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Invisible Acts of Power
By Caroline Myss|
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Service to others is not only a social ideal, it is a spiritual ideal and a spiritual necessity. Virtually all world spiritual traditions tell us that we serve the divine through caring for other people. You cannot isolate yourself and evolve in spiritual awareness. The Talmud states, “All men are responsible for each other.” And Jesus taught, “That which you do to the least of these my brethren you do unto me.”
Folklore and fairy tales are also filled with lessons about the values of love, compassion, generosity and caring for family, friends, the sick and the elderly. These are the virtues that matter to heaven…even if there is no heaven. And these are the virtues we are required to develop and refine on our spiritual journey.
Classic mystical teachings remind us that the process of enlightenment unfolds for reach of us on a path that we walk alone. On that path, everyone we encounter matters…The message is that we are spiritually responsible for each other and we are meant to discover and nurture the divine that exists within each person.
The message is also that the gods or heaven or the universe observes our actions and records and rewards them. In the Bhagavad-Gita, Lord Krishna tells the hero, Arjuna, “engage yourself in selfless service of all around you, For selfless service can lead you at last to me.” The Qur'an also emphasizes that heaven observes how we distribute our wealth and weighs how we will be blessed:
A kindly word and a forgiving attitude are better than a charitable action which brings hurt in its train...Do not nullify your charitable deeds by posing as munificent or by painfully embarrassing others, as do those people who expend their wealth just be seen of men, with no faith in God and the last Day. These are to be likened to a nearly bare rock whose scanty soil is left quite denuded after a storm of driving rain. Such people derive no profit at all from their amassings.
Compare this with Jesus' directions:
Be careful not to parade your uprightness in public to attract attention; otherwise you will lose all reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give alms, do not have it trumpeted before you; this is what the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win human admiration. In truth I tell you, they have had their reward. But when you give alms, your left hand must not know what your right is doing; your almsgiving must be secret, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.
—Matthew 6:1-4
Similar theologies of service to others are found in Judaism, Buddhism, Taoism and Native American wisdom, each noting that our behavior is registered by a force greater than our own. Buddhism and Catholicism are known for their rich history of saints, bodhisattvas and mystics, many of whom attained their iconic status by their service to humanity. Mother Teresa's work with the poor, destitute and dying in India, for instance, earned her the world's respect and gratitude as well as the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979…
Few people, of course, have the drive to live as Mother Teresa did, and I doubt that even the heavens expect many of us to be called to such devotion. But just a few of these rare individuals—these saints—make us examine our own reaction to people who need help and so also to examine our personal values and actions...We need to accept ourselves, our own power, our need to develop our own power, and our responsibility to use our power and intuitive guidance in service to others and to the divine.
…In connecting to the divine in others, we connect to God….Our actions—our works—are an expression of our faith—our belief in goodness—and an expression of love...the New Testament famously says, “God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace about to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”
Mystics and saints maintain a consciousness about the presence of God within themselves and others. They aim to practice this mindfulness at every moment—at prayer, at work, when dealing with each other. Out of this practice of noticing, of awakening to who is around us and what is around us, out of this mindfulness of ourselves and others, we create invisible acts of power.
This article is an excerpt from Invisible Acts of Power by Caroline Myss/ Copyright © 2004 by Caroline Myss.
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