© 2022 Tom Choquette
© 2022 The Urantia Book Fellowship
by Tom Choquette
Author’s note: We use the proper noun “Divine” to mean the personality that is the source of all love and everything spiritual.
There are few absolutes in our journey through life, however one of them is the universal attribute; a newborn baby is undeniably selfish. It is a matter of survival and completely necessary for the animal instinct within each of us to succeed in living. This starting off as a self-focused human is exactly how the creator planned it. For the first few years of life everything we do revolves around getting something we need regardless of anyone else’s needs. If we are wet, change us. If we are hungry, feed us. If we are uncomfortable, comfort us. In other words, as a young animal, we really don’t care about anyone except ourselves and that our needs are met. When working to meet our needs, we give no heed to how stressed-out our mom or our dad may be.
Even as we grow older and learn that sometimes we have to give something to receive something in return, initially we give only so we can receive. The idea of doing anything for someone else without a benefit to us has not entered our world view yet. If mom tells us we have to share our toys to get a cookie, or her approval, we will share, but that is only because we receive something of value in return. We are a long way from sharing out of motivation to help others without reward.
As we grow older and we begin to do service for others we do it mainly because it makes us feel better. Doing service at all however is a great milestone. So many are stuck in the stage of only serving others to personally gain from that service.
Over the past several decades I have worked with dozens of young people by inspiring them to serve those less fortunate than themselves. For many years I had the privilege of working with youth at risk. Concerning the young people I have partnered with in serving our “throw away” children, I have observed an evolution of feelings. For most, it is a new experience to move away from what is known and what we are comfortable with, into an environment of challenge, confusion, and disturbing realities. To grow in service requires moving outside of our comfort zone.
The change I noticed first in bringing young adults into this type of service is that they start to brag about it to others because it makes them feel good. Consequently, this is still a selfish service, but a necessary step on the path to selfless service. They feel good about their service, so they do it.
Invariably, if they continue to work with others in need, they start to realize that they are making someone else’s life a little better. In fact they are improving the community they are serving in, just by being there. The realization that adding service to their lives has not been a hardship, but has been a pathway into a more robust way to participate in their world. They are serving not for any personal gain for themselves, but serving simply for the benefit of others.
This is the true value of social service and why it is helpful in creating a partnership with God. Social service is the main avenue through which the animal nature of humans-which is absolutely selfish-can be transformed to selfless service through active participation. Serving enables us to step into a very real partnership with God. Selfless service becomes an avenue for a conscious realization of partnership with the Divine.
You see, as we quit thinking about ourselves and our rewards and start thinking of others, a miracle happens within our inner lives. We make room for God. Only when we get out of our own self-centeredness do we make a pathway to allow the Divine to dance with us. We enter spiritual flow. This is the main reason for social service. To have us become more than what we are by adding into our lives all those around us and our spiritual partners within us in active relationships. This is a start to an infinite journey of aligning our will with the will of God, the optimal harmonization with the universe. When we get out of ourselves and into the lives of others, we grow Godward.
The selfish will find it difficult to discover the path that must be tread to venture on into a universe of mysteries and discoveries of love, peace, and true friendship. As we become selfless, we allow God to partner with us and grow us beyond anything we could ever imagine.
Social service-service without any compensation, recognition, or self-gain-is what grows selfless awareness and the ability to receive the gift of love, from both within, our Divine spark, and without, from those we serve. This is love’s “respiration.”
This divine pattern is designed to move us from caring primarily about ourselves and those closest to us, to a pathway through service; that is, service as we pass by, social service, and other service that opens us up to serving and loving all of God’s children. And in so doing the Divine becomes a conscious reality that starts to fill our soul with joy, and opens an entry into a world that, only those who have selflessly cuddled up close to all of God’s children they touch, can ever know. If you want to start partnering with the Divine, start serving others.
We know, deep in our soul, that we are to love everyone, forgive everything, and judge not.
