(09-12-2011, 04:27 PM)Namaste Wrote: Thanks for sharing that. Congratulations with the baby :¬)If I may add my own bit to this.
One thing to note - when you make a decision, it's not either or, it's and; a balance.
You can make a decision to offer a homeless person money, with a small part of you feeling that it's also beneficial for you. For example, 70% STO and 30% STS.
I think that what literally happens in all the "giving away so you become STO, but refraining for only helping others so you help yourself" situation seems quite complicated when checked from the outside, but can be very simple when seeing from the inside.
From the outside, it might seem that one gives money to the homeless in an act of "pursuing" an "STO state", and he is "pursuing" the "STO state" because he "needs" that for "positive harvest", right? So an immediate struggle follows with the one's own ego: "you are doing this because you want yourself to be harvested, or to feel better." People with yet to be resolved inner conflicts might feel "You are just a liar, you are lying to yourself, and you are showing a better face than you are to others aswell". But at the end of the day...
...at the end of the day, helping a homeless is helping part of something that you are also a part of. You help him, and you feel a slight connection. Your ego might try to wrestle with you about it, but as you grow more and more accustomed to the feeling of being one with others, your "STO/STS" feelings will disappear. Chances are, that you are already decided to be STO and not STS waaaay before this incarnation, and therefore, simply praciticig the simple realization that all is connected can only be positive, and you will not be harvested because you want to be harvested, but you will be harvested because you are ready for it. That is why there should be no issues with NOT being harvested. We are right where we are supposed to be. This world is beautiful. Every part of the Creation is amazing. Even the struggles. We are all one. We are all the pain, all the hatred, all the suffering too. We are not just the hugs and kisses. We are everything, and the struggles only come because we are not accepting our positions in this huge net of Love, and therefore we are causing disturbances, and being catalysts of pain and fear for others...
So, there is no 70% or 30% or any percentage to me. Helping myself is helping others. Being more balanced - or trying to reach it - helps my family, because they wont worry about me so much. Being more kind to my girlfriend and her family helps both her and her family, because they wont think about me as an antisocial geek anymore, even if the change will take months or years to be realized. It does not matter what the initial goal was: all that matters is that by becoming someone who radiates balance and love, you help everyone else around you. Everyone. Do not be ashamed that everyone includes yourself. All there is is US, anyway.
Edit: Also, I did not fully direct this response to your post. The 70-30 stuff was however, a catalyst that made me write up all this brainstorming : ) So sorry if it seems that I am trying to force down something on other's throat, that was not my intention : )