Masonic, Occult and Esoteric Online Library
The Way of Service
By George S. Arundale
Chapter III
CHAPTER III — I — A person who is not truly happy cannot truly serve. — II — A service lovingly rendered, though it proves unwise, cannot in the long run harm the person whom you sought to help. The force of the love will protect him from the harm of the unwisdom. — III — TRUE forgiveness of another consists in a loving and eager effort to help him to avoid in future the weakness for which forgiveness is asked. — IV — SOMETIMES — but not often — it may be our duty to judge others; it is always our duty to help them. — V — IF you desire to test your spiritual progress, look to see whether you neglect fewer opportunities of service than formerly. — VI — WHEN you are criticizing another's form of service you are perhaps forgetting that he is helping those to whom your own form of service cannot appeal. — VII — DO not be afraid to proclaim the origin of your own inspiration to serve, for the knowledge of the source of your own happiness is one of the most beautiful offerings you can make to the world. — VIII — EACH loving service you render to another is a guardian angel whom you have created to be near him, encouraging him and protecting him. The more love you pour into the service, the more life you give to the guardian angel, the longer, therefore, will he live to encourage and to protect. — IX — DO not imagine that they alone serve whose acts of service are seen with physical eyes. Some of the greatest acts of service are those which no one sees. — X — IF you postpone an act of service until tomorrow, you may have lost an opportunity to serve, for that particular act may not be needed tomorrow and has not been performed today. — XI — ONE of the most neglected acts of service is that of paying deliberate attention to each person who comes to visit you. Half the act of service is over when you have listened with interest to what he has to say. — XII — WHEN you are suffering, try to remember that you are gaining, though perhaps with difficulty, an added power to sympathize with the sufferings of others, for when you have passed through a particular sorrow you can, at least to the extent of the pain you have yourself endured, the better understand the pain of such a sorrow to another. — XIII — THERE are two aspects of the unity which those who would serve must understand: The aspect of pain and the aspect of joy. The one teaches of a common struggle which all must share, while the other proclaims a common goal towards which all are bound. — XIV — THE judgment of the world upon your acts of service matters infinitely less than the judgment of your heart. — XV — MANY people are willing and able to serve somewhere. How many are willing and able to serve anywhere? — XVI — AS beautiful flowers are found in barren places, so is the most beautiful service that which is rendered in times and places of greatest need. — XVII — AS even a little flame shines brightly in surrounding darkness, so does a little act of service shine out clearly amidst surrounding selfishness. — XVIII — THE more your surroundings are ugly, the greater the need to beautify them by acts of service. — XIX — IF you are unable to discover opportunities for service where you are at present, you will be unable to discover them in the place in which you would like to be. — XX — HE is most lonely and miserable in this world who, receiving many acts of service, offers none in return. — XXI — SERVICE in the physical world is action, in the emotional world sympathy, in the mental world understanding. — XXII — THE brightness of your day depends as much upon the shining of an act of service as upon the shining of the sun. — XXIII — THE best key with which, in the early morning, to unlock the storehouse of happiness for the day is some little act of service eagerly and lovingly performed. — XXIV — SERVICE is, like mercy, twice blessed: it blesses him that gives and him that takes. — XXV — THE knowledge of the Self within is gained through the service of the Self without. — XXVI — THE truest acts of service are those which we perform instinctively. — XXVII — SERVICE is the expression of a quality in harmony with your duty to your surroundings. For example, to those older in wisdom than yourself the truest expression of love is reverence, while to those who know less it is protection. — XXVIII — WITH some, service is conditional on the admiration and applause of those around them; with others, it depends solely on the need of those around them. — XXIX — JUST as there are fair-weather friends, so there are fair-weather servers. Look into your heart that you may judge how unselfish is your desire to serve. — XXX — IT is sometimes difficult to realize that the man who has no friends needs our friendship more than one who has many friends. If he cannot make friends, all the more reason that we should make them for him. — XXXI — PEOPLE who think they ought to be treated better by others are generally the very people who themselves ought to treat others better. — XXXII — ONE of the truest signs of a pure affection is to be able to ask a favor from a friend without being misunderstood. — XXXIII — GOD records all acts of service, men only those which they can understand and which they approve. — XXXIV — THE acts of service of many people have their origin in custom, ours must have their origin in love. — XXXV — THE cry of need is suffering, the cry of service is love. — XXXVI — WHILE correcting another's fault, imagine yourself as having committed it.
