THE LIFE OF SERVICE
by Dr. Lawrence Wilson
© February 2023, LD Wilson Consultants, Inc.
All information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.
Contents
Definition
The Basic Philosophy Of Service
Gaining And Losing
It Is All About Motives
What Service Is Not
Does It Matter Whom You Serve
II. WHY IS SERVICE AN IMPORTANT IDEA?
III. QUALITIES OF THE SERVICE-ORIENTED PERSON
IV. PROBLEMS WHEN GIVING SERVICE
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DEFINITION
1. Service is a helpful act or activity. It is a way of living in which you give of yourself and help others, not just yourself.
2. Service is also an attitude about life, and about how one should think and act.
THE BASIC PHILOSOPHY OF SERVICE
The idea of serving is based on an assumption that we are all joined at one level. Therefore, by helping others, one must help oneself.
In contrast, by helping mainly oneself, in fact one harms oneself. The reason is because we are so connected to everyone else that their needs and ours are identical. You don’t need to know the people very well for this to be understood.
As a result, as you serve others and the greater good in a wise manner, you will benefit immeasurably.
ALWAYS INCLUDE YOURSELF IN THE CIRCLE OF YOUR LOVE
The wise way to be of service is to always include yourself in the circle of your love. In other words, do not ignore yourself when you give service, for if you do, you will sicken or “burn out”. This is a very important concept related to giving service.
GAINING AND LOSING
Service is never about gaining anything for yourself at the expense of another. Service is never about taking advantage of the weakness, ignorance, stupidity or carelessness of others.
Service is about helping others to overcome these qualities and to make the best of their lives. You will benefit greatly from this, so don’t worry about being number one in anything.
IT IS ALL ABOUT MOTIVES
In the concept of service, the activity you perform matters. It must provide real value to others.
However, your attitude about the activity you are performing also matters. Are you doing it from anger and resentment, or from love for others? Extending love is always best, not projecting your own fear or anger.
WHAT SERVICE IS NOT ABOUT
Service is not sacrifice. Service is not poverty. Service is not slavery to anyone or anything. This is very important to recall at all times.
If service sinks into slavery, poverty, lack or sacrifice of yourself, you are not in service any more. You are in some other mental/emotional space that is usually not healthful. Service means you are joyously giving of your time and talents to assist others.
DEVELOPING YOURSELF IS A VERY HIGH FORM OF SERVICE
Some would say it is the most spiritual and highest form of service you can perform. The reason is that as you develop, as we use the word on this website only, you will automatically spread much more light and love to everyone on earth.
Your energy field will grow and become brighter. You will uplift everyone on earth in ways that no other method can achieve. For details, read Introduction To Development and Introduction To The Development Program.
II. WHY IS SERVICE AN IMPORTANT IDEA?
Service is one of the most important concepts of life on earth. Service is about giving back the gift of life that has been given to you. As you do this, your life will change for the better. You may not see it at first, but it will occur.
Some who watch religious television networks know this. When people decide to live for service, all kinds of wonderful things begin to happen to them, often in odd and unusual ways.
It is as though God, or the universe, or perhaps your higher or Real Self waits for you to commit to a life of service so your life can be used for some wonderful project. When anyone, at any age, makes the decision to give over his or her life to service, high-level beings take notice!
They jump for joy and they immediately “share the case load” with you. This means they will set before you a task. It may seem menial or even trivial, but it is a task that needs doing.
Often the first tasks are fairly simple, though not always. If you follow through with these, others tasks are set before you that require more intelligence or activity or some kind. In this way, you grow in spirit, you grow in character, your life becomes filled with more interesting people, places and events, and you take your place slowly as a master of this planet, not a victim of it.
It may seem odd to say that by serving, and being obedient to your high self or God, that you become a master. However, this is exactly how it works.
The true masters are true servants of others and of God or the universe. So to become one of them, you, too, must learn to serve and serve correctly, all of the time.
III. QUALITIES OF A PERSON WHO LIVES A LIFE OF SERVICE
This is a very important section. It is one thing to want to be of service. However, everyone needs to learn, practice and thus develop the qualities needed to be of service. Otherwise, your desire to be of service will never come to fruition properly. You may burn out, become depressed or overwhelmed, or just fail at your tasks.
