Go Forth To Serve

SUN., AUG. 9, 1987, 6:57 AM
FARM, STUDY

This is, of course, part of the inscription over the entrance to your old high school – Enter to learn, Go forth to serve. You did just that, and your career has been one of helping and encouraging young people to do just that, in each new generation. Yesterday was another day of Commencement, and several of your best graduates now go forth to serve. Hear as I comment on this commission.

Serving is what life in the spirit is all about. In earth life there must be certain leaders, and superficially it would appear that these are to be served, rather to serve. In truth, the best leader is one who essentially serves. This is the realm in which the admonition, “The last shall be first…” makes the most sense. The leader who truly serves those who he leads becomes the genuine best leader.

Teaching is a career with much potential for service. Imparting information is a small service, so even those who only lecture can be serving… at least those who are interested and who respond to this mode of teaching. Teaching which is of the greatest service, however, is that which guides the learning process and which encourages learners continuously to use their knowledge in the service of others. Guiding the learning process involves regularly affirming the worth and capacity of each learner, so that the feeling “I am a capable learner” prevails and is ever begin extended.

From time to time I tell you that your capacities to learn the great truths of life are limited, certainly in comparison to Me, your Teacher. Yet I always balance this with the affirmation that you are developing well, that you respond well to My initiatives, and that I shall continue to guide you. Your task, then, is to emulate this as much as possible. Give as you have been given. Share what you know, but, more importantly, guide the development of the learning process, so that go forth from your influence will themselves do similarly, each in her own style.

Learning certainly has an intellectual dimension, but this alone is not much encouragement toward service. It is when spirit is a big part of learning that service comes forth more “naturally”. There is a certain amount of spirit involved in any educative moment or situation, but this can be virtually nullified by certain attitudes and educational practices. Positively, it can be enhanced by spirit in the teacher, in the atmosphere of the class, in the subject matter being considered, and even by the environment in which this all takes place. Oh, one more element, worth a sentence in itself – the development of spirit in the learners themselves… how much spirit they, individually and as a group, are willing and able to contribute.

The essence of spirit as it develops is the desire to serve. Your professional field and the courses you teach are encouragers of service. What does one do with a degree in health education? Find a position and start serving… by helping fellow humans live more fully… with more awareness and appreciation.

You must quietly insist that health has a spiritual dimension, yet it can be recognized, described, and explained in many ways. You recognize that these psychologists who are the basis of Ellen’s study strongly affirm spirit, though their language is not religious. Still, I shall not denigrate the religious. Walking this earth with your hand in Mine is still the best preparation for teaching that is true service.