The Alchemy of Service: Harnessing Its Transformative Powers - Ese Magege: transcript

Um hello everyone and um I'm going to be be presenting on a topic that's dear to me. So um if you could bear with me while I share my slides. So the title of my presentation is the alchemy of service harnessing its transformative powers. We only have one objective for this um presentation and that is to explore the spiritual significance of service and um and see how it leads to um personal and transformative um collective transformation.

We start with an opening statement. Service is the alchemy that transforms the heart, the community and the world. That's me. Uh this is a personal story of um how I uh experienced service um my own personal journey uh through um my times of service uh in the in the order. So uh I have been serving in the recipient uh order since the age of nine um when I was installed as a colum uh in Pumi Lodge in Nigeria.

Um a few years ago I started um serving as a presenter on the recreation symposiums and I remember my very first um presentation how uh nervous I was as I presented but gradually um you know the uh anxiety or nervousness started to lose its grasps uh on me. Um, reflecting back, I I think of that moment and I and I laugh at myself like what was I what was what what was I why was I nervous?

What thoughts of self or self-image did I have? And I often wonder um in my few years uh and as uh my few years um journeying through uh this uh service as a presenter, I have watched myself grow and um develop my thoughts, my perspectives and my response to daily life encounters.

As I grow in wisdom from doing this and presentations, my vision um of life just seems to get clearer and um some sort of improvement. So a metaphor for to describe this process um is like entering a room full of people and you don't recognize any one of them. and they appear like strangers and then with time you start to recognize them and it's like did I enter this room? Did I ever enter this room? I can't believe I entered this room and I didn't see all these people. And then gradually you start to see and you're like, "Oh, that's that's a rescription. That's my rescription family. I know that person."

No, that's imperative. That's grandmaster. That's And you know with that recognition with that familiarity with that knowledge comes uh excitement just this you become alive you know and this um passion to want to interact and engage and connect and that sense of connection you know brings more and more you know wisdom. So my experience um this presentation is based on my personal experience of service um from how I realized it and or have come to realize it and also you know from studies from the rescription uh from my resc Christian teachings. So bear with me. I um will try and make all this make uh sense to you. And um yeah, this is all my my

personal reflections. So um setting orders has been the subject of uh extensive research across various disciplines including psychology uh sociology and health science. Several studies reports psychological and health benefits uh such as increased happiness, better mental and physical health uh were associated with seven orders.

How can serving others lead to better health and increase levels of happiness? How does serving others deepen our connection to the divine? How does serving others lead to expansion of consciousness? To answer these questions, let us review what service is from a spiritual perspective. Service is the profound expression of our divine qualities and a vital outlet for our innate goodness. Engaging in service is the essential is essential for the cultivation and development of our inner virtues.

The act of serving um orders and um the evolution of the soul personality are so deeply interconnected and inseparable. Serving others is essential for evolving our soul personality. Uh and by dedicating ourselves to the service of others, we elevate our consciousness. In this way, service becomes not just an act of kindness but a transformative journey that deepens our connection to the greater whole.

The essence of service is to become aware of the inherent interconnectedness of all things and the unity with the divine. To accomplish this is to transcend duality that is our intent for service should be should not be dual. For example, when we do acts of service and expect something in return, um be it recognition, fame, praise, affection, the intent is the intent is dual because there is a thought of return is the thought of return. It is this thought of return that creates a sense of duality.

To experience the true essence of service, that is unity with the divine, we must transcend the confines of duality, letting go of expectations for return. In this state, we give our energy and love freely, becoming one with that which we serve. It is in this selfless act that we discover the profound connection to the greater whole where our intentions are pure and our hearts open allowing us to transcend the limitations of self and embrace the flow of existence.

Why the act of service involves doing something for others? Its true essence lies in the mental attitude or state of mind behind it. To fully embrace the transformative powers of service, we must evaluate our intentions. Are are we motivated by selfless compassion or do we harbor expectations of return? Secondly, we approach each encounter not with an attitude of what I get from the people or situation but instead with a questioning what can I contribute.

Thirdly, we approach service with the intera with the intention of being a channel of blessings to others instead of how I gain blessings from serving others. This shift in perspective allows us to cultivate selflessness and fosters a deeper u connection to the needs of others. By embracing these mental attitudes, we become instruments of positive change and contribute meaningfully to every interaction.

Let us remember the golden rule. To know our best is to give our best. It is only when it is only when we give our best we can grasp what best is. Until this is given to others we will not know what best is. To discover and experience our best is to give to others our best.

After evaluating our mental attitude and dropping the desires to do uh ask of service for self-gratification or rewards or blessings, we will discover our interconnectedness with others and the divine. Our self-defin will expand to encompass the other person because we have dropped that which was creating the duality. Then we fully experience the transformative powers of service on all levels being of all levels of being spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically.

The benefits of serving others is immense both spiritually, mentally and physically. We have heard stories of people who were healed through service. I remember an encounter I had a couple of years ago with the director of a charitable organization uh that helps um people with addictions. He shared with me that service helped him recover from his addictions and has made him passionate about helping others recover.

