altruism..
much of my own spirituality has been dependent upon the simple act of thinking of others throughout my day, rather than myself. I have come to learn that the root of my troubles is fear-based self-centeredness. Being stuck in myself is when I create and emit negative energy, when I carry fear to others. To me, the answer to peace lies in ourselves, one simple act at a time, of helping others. Spiritual masters for millenia have talked about the necessity of helping others, and altruism (giving without expecting anything in return.) It's a difficult thing to do, sometimes, if I'm wrapped up in fear and dillusion, it's hard for me to give of myself, because fear blocks me, paralyzes me. For me it takes prayer and it takes meditation to bring myself to a place when I can be of usefulness to others, and to be useful I believe is the goal and the purpose of life.It's changed my life in incredible ways and given me one I could never have imagined, whether you believe in God or not, just one simple act of kindness, may it be just picking up the phone to see how a friend is doing, it works for me, and taking these simple actions gets me out of those fears and selfish desires which rule me, and help me to feel more a part of a world bigger than anything I could have imagined. That, to me, is spiritual growth... and the reason we, on this earth, are here.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by michelle aguilar on
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Thanks for sharing this! It's deep☮ =D
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Permalink Reply by Matt Gallant on
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For me, it's the same thing that it is for everyone else, self-centeredness. The way of life is that we become fearful at times, we become selfish and we become resentful, and that as we grow, learn, love, and create, rather than react, we overcome fear, we are able to let go of selfish desires, and we feel joy.
As Lonny Brown put it,
"I know
That I know
And that I don't know.
But I forget.
I see that I am blind
and I see the blinding light
In everything
But I forget.
I see what I know
I think
I know what I see
But sometimes
I forget
And This is the Way
It should be.
At the end of every forget
I remember.
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By self-centeredness, I mean an attachment to fear-based self-centeredness, if that makes any sense.. it's hard to explain.
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about nothing. But the point is that I'm a human being and I do have an ego, at I am not a saint. I have that self-centeredness that can come into play and keep me disconnected from God from time to time. I believe we all have it, really.
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But also that there is no real basis for it, that there is no logical basis for fear, no real basis, because it's negative energy, it's almost, in a way, a sense of something greater, and a realization that we have not reached that point yet, if that makes any sense at all.
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Permalink Reply by Yaron Fishman on
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Interesting...you may be right, maybe they felt like they could relate to you better after they saw that you too can be sometimes. Either way, it's beautiful how it came around and those smiles lifted you up when you needed it.
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well, wat I'm sort of talking about, at least from my own experience, is this sort of spiritual disconnection, this sense that the world is out to get me, this sense that everyone's talking about me, that everything is about me, or on the other hand that if people aren't talking about me, there must be something wrong with me, that I must not be good enough, or it must have something to do with me, say, if someone flicks me off in traffic or something. This sort of fear-based self-centeredness that so many people can fall victim to. Perhaps few can relate, but it's a spiritual malady, I call it, that many many suffer from, and I, myself, can fall victim to from time to time, my point being though, is that if I try and look at my day as to what I am bringing into the world, rather than what I'm getting out of the world, I feel more connected myself, that feeling like it's all about me ceases, that sense that the world is out to get me ceases, my fears cease to run my thoughts and actions, and I am able to carry light into the world, and pass that light onto others, by thinking of who I can help, for me, helps me. Just about every spiritual practice in the world talks about the importance of selfless service towards others.
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I think what you're saying is beautiful Matt. People sometimes try to define themselves from how they appear to others, or how much they can take from others, or how much more power they have than others. They think that being able to have more than others, or being able to have more power than others will make them happy. As you are saying, happiness comes from the connection that we feel when we share. When we give love to each other, to the earth, to Life..we are happy. Sometimes, however, people take this concept to the extreme and forget to take care of themselves. What I have learned is that I cannot really give and share in the way that i want to If I am not also taking care of myself. When I take better care of myself, I am more able to share and give to the world.
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I think there is the kind of selfishness that seeks to only serve 1 person, and there's also a more constructive kind of selfishness which works for everyone's highest good. It seems to me that the best self love, is when you see that the highest good for You is also the highest good for Everyone. The challenge, in certain situations, is looking through the eyes of love rather than fear, so you can recognize what is the highest good for all involved. So I think a good question is...how do we learn to always see through the eyes of love?
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One small moment or day at a time, with prayer and meditation, and trying to make every action we take for God, or whatever we perceive God to be, seeing ourselves in others, and others in ourselves, as Krishna put it in the Bhagavad Gita. For me it's small, simple acts of goodness and altruism daily for others, that make all the difference for me in my life and my own personal, internal wellbeing.
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Beautiful.
"Why should there be hunger and deprivation in any land, in any city, at any table, when man has the resources and the scientific know-how to provide all mankind with the basic necessities of life?"
~Martin Luther King, Jr.
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