Generosity

¡Hola! Everybody...
I was very busy today -- out in the field. I was walking by the NY’s court district right after the Madoff sentencing was handed down. I snapped this photo -- this is your MSM at work...

* * *

-=[ Generosity]=-

“I should be content to look at a mountain for what it is and not as a comment on my life.”

-- David Ignatow

I work for a non-profit and at the heart of our mission is to work towards helping the members of the communities we serve to “empower themselves.” It’s a serious responsibility cutting across all levels for those concerned. After my own spiritual awakening, I made a decision to make service the centerpiece of my life’s mission, and I realized that not all of my motivations were as pure as I would like to think. There’s a dark side to service and I see it all the time, both within myself, and in my colleagues.

In Buddhism, there are different levels of generosity. One starts at the level of giving because you will amass spiritual “points” for the afterlife or at some point out there somewhere. Some give because they hope they will reap some benefits. Others give, and this very much prevalent, because it gives them a sense of identity: “I’m a good person, see how I helped the helpless little natives?” Others give because religious dogma dictates they give. These are the evangelicals who give if you accept their God and their beliefs. It may not be overt, but the pressure to submit is there. There are many reasons, both good and bad, for service.

I think what’s more important than the service is the motivation underlying the movement to serve. For the most part, service is flavored by what stage of development one is serving from. Service from the egocentric (I care for myself) stage will look and feel much different from service from a person who works from an ethnocentric (I care for my tribe, my country, my nation) and that, in turn, will be different from a person who operates from a worldcentric view (I care for all human beings, regardless of race, color, sex, or creed). Service is a tool and wielded by the misguided can do more harm than good.

I’ll attempt a clearer example: Let’s say you are at an ethnocentric stage of development and you have a moment of awakening or spiritual experience of being one with everything, you might interpret that as an experience of oneness with Jesus and conclude that no one can be saved unless they accept Jesus as their personal savior (this is the “ethnocentric interpretation – you must belong to this one group in order to be saved -- and, no, I am not a Christian). Have a spiritual experience at the ethnocentric stage and it will only make you more ethnocentric

See how it works? You can be at any stage of development, experience the same life-changing event and you will interpret it according how you perceive the world. Now, let me see if I can piece this all together. We all know examples of reborn Christians who have had very powerful spiritual awakenings; they glow, they are radiant, and they are fascists. This is because they are still at the ethnocentric stage, and, bless them, think Jesus is the one and only way. But there is hope yet, research shows that the more spiritual awakenings you experience, the more quickly you move through developmental stages.

So, what the fuck does this have to do with self-centeredness of service, you ask? LOL! Well, the teachings of Jesus and others remain relevant today because of the emphasis on service, what I consider a form of prayer in action. People, it’s easy to utter prayers, doesn’t take much effort, really. However, when our spiritual life is about getting something or arriving at some destination it reinforces the feeling of having a need -- of not being there yet. Wanting anything, including a mate, or spiritual enlightenment, works to solidify a universe in which you are missing what you want.

The only cure for this endless and painful quest is service and gratitude, period. LOL… Fucked up, huh? I mean I always thought it would be Halle Berry, but she’s not returning my phone calls these days.

Here’s one level of service as described the Buddhist literature (and echoed in many religious disciplines): Compassionate service. Compassionate service only comes about from doing the inner work to the point where it takes no morality or effort at all. If you put your finger in a flame, it takes no effort or willpower to pull it out. You feel the pain, and the action is spontaneous. When your sense of self expands to include other things aside from the sack of flesh you call “you” and expand your circle of life, you feel those close to you as yourself. When a mother sees her child in danger, standing in the path of an oncoming car, for example, she does not need religious dogma to know what to do. The intimacy she feels with her child makes her action spontaneous. As our ego membrane becomes thinner, and one recognizes The One Spirit everywhere, all things become more intimate, the connection stronger. Everyone becomes a part of us -- one humanity. It is only then that we live in Jesus’ teachings, and the Buddha’s, and Krishna’s too, and the teaching lives in us.

Service, Compassionate Service, is the only true prayer.

Love,

Eddie