Here are the most important qualities of a service life:
STEADINESS. The person of service keeps going when the going gets rough. This is essential, and perhaps the most important quality. You must not be discouraged when things do not work out right. That is just a small rock on the road that you must push aside and move on.
This means, first and foremost, that when things do not go well, do not give up. Giving up is the end of the game, and definitely no fun for a person in service. That option must be ruled out.
This does not mean that you can’t or won’t change course if an action you are involved in is not working. However, don’t give up on the life of service.
Also, when disappointment strikes, you are not to become too discouraged or depressed. When there is not enough money, or not enough people to help, or not enough time to help, you are not discouraged. You realize it is not up to you to solve all problems, in most cases. Your responsibility is to keep on going, and do your best.
If you are bright, clever and courageous, sometimes you may be able to solve the problems that arise. If you do, you are demonstrating other abilities and you will be given more complex tasks in the future.
Having said this, a person must not be so steady that he or she ends up dead, or a martyr. This is not the goal of service. You must stay alive, you must eat and have a place to live. So if the task or situation is draining the life out of you, steadiness also leads to another quality of the person who lives in service to others.
KNOWS WHEN TO LET GO. This quality is also essential for service. Some projects are literally “mission impossible”. They are just not ready to happen.
Those who do not have this quality of knowing when to quit become disabled, depressed or ill. Then they often become a burden to society because someone must care for them, and perhaps even bury or cremate, them. That is not service, but stupidity. However, it is very common on planet earth.
So learning when to leave, when to stop, when to end a relationship, when to end a project, when to say that God must have other plans for me - this is vital. Once again, it is a learning experience to find the balance between steadiness or stick-to-itiveness and when to let go. An article on this website may help entitled Letting Go.
DETERMINED. The next factor to learn if you want to be of service is related to steadiness, but is slightly different.
The person of service is always slightly unusual, very determined, and not easily dissuaded. It is a somewhat rough, somewhat masculine even if it is in a woman, and always admired by others. It will make your enemies angry, though, and will create some enemies, so beware.
Determination is needed because life presents many challenges, and one must overcome them in order to succeed. Everyone in service learns this at one time or another.
You see, there are forces that want only the status quo or worse - they want destruction. So if you are in service and trying to build a better life or a better world, they will naturally oppose you. This is fine, and you must accept it as “normal”.
The correct response is to be ruthless, meaning determined, in your pursuit. Any other response will usually bring down your effort because the opposing forces are often brutal, even if it is in a veiled way.
So, for example, if you want to change the government to get rid of corruption, realize that the forces of corruption will not just yield. They have been there for years, in most cases, and have established themselves firmly. They have their “friends in high places” whom they will call upon to stop you. So you must be ruthless, preferably with a smile, in your pursuit.
SINGLE-MINDED OR VERY FOCUSED. To be of service, one must be very focused on your mission, objective or goal. Many who seek to be of service fail because they cannot maintain their focus or objective well enough in the face of opposition or temptation.
Opposition means the forces that would oppose your objective or goal. Temptation means the forces that would oppose your service by distracting you. So becoming single-minded and focused, and becoming immune to distraction, is a key to service.
UNSELFISH. Selfishness, in this article and context, means that you want to offer service, but only on your terms. You want a nice house, a nice car, perhaps, some nice friends, a few vacations, a decent salary, perhaps, or whatever else you believe you need to be of service.
Unselfishness may be the most important quality of service. If you are selfish, you will be too easily co-oped, distracted, bought off, bribed or just become lazy and decide to quit. You will also be influenced by all sorts of forces that will take you off your chosen path of service.
Selfish people do not like “the heat”, or perhaps the cold, or perhaps the deprivation, or perhaps the people you must deal with, or something else.
Selfishness is a lower center attribute, which means it is a regression to a lower level of existence in which you actually believe you are just a physical being, like an animal, that must have all its physical and other needs met first, before you can go forward with a project. This attitude is a killer of service. So watch out for selfishness.
Selfishness of any kind has another negative effect. It saps your strength and drive. Instead of focusing totally on your service, you find yourself focused on whether things are neat in the house, or whether your clothing is pretty enough. Some who are selfish focus on whether people like them a lot.
