Only Service Heals
by Rachel Naomi Remen
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 If helping is an experience of strength, fixing is an experience of mastery and expertise. Service, on the other hand, is an experience of mystery, surrender and awe. A fixer has the illusion of being causal. A server knows that he or she is being used and has a willingness to be used in the service of something greater, something essentially unknown. Fixing and helping are very personal; they are very particular, concrete and specific. We fix and help many different things in our lifetimes, but when we serve we are always serving the same thing. Everyone who has ever served through the history of time serves the same thing. We are servers of the wholeness and mystery in life.
The bottom line, of course, is that we can fix without serving. And we can help without serving. And we can serve without fixing or helping. I think I would go so far as to say that fixing and helping may often be the work of the ego, and service the work of the soul. They may look similar if you’re watching from the outside, but the inner experience is different. The outcome is often different, too.
Our service serves us as well as others. That which uses us strengthens us. Over time, fixing and helping are draining, depleting. Over time we burn out. Service is renewing. When we serve, our work itself will sustain us.
Service rests on the basic premise that the nature of life is sacred, that life is a holy mystery which has an unknown purpose. When we serve, we know that we belong to life and to that purpose. Fundamentally, helping, fixing and service are ways of seeing life. When you help you see life as weak, when you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole. From the perspective of service, we are all connected: All suffering is like my suffering and all joy is like my joy. The impulse to serve emerges naturally and inevitably from this way of seeing.
Lastly, fixing and helping are the basis of curing, but not of healing. In 40 years of chronic illness I have been helped by many people and fixed by a great many others who did not recognize my wholeness. All that fixing and helping left me wounded in some important and fundamental ways. Only service heals. |
Richard Whittaker
As Joseph Beuys said decades ago, “Our concept of art must be universal and have the interdisciplinary nature of a university, and there must be a university department with a new concept of art and science.” Beuys’ prophetic words are being put into practice at the University of California at their Davis campus. Artist Donna Billick and entomologist Diane Ullman talk about their project now fifteen years in, the UC Davis Art and Science Fusion program.
Zoshi talks about his first wood carving. He made it during a walk across the U.S., “I never carve before. But I wanted Buddha statue. I look for a long time. I tried to buy a good one, but expensive. In 1981 I came to the United States. I joined peace march. I walked from Los Angeles to New York. About seven people walked whole distance. I was one of them.” This is one of my favorite interviews, precious, in the best sense of the word.
Editor’s note: Happy spring everyone! Just this morning, a very sweet young teenager left us a note saying how inspired she is by our community and how much "she really wanted to do things for others." Her note was a beautiful reminder of the importance of engaging young people in the power of small acts of kindness. Try reaching out to a young person in your community this week!
Sangha of Auspicious Companions 