Service Is Truth and Love in Action
10 May 1997
 
Service is spoken of again and again as the doorway to the soul, the pathway to God, the way to salvation. Why is it that this quality, this action, should be of such paramount importance in our development as spiritual human beings? In my pondering upon this, I came upon this idea:
 
To serve is to think about the welfare of another – whether it is service given to an individual, a group, or a higher ideal. As such, it breaks down the shell that develops around us over the many, many lives we have had where the little self, the personality, thinks only of itself. This shell is like a reflector, bouncing back to us all the feelings we have and creating a self-focussing whirlpool of astral energy (the energy of the feelings). In time, when the little self has discovered again and again that self-gratification does not bring happiness or salvation, it starts to look outside itself, it starts to see the world and the people living in it in a different light, and it starts to seek actively to help those around it – and every time it does, it pierces this shell of selfishness again and again.
 
In time upon this path, as the shell dissipates, the developing personality starts to understand that it is one with the whole of humanity, that all of humanity are of one spirit and belong to the one family, and that service to another is service to oneself.
 
The development of such qualities whereby we seek to help others and the world around us to be a better place for all can be easily understood as a good step forward in maturity as a human being, but how is it that it makes such a difference to our spiritual growth, the growth of our souls? Two thoughts came to me as to why this may be so:
 
First, as personalities we do not start to know and recognise our soul until we have walked a long, long way through many, many lives, because for thousands and thousands of lives our developing consciousness is focussed in the lower bodies – the physical, emotional and mental bodies – learning the fullness of experience on those levels. It is not until a very high level of initiation on the path of discipleship is reached that the personality completely surrenders and becomes fully attuned to the soul; until then, the personality is essentially the one in charge and it possesses the qualities and character that we believe ourselves to be.
 
Thinking upon this, I could then see how learning to serve others selflessly can make such a difference to our spiritual progress, because in learning to serve others, we learn how to surrender our own personal desires to that which is good for the group, and we learn how to make sacrifices. Without these qualities of surrender and sacrifice, we would never be ready for our own souls to descend and start to work actively through us as personalities, and we would never be able to start really developing spiritually.
 
Second, when we start to look outside of ourselves and our own lives, and truly seek to aid the well-being of all life on Earth, and the well-being of this planet itself, we are starting to align ourselves with the impulse and Plan that descends from the Spiritual Hierarchy. In time, when we have shown seriousness and commitment to such effort, we show our souls and the Hierarchy that we really wish to serve the Cause – and in return our souls and the Hierarchy will show more interest in us as personalities and seek to facilitate a quicker progress upon the path, to fit us for greater service in a world so much in need.
 
To be able to serve selflessly is a great and necessary quality for any progress upon the path. It is truth and love in action. Truth, because anything that is given under false pretences is of no good or service to anyone or anything; only that action which is given with the fullness of honesty and sincerity can be called a true gift. And love, because love is the essence that binds us all together as one, that opens us to each other and to the Christ and the Hierarchy, that shines the light upon our Path. To be pure love in action is to stand forth as a Christed soul, a server of the highest good.