06-06-2012, 01:33 PM
Suggestion for discussion:
Implications of Service to Others, (how STO affects self, and who are the others?)
The foundation of the discussion: All things are connected, all things are one. This foundation brings up two perspectives within the concept of STO.
1. Possible imbalance in STO.
As all things are one (you are the other-self), we may extrapolate that service to others includes service to self.
If service to other-selves is sacrificed to service to self, we call this STS, which would require balancing at some point according to Ra. Similarly, service to others, STO, would at some point need balancing by the inclusion of self in the service.
When focused on service to others, one often forgets the self. This indicates an open heart and compassion, yet perhaps not enough wisdom to see the whole picture. When one sacrifices the self for service to others, one is ignoring a part of creation (the self). At some point of integration of the Law of One, there may be no choosing who or what to do service for and no "act" of service would be necessary, as the entire life, focus, intent, and awareness would be on the oneness of all.
In both cases, STS, and, STO with little or no inclusion of self, separation causes the imbalance.
2. Who or what to be of service to.
Another example of separation is in where we choose to be of service: humans choose mostly to serve humans, and yet there are many life forms right here with us (animal life, plant life, mineral life, the planet itself). We say there is not enough time to do everything, to be of service to everything; we choose what to focus our service on rather than just to be of service in every moment. Being of service every moment sounds exhausting, yet, I don't think it is. In each moment, if one is connected to all things, it would not be a matter of selecting what to be of service to; rather, one would always simply flow with the idea of being one with all things, that all life is sacred, and one would automatically choose the path of least harm to all.
It might be posited that in choosing what to be of service to, one unintentionally underscores separation.
Implications of Service to Others, (how STO affects self, and who are the others?)
The foundation of the discussion: All things are connected, all things are one. This foundation brings up two perspectives within the concept of STO.
1. Possible imbalance in STO.
As all things are one (you are the other-self), we may extrapolate that service to others includes service to self.
If service to other-selves is sacrificed to service to self, we call this STS, which would require balancing at some point according to Ra. Similarly, service to others, STO, would at some point need balancing by the inclusion of self in the service.
When focused on service to others, one often forgets the self. This indicates an open heart and compassion, yet perhaps not enough wisdom to see the whole picture. When one sacrifices the self for service to others, one is ignoring a part of creation (the self). At some point of integration of the Law of One, there may be no choosing who or what to do service for and no "act" of service would be necessary, as the entire life, focus, intent, and awareness would be on the oneness of all.
In both cases, STS, and, STO with little or no inclusion of self, separation causes the imbalance.
2. Who or what to be of service to.
Another example of separation is in where we choose to be of service: humans choose mostly to serve humans, and yet there are many life forms right here with us (animal life, plant life, mineral life, the planet itself). We say there is not enough time to do everything, to be of service to everything; we choose what to focus our service on rather than just to be of service in every moment. Being of service every moment sounds exhausting, yet, I don't think it is. In each moment, if one is connected to all things, it would not be a matter of selecting what to be of service to; rather, one would always simply flow with the idea of being one with all things, that all life is sacred, and one would automatically choose the path of least harm to all.
It might be posited that in choosing what to be of service to, one unintentionally underscores separation.
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