All such considerations dampen your service and diminish it a lot. We have all been “helped” by sales people and other service people who clearly are not as focused on service as they are focused on themselves in some way – their clothes, their manners, their paycheck, their golf game that is at 4 PM so they need to leave and come back later, or something else other than serving you and taking care of your needs in the moment.
SURVIVAL-ORIENTED OR PRACTICAL. This quality has to do with knowing when to let go and quit, but it is much broader. To be successful in service and in life, you must survive, and survive well.
This may sound silly, but most people who want to be of service die too young, cutting short their service. This applies to doctors, parents, even children, teachers, and many others. So watch out for this essential quality.
To be of service fully, you must survive and thrive. You must be practical, take a long-term view of life, measure your strengths and weaknesses, take steps to care for your health and your body, get plenty of sleep, not depend on doctors too much but rather learn the truth about your health from this website and others, and so on.
This is all about being a practical, clear-headed person and not a mush-head, air-head, space-cadet type of person who is not taking care of himself or herself properly, and thus not surviving well.
A common example is found in church volunteers. They sit and eat cookies and cake, and wonder why they are tired, overweight and really do not do as good a job as they could if they followed the development program.
Following a complete development program is an excellent step in the right direction. Many articles on this website discuss this approach to health and healing. It teaches self-discipline, basic knowledge about the body and health, and sets one on the proper course.
HONEST. You will find that to truly be of service, brutal honesty is quite important. Honesty is not easy! It means being honest and authentic with yourself, first, and being honest with others to the greatest extent possible.
It means you must guard against little lies, exaggerations and deceptions that easily creep into one’s thoughts. It also means to watch out for little lies you tell yourself to make you feel better, or to avoid discouragement.
It means you must watch out for little untruths you spread around about your enemies, for example, because you think this will weaken them. It may weaken them, but often they backfire on you when the truth is found out and you are found out to be a liar. Honesty is thus a difficult lesson for anyone who wishes to be of service.
Some people are naturally honest. Others must learn this lesson the hard way, so to speak, usually by failing at a task or being fired from a position of authority for overstepping, leaking information, exaggerating or doing something else unethical or dishonest.
DIRECT AND OPEN WITH COMMUNICATION. This is another critical quality for the person who wants to perform service or be of service. This quality relates to honesty, but is somewhat different. It has to do with being direct and to the point, forthright, forthcoming, open and clear with communication.
Many who wish to be of service are not clear and open about their intentions and their goals. As a result, the outcome is not nearly as good. Others are clear about their goals, but not about their methods, tactics, personal needs or other needs, so they fail on that account.
So learning to be organized, direct, open with communication, forthright and forthcoming are very important qualities for the life of service. If you notice you are “hedging”, hemming and hawing, or “beating around the bush”, let this go. Be clear and up front.
A LOVER AT HEART. This is another essential quality of the person of service. In the context of this article, being a lover means to take life a bit easy, laugh at yourself now and then, be willing to give someone a hug if it is helpful, and learn to relax with people.
It is a quality of the fourth energy center in which you are able to get along with all sorts of people and situations, and not get too serious or intense. You are able to balance your goals and your service with simple human loving and kindness. If you can do this, you will succeed much better.
Just for clarification, “being a lover” in this context has nothing to do with sex or romance. Neither is it about giving or receiving hugs and kisses, giving gifts to people, or boosting people’s egos or your own ego in some way. In fact, these traits are its opposite.
Instead, becoming a lover means one is committed to service, but not so serious that things upset you. You will learn to avoid becoming angry and defensive, or disabled by problems and failures, which inevitably occur.
Becoming a lover of yourself is also very important for your health. Otherwise you will take things too seriously, “burn out”, and become ill.
Lovers at heart take time out for relaxation every day. You must also take time for some recreation and play. This is to keep things from getting too intense.
Intensity is good when needed, and is part of the warrior spirit. However, there must also be relaxation, laughter, play and just loving the moment. Do not take anything too seriously.
