One of the roles of service is to help us break free of attachments to anything and everything which binds us to the limited and erects a barrier between us and the unlimited. For instance, service can free us from attachment to our familiar states, from the compulsive need to be in control, and from attachment to – and this defines the culture – bodily comfort at a lower level of vitality than what comes from really using one’s faculties fully and being used. Real service asks of us and requires us to stretch ourselves and commit ourselves to actions which take us beyond these narrow ranges of behavior.
You want a nice crisp definition of what people are usually after and settle for? It’s bodily comfort at a lower level of vitality than what comes from using one’s faculties fully and being used. Which makes it almost impossible for them to ever spiritually develop rather than at times merely experiencing temporarily altered states; no matter how much they meditate or how much they find great teachers to sit at the feet of – forget it!
The exact opposite is a distinguishing aspect of genuine work on one’s self – the only way to move beyond low level comfort and low level vitality is to really live fully and work hard, which is why Rumi said, “Do not shun work, the treasure you seek derives from it,” and “If you want to develop new organs of perception, increase your necessity.”
