WHO DO YOU SERVE?

Oct 07, 2021 - 02:47 Leave a Comment 2562 views

YOU HAVE TO SERVE SOMEONE

"It maybe the devil or it may be the Lord, but you're gonna have to service somebody."

Bob Dylan

A good question we need to ask ourselves from time to time is whether we are in service to self or are we in service to others? There really is no other choice. Whether it be metaphorically 'the devil or the Lord,' there are only two orientations; that of service towards others or to ourselves.

It might be said there are two selves we can serve, the false ego-self and the true ‘divine’ Self. The ego-self lives in the delusion of separation and fear, the divine Self in the essence of union and love. Humanity can experience both but naturally defaults to the ego unless we consciously decide to do something about it. Mahatma Gandhi had a great suggestion: The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.

The worlds collective calibration of consciousness is dependent on which self dominates. A selfish, self-seeking society rates at the bottom on the scale of consciousness with its fears, greed, separation and pride.

I'm an optimist, mostly, and feel the scale is beginning to tip towards the positive as evil continues to surface and be exposed for what it is. At some point, hopefully soon, many will grow weary of the corruption and abuse of power that we have fallen into and wake up to the contrast between good and evil, service to others and service to self. At least, I hope so.

See the article on human consciousness, and the Hawkins Scale of Consciousness; How Conscious are You? https://digitalbloggers.com/arts-and-entertainment/how-conscious-are-you

There is a quote in the book, A Course of Love, that remains universally true through all time and ages: We receive what we give. That is, we find that what we offer, we receive one way or another in whatever form it may come. What we receive in this cycle might not be material, but something more such as love and appreciation, or maybe a strong bonding of relationships that continues to give.

What if giving and receiving were one and seamless? Maybe that's why it is written that it's better to give than to receive, be of service to others rather than just to ourselves. Some might argue that others will take advantage of us if all we do is give. This might be the case in a dysfunctional relationship since there are a lot of 'takers' out there, yet that doesn't negate this spiritual principle.

Rather, we need to exercise a little wisdom in our inter-personal relationships and question whether we, in our mode of giving are, in effect, enabling destructive behaviour. For example, why would one give money to someone to sustain their addiction? That would hardly be in service to the other while volunteering at AA might be the better way to give to that person.

It's important to know ourselves (Know Thyself) and determine what qualities exist within our souls that compel us to do what we do. Who runs the show, the ego or our divine spirit? We need to look within and examine what it means to be in service to others or, alternatively, in service to self. Where are we on this question? Does anyone even ask? Over the last several years, I have visited seniors’ residences and have often been dismayed by how little families seem to care to visit their ageing parents and grandparents. Perhaps they are too busy to care. Too busy being in service of themselves.

Those who most lack empathy and compassion, taken to extremes, are the psychotic narcissists that commit atrocities against humanity because they don't know the difference between good and evil, truth and falsehood. These become so bound in ego-self phantoms that they are practically soulless, having lost touch with their divine essence.

Because they are consumed with and by their illusory ego, