If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed, or subscribe by e-mail. Don't forget to leave a comment or send an e-mail from the about page. Thanks for visiting!
Almost all of us are taught when we are young that serving others is a good thing. Some of us experience the lesson of “look out for number one”. The lesson is so large and so far-reaching that most kids don’t or can’t grasp it.
Better to give than receive.
Most of us have heard this one before. We hear it when exchanging gifts, but ask any kid for their honest answer, and they’ll tell you: Better to get than to give. This is normal, and part of the growing process. The same process applies across our lives. As we grow, we (hopefully) learn to appreciate the opportunity to help and support our fellows. It’s not about looking to foster gratitude. Like a mature person exchanging gifts, the reward is seeing the happiness on the face of the recipient.
What do you want in your world?
I’ve gone into the duality between your inner world and the world around you. The reverse is also true. How you treat the world around you is an indicator of how you treat yourself. If you are disrespectful and destructive everywhere you go, then I have no doubt that you treat yourself with the same disrespect and destruction. On the same note, if you are honestly and joyfully helping others then this too reflects on your inner world. The “joyful” is the operative term. If you are forcing yourself to do it because “you have to”, then I have some words from Heinlein for you:
“Being generous is inborn; being altruistic is a learned perversity. No resemblance—”
My only comment on this would be that I think we each have generosity inborn; in some it has been twisted into a self-destructive altruism. If you aren’t happy to help, you’re probably better off not doing it. Your negativity will poison you and all you come in contact with.
That’s not to say that you should just abandon your needs and do for others to your detriment. Doing so is usually not very helpful to the people you are trying to help and is cheating everyone. If you are serious about helping, then you need to look after yourself. By ensuring that you are healthy on all levels, you open the possibility of helping others more than if you burn yourself out and crash.
Helping yourself - literally.
One more point to consider: Depending on your world view, you may find that those you are helping really are you. There are many ways of expressing this. Some would say that we are all Children of God. Others would say that we are all Ideas of the Mind. Some would say that you are a piece of the Divine Presence and so are they, making you part of each other literally. All of which brings us to the same point: Be good to yourself, and be good to your world.
