Ego vs. Essence: Eckhart Tolle on the True Nature of Service

I wanted to ask, what is the role of being in service to others in one's spiritual development? And you guess you can say it in the overall evolutionary impulse of the universe, to borrow a phrase from your book.

Okay, thank you. Thank you. It can be a wonderful spiritual practice if it arises from the right place inside you. And it can also be a strengthening of your ego if it arises from a different place inside you. Jesus talked about that when he talked about giving alms. Some people, he said, like to be seen. When they give alms to the poor, they want to be seen. And he says those people are not going to get a reward in heaven. What that means we'll look at in a second because they have their reward already. And of course, what their reward already is is that it's a feeding of the ego. That's their reward. So now there are two ways of being seen. When you give. Either you give something to somebody, it could be help, providing active help, or giving something that you have away to somebody to help them. Whatever it is that one needs to be to look at the motivation. And there are two ways of being seen. One is to talk about it more than is necessary, or to just make sure that others see what you're doing or aware of what you're doing. Then you have your reward through that which is the feeding of the ego. But there's another interior way of seeing it. When you have your own self image and you're in service because it makes you feel better, you feel better about yourself, it improves your self image, that is still fine. It may help somebody. So it's a good thing to do. But it doesn't really help you to become free internally. So there's a self image that some people need to feel that they are giving to others. And there's this image of I am giving to him, you are the doer. You see yourself as the doer of good. And you see yourself as sacrificing something that you give to another. So it improves your ego really how you see yourself. Because what is ego but an inner self reflection? Ego is like an inner mirror where you are not yourself. You have an image of yourself and you live through this mental image of yourself. And the image of yourself is usually not satisfying. So every ego tries to improve the image of oneself. And it can do it in many, many different ways. But. And then you have the image of me, the doer of the good deed, and that really strengthens the image. And then there's another way of giving. I think the expression is where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand does or something like that, the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. Which means you don't have the self image as you are giving of something that you own, you are helping the other. There's an outflow of energy in whatever form. And it's not yours, it's not yours. You're not giving anything that is yours because ultimately nothing is yours. You're giving energy because that energy in whatever form comes from the source of all energy. All energy derives from one source. And so you give, you allow yourself to be a vehicle through which this energy flows out into the world. And then the sense of me, the doer isn't there and. And the sense of there's the poor person that I am helping isn't there either. These concepts. So they're simply the process that happens through you. And that is the non egoic way. And then to be of service is a beautiful spiritual practice too because the ego is out of the way, dissolves through that. When you realize you don't own anything ultimately. And the energy is not yours. It's universal energy that comes through. So to be a vehicle for that. And in that way you are a help really. When that happens, you begin to live in that way. You're always in service to others. You're even in service to others in ordinary situations that would not normally be recognized as service to others because you recognize the other in their essential being. Which is the greatest service that you can give somebody far greater than anything material, although there's nothing wrong with that either. But the greatest service is to recognize the essence or the reality of the other person. Everything else passes away. Everything else is transitory. But that recognition of the other as God, I don't use that word very often. And one with who you are to see that that is the greatest service you can give. It is the realization of who that person truly is beyond the form, not to come from form. Not believing this form is helping that form, but realizing there is something here that is beyond form. So if you are only in form, then you can also very easily deplete yourself. I am trying to be helpful. I need to. There are many people who are social workers or therapists and after a few years they experience a burnout because they're continuously trying to give and help and then they can't do it anymore. So in the Power of Now, I believe I wrote that whenever you help people, there needs to be a balance between that. Maybe I Didn't write it there. The. There needs to be a balance between the doing out there and being rooted in being. And so that's no matter where you are in life or what you do. Otherwise you will lose yourself in your service to others very quickly. And then you're not of service to anybody anymore. Then you'll need therapy yourself or you'll need charity yourself. So to be rooted in being while you do is essential so that the energy can continue to move through you. So you are addressing. You can address the causes of the human suffering in the external world. Sorry, the effects of human suffering in the external world. But the cause of human suffering is in the consciousness, in the human consciousness. So that is vital to be rooted in yourself, not be part of the unconsciousness that produces the dysfunction that is in this world. There are people who try to do their best. Even organizations often try to do their best to help others. And they become part. Sometimes without wanting to, they become part of the mess. There's infighting in the organization itself. It's amazing how in many institutions and organizations, the enormous amount of infighting that there is, they are supposed to help people. Sometimes they are even religious organizations. The enormous amount of conflict in there. Stop, stop, stop doing. Just connect with the spaciousness that is within you. Stay rooted there and then do never lose the rootedness in this. Remember, I used this and this. The two modalities or dimensions. This is the world of form and doing. This is the formless and being. So when you help others, the two need to be there also. Always the balance between doing and being. You cannot solve the problems of this world through doing only. Because if there's only doing and you try to solve the problems of the world, you will contribute to the problems of the world. Hence the expression, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Thank you very much.