Those of us who want to do good works in the world may say we are giving selflessly, but if it’s born of a desire to do goodself then is it selfless? If it’s a choice that we could “grow out of” or change our minds about when it becomes an inconvenience or an impediment to a personal future we’re building toward, is it selfless? If it is a good born in opposition to doing bad, is it selfless?
Are praying only for others, never for oneself, and giving thanks selfless acts, or do they create a space between you and a higher power to which you are praying or giving thanks? Is this selflessness or self-fortification?
Do we work in service to others as a reaction to the selfishness we see all around us? Is it an inward rebellion or a guilty plea and a sentencing of ourselves to a life of service? Is it for bragging rights? Is it to leave our mark and be noticed and be liked? Does our religion tell us to behave this way?
Is selflessness a reaction or action? Is it action coming through us from-and-as Truth? Is it choiceless action or can we turn away when we change our minds or don’t like the change in circumstances? Can we grow into or out of selflessness?
True selflessness has no opposite called “self.” True selflessness is oneself when self as controller, dominator, decision-maker, is no more. In true selflessness, wisdom speaking is self acting. There is no interval of decision-making, no fear of how it will look or what it will mean. There is only action, right and true.
Selflessness does not pray; selflessness is praying. Selflessness does not meditate; selflessness is meditating. Selflessness does not give thanks; selflessness is thanking. When one is whole, one’s actions are whole, one’s state is wholeness. There is no opposite of wholeness; all of the particulars are contained within wholeness. The only free will choice we ever make is to deny this. From there comes the complication of decision-making.
And in there begins the inner conflict between what we actually want to do and the idealization of behaviors we say we should aspire to sustain as our everyday actions. Problem is, our everyday actions are reactions in time. True action is timeless, is selfless. In true selflessness there is no question of good and bad, right and wrong, and so there is no desire to be another way.
Selflessness is aloneness and that is the origin of true strength. It is also the origin of togetherness through right relationship, which has its own understanding of service.