So he volunteers his time uh skills and resources to accomplishing uh his mission of helping others through their addiction. We have also heard stories of people who had deeper understanding of their purpose from doing acts of service. Service has the power to transform both the giver and receiver. This transformative aspect is a key manifestation of goodness and promotes individual and collective growth.

There is no shortcut to service. It must be lived. The work of the soul is to spiritualize matter and we cannot do so unless we live and apply our knowledge of the spiritual laws. Take for instance a cook who has read so many food recipe books but has never cooked a meal or applied what she has learned from reading the recipe books.

She can educate others on the ingredients needed to make a cinnamon pie but may lack the wisdom that comes from having applied that knowledge. Since wisdom comes in spiritualizing the physical dimension, we must apply and leave what we intellectually know to produce good results. As we apply what we know, the next step, the next action, the next experience will be shown to us.

Let's now look at some practical ways to engage in service. The five W's are five common questions we ask about service. The answer to these questions lie within self. We should pose these questions to self, but for the purpose of this presentation, we'll go through them together.

Where should I serve? We start where we are and work with what we have. So example, a writer may write beautiful things that will inspire her readers to do good things. She starts where she is. Writer. Who should I serve? Again, we are posing these questions to self.

For me, I like to serve in places where I can be the greatest, where I can serve the greatest. Excuse me. I like to serve in places where I can serve the greatest. So, like spiritual organizations like our beloved daughter. Next question. What can I do? Start where you are. We do not need to be promoted to a supervisor or a manager in order to serve. We each have a unique role to fulfill and we should not compare ourselves to others.

If we have limitations, we should work within those limitations because in the limitation lies exactly what we need to serve our purpose. Next question. What when should I serve? There is no set time. We try not to look at service in terms of how many hours or months or years, but rather we focus on giving our best within what we have at hand. And this we should do every day.

These are common challenges, barriers that we face um and can hinder us from um doing service work. One of them um is personal limitation. It's personal limitation such as um feeling of inadequacy or not having what it takes. We feel like we don't have what it takes. The second is um challenging relationship or challenges working with others.

And third is time constraint. Um I don't have time or fear or also fear associated with the the the the times of rapid change. We're we're in times of rapid change and uncertainty. The following are strategies that might uh be helpful in overcoming these challenges and barriers to service.

Uh the first one is um um personal limitation. So let's do a reflective exercise. Identify, take a moment and identify a personal limitation and that might be preventing um preventing us from doing service work regularly. So take a moment and identify a personal limitation that might be preventing you from doing service regularly.

Now um practice acceptance. Focus on walking within this limitation. Embracing it without feelings of inadequacy or comparing ourselves to others or criticizing ourselves. Let us acknowledge our unique journey and celebrate our efforts. Another barrier that we uh face um doing uh service or that hinders us from doing service is uh challenging relationships.

Let's do another reflective exercise. Close your eyes and sit relax. Recall a relationship that might be obstructing uh you or your ability to engage in acts of service. Let's adopt an attitude of surrender. Approach the relationship with openness, allowing space for growth and understanding of the other person.

Empower their journey through your words and actions. Grant them the freedom to evolve in their own way. Prioritize their relationship with themselves first over a relationship with us or with me. Another barrier is the uh time constraints and uncertainty.

These are times of rapid changes and uncertainty and how we uh how do we navigate through the discomfort that accompany uh rapid uh change. One way is to build resilience. cultivate uh our ability to adapt to rapid changes and uncertainty by responding um creativity uh creatively to the challenges of daily life.

So responding in a positive way to our daily encounters. And then another way is affirmations of faith. Affirmations for faith and trust. We can use powerful statement of faith or affirmations to restore our faith and trust in ourselves and in the process. So one um one affirmation that I use affirmation sentence is if it pleases the cosmic the means would be uh revealed to me.

If it pleases the cosmic, the means of achieving whatever it is that is making me um um anxious or you know in a state of uh imbalance you know uh the means will be revealed. So this pulls me uh out of that state of mind that I was previously pulls me out of that state of mind. So call to action, make a make a commitment. And we encourage everyone here today to make a commitment to seek out opportunities to serve and give your skills, time and resources without expectations of receiving.

So I give everyone a moment to think of ways that we can serve, we can give. And it could be an act of kindness just uh taking a one day challenge of like I would say kind words to everyone I meet or I would refrain from saying hash words to today one day it's a one day fast of no hash words.

I will conclude with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi. The best way to find ourselves is to lose ourselves in the service to others. Let us now proceed to a brief period of meditation. Sit relaxed with your back straight as possible, your hands placed on your thighs, palms down and feet flat on the floor cycling apart.

Close your eyes. Take several neutral breaths. Feel a warm sensation in your right big toe. Then feel it rising to your right foot and then to your entire left foot. Feel the sensation in both feet rising to both legs, knees, thighs, hips, lower back, stomach, upper back, chest, neck, face.

to the center of your head and remain there. On your own in tone the vowel sound seven times. Do this while concentrating on the center of your head.

Sing mentally or in a low voice the following invocation. God of my heart. God of my God of my realization, grant me the privilege of having a conscious experience of myself. Some of it be while in this state of silence.

Remain receptive to all impressions that come to your consciousness. When you are done, you may open your eyes. This brings me to the end of my presentation.