We usually equate 'service' with feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, giving alms to the poor. But the hunger and poverty of the soul is deep today, and must also be fed. As much as humans need bread, water and shelter, we need the opening of the heart and the expansion of awareness.
Nourished merely by physical bread and water, without the infusion of spiritual energy, humans survive for another day, but they do not evolve. Merely to eat, drink, work and sleep without evolving, is to be trapped in endless karmic circles of wealth and poverty, war and peace, health and sickness. Only awakening the spiritual energy can turn this circle of karma into a spiral of evolution. We are called not to endless rounds of mere sensory existence, but to an upward-spiraling release in divine love. We live in a vortex of transformation, not a circle of repetition.
Some serve humanity by offering food and shelter to the poor; some serve by offering inner alms to awaken awareness and expand the heart - gifts of meditation, healing breath, and yoga practice. To feed the hungry is profound and beautiful service. To teach meditation is also profound and beautiful service. Let us serve humanity on all levels, for 'man cannot live by bread alone' ~Deuteronomy 8:3.
Detail: The Gathering of Manna from Heaven, Bernardino Luini, c 1520
1 comment:
"...we need the opening of the heart and expansion of awareness..." So true! Nourishment/Inspiration for the "soul"/spirit/heart as service too - lovely, yes. I had never quite thought of service in this way before - but am glad that it is being recognized as such. And you are doing a find job here :)
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