HIGH INTEGRITY, OR THE WARRIOR SPIRIT. Integrity is a wonderful word to memorize and think about for hours. It is related to the word integrated, which means put together properly and coordinated properly. It is also related to the word integer, which means a whole number and not fractionated.
Integrity must be the watchword of anyone who wishes to be of service. It means, in essence, that your entire life - your lifestyle, your habits, your friends and all else - fits together in a wholesome, honest, meaningful way.
Integrity is even more than this. It has to do with wholeness and oneness. It means that all aspects of your life work together harmoniously and ethically. For more, read the article entitled Integrity on this website.
A PIONEERING SPIRIT. This is another essential quality for anyone who wishes to be of service. A pioneer is someone who is willing, if needed, to go where no one has gone before.
A pioneer is also a person who is willing to lead. This, however, I will call a separate quality because it is somewhat different.
A pioneer is somewhat fearless, too. After all, it is much easier to follow in the footsteps of others than it is to blaze a trail through the mountains and the swamps of life.
So a pioneer requires courage, fortitude, practicality, survival-orientation and some of the other qualities listed above. All of this is part of the pioneering spirit.
A LEADER. The person who wishes to be of service is necessarily a leader because the world, at present, is not about service. So one must be willing to be different, to be out in front of the masses in terms of your ideas, your motives and your methods. You cannot be deterred because the masses of people reject you, think you are strange, or even wish to harm you for your ideas.
Being a leader is about more than this, but this is the main idea here. To be of service does not mean you need to be the head of the organization, the fund-raiser, the boss, or anything like this. It just means you will be separate from the masses and the crowds who mainly want to indulge their ego selves.
ABOUT WHAT, NOT ABOUT WHO OR WHOM. Service is always an impersonal subject, even though it is usually about people. To be of service, one must overcome personal biases, prejudices, racial, religious stereotyping, and other prejudices such as what a person should look like, talk like, eat, or other personal habits.
This is actually a critical quality of service. You will not succeed if your entire group or staff or organization must fit some mold and cannot be flexible. Flexibility is another quality of service related to the idea of knowing when to let go.
This quality of making it about what, not who, is important because most people have personal agendas and biases, whether they realize it or not. These always get in the way of true service.
One way around these is to focus on the spiritual or non-physical side of life. In other words, underneath our skin and all other trapping such as clothing, material goods and the rest, we are all souls, and all one. Anyone who is willing to lend a hand is welcome.
SMOOTHNESS. This is a wonderful quality that just means that a person can handle bumps in the road without becoming too unhappy or upset. It also means a quality that can smooth out troubles that others are having, which enables work to go forward much more swiftly and smoothly.
SKILLED AND COMPETENT. This is a large stumbling block for many who wish to be of service. Many people would like to help out, but they lack the experience and skills to really help in the way in which they would like. As a result, they cannot find employment, or their help is less than ideal.
The answer is to obtain skills, read up on your area of expertise, stay abreast of new developments in your field, take simple jobs that build your skills and competence, and practice your skills often.
Some people do not want to learn, believing that they should be able to somehow just do everything the first time they try it. This is never the case, however. Learning and practicing skills is definitely always needed for most service, and is helpful in all cases.
COOPERATIVE, MEANING ABLE TO GET ALONG WELL WITH OTHERS. This quality is very helpful. It is contained in the other qualities, but perhaps it is best listed separately. Getting along with others requires a relaxed quality, a lack of harshness, some tact, and the ability to avoid getting caught in personal prejudices.
It also requires that a person be open to the ideas and creative efforts of others. Only in this way can a group or team work together creatively.
WHO CAN BE OF SERVICE?
Absolutely everyone can live a life of service. This can begin when a person is in his or her teens, or younger. In fact, many stories fill the news of young people, even in elementary school, who decide at this young age that they will assist poor children in other nations, or something similar. They sometimes amaze everyone with the amount of money they raise, or items they create.
In fact, nothing can deter a person who wants to be of service – not disease, poverty, insufficient skills or anything else.
IV. PROBLEMS WHEN GIVING SERVICE
Problems when giving service can be arranged according to the 7 system:
1. Physical: Sloppiness, incompleteness or in some other way doing a poor quality job.
2. Emotional and sexual: Emotional blocks that get in the way of giving service. For example, one might allow one's emotions to rule your service. One might just do what feels good, rather than what needs to be done. Some people think with their feelings and this taints their service.
3. Ego level. Giving service, but only on one's own terms, schedule, or timing. For example, one might insist upon a certain level of payment in order to give service, or be fussy about working conditions or the hours of work.
4. Social. Being difficult to get along with, or interacting socially while giving service in ways that interfere with the service. For example, some people waste a lot of time checking their phone messages or chatting with others about unimportant matters.
5. Creativity and teamwork. Giving service that is uncreative or not being willing to work with a team. The fifth energy center has to do with expression. For example, some people won't speak up and participate so their service is lacking in certain qualities.
6. Intellectual. Giving service, but holding on to fixed and/or incorrect ideas or beliefs. For example, some believe that life is just a struggle for survival or is rotten to the core. This will influence one's service in a negative way.
7. Spiritual/religious. Giving service with a bad attitude. One needs to give service with an attitude of love and extending the Love of the creator. However, many people serve with resentment, hostility, anger, or out of guilt and fear.
Some people think of service as something to do in one’s spare time, once in a while, on weekends, or on a mission with the church. However, service can and should be a way of life.
What is service as a way of life?
Service as a way of life means asking yourself continuously, “Is this helping my service to humanity and to God?” This will go a long way to keeping you safe and happy.
Service as a way of life affects every moment of every waking hour, and even during your sleep, as you can ask for dreams while asleep that will guide your service.
Service as a way of life does not mean a particular career or activity. You can be a student, a mother, a father, an office worker, or anything else. It just means you view your entire life as one based around service.
Here are some qualities of service as a way of life:
1. All the time thinking of ways to assist others, and how to assist the awakening of mankind.
2. All the time thinking like a service person, as explained above, such as thinking in terms of the whole system, thinking like a warrior, like a pioneer, focused, with honesty, integrity, and some ruthlessness.
3. Thinking about all the qualities of service all of the time.
4. Constructing a lifestyle or way of living that supports the above, and following through with it. This will need to include many facets of your life such as the friends you spend time with, where you live, how you eat, how much money you spend on clothing and entertainment, and much more.
It might mean that you must watch the television news each day, even though you don’t like it, so that you remain informed about the day’s events. However, it might also mean turning off the television so as not to waste time with it.
It means you will go to bed early every night, even Saturday night, so that you will be fresh and have enough energy each day to carry on your life of service. It may mean you will forego the parties and other distractions that really just waste people’s time so that you can focus better on what matters in life – the service that is your life. This is what service as a way of life entails.
WHY LIVE YOUR ENTIRE LIFE AS ONE OF SERVICE?
1. It is great fun.
2. It works. This means it is rewarding, protects you, creates wonderful friendships, brings lots of love, and more.
3. It will move you forward mentally and spiritually development faster than anything else you can do, other than eating well and caring well for the body with the development program.
4. It provides protection from time-wasting, boredom, laziness, getting in with the wrong crowd, and other hazards of life.
5. It is “in the groove” or “in the zone”. This means that, whether you believe it or not, human beings are built to be of service - to each other, to humanity, and to God or to the universe.
Therefore, if you choose this way of life, you are following your heart’s deepest desire, even if it does not feel that way at times.
A FEW EXAMPLES OF HOW TO SET UP YOUR LIFE FOR SERVICE
Your home. It should not be so large you have to spend money having it cleaned, and it should be simple enough so it is not costly to maintain. It should also be built to be safe so you can relax at home.
Your friends. They need to be people whom you can count upon to help you with your service. They should not be people who demand your time too much, or waste your time with silly music, movies or other distractions.
They should also comfort you when things are rough, and be able to laugh with you and share your successes and trials. They should be there when you need them, not just when they feel like coming over, and they must respect your dignity, your privacy, your health interests and everything else you hold dear.
Even your vehicle. If you have a vehicle, it should not be too flashy, easy to steal, or too costly to maintain. Keep it in good working order. It must be there for you, be comfortable enough to feel good in, and be safe.
Also, keep some tools and extra clothing in the car for emergencies that might involve others. For more details, read Are You A Servant Or A Slave?
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