! Just another moment, please! Let me take one more sweet breath! Give me one more sight, sound, touch my loved ones! Wait! Just one more moment!"
NOW is the time to see, to listen, to touch - bring our best to life while we have the life for it. How much we have, no one can say. Life itself is a near-death experience. Consider how we appear from nowhere, as microscopic specks on a minuscule, blue-green dot moving through the infinity of space and time. Our lives are ephemeral and brief, each of us one cell among billions on the planet, and yet we strive to love, to serve, to find meaning and fulfillment while we live. Life itself is a hero's journey. In this final lesson you have come full circle, in the sense that the action of service provides the ultimate means to establish a solid sense of self-worth, which, you have learned, can favorably impact every facet of your life - so much so that it is questionable whether the receiver or giver of service should offer the most thanks.
Some time ago, after finishing a lecture at a seminar, a woman came up to me and said in a voice so quiet I could hardly hear her, "Excuse me, could I have just a moment? I said yes and waited. It took her another moment to speak. "What you said - about little things make a big difference? Well I wanted you to know how a man's smile once saved a life - my life."
She had my attention as she continued. "I've always been shy. About four years ago I was also suicidal - I had made two half-hearted attempts, but I had decided I was going to do it once and for all. I didn't believe anyone cared whether I lived or died, so I didn't care, either. I was on the way home where I was going to do it, when I saw a man - a nice-looking man, walking in the opposite direction. I don't usually look at people, but in the state I was in, it didn't matter, so I looked at him and he looked back and smiled at me." She smiled as she said this. "He had a wonderful smile, and then he was gone.
"It sounds crazy, I know," she said, "but his smiling at me - it was something I wanted to hold on to for a while, so I - I didn't kill myself that day, or the next. Then I decided to stick around and get some help. Things are better now. I have a boyfriend I love a lot, and a job I like. I just wanted you to know that little things sure can make a difference. Oh, my name is Cheryl," she said, smiling.
Cheryl's story has a clear moral: Although a few of us have an exaggerated sense of self-importance, most of us don't have enough self-importance. We forget that people are watching us, learning from us, being affected and influenced by our example.
Few of us really understand how a kind word, a note to a waiter or waitress, the act of picking up some litter,, or flashing a smile can offer needed encouragement, lift someone's spirit, or make their day. And who knows? It might even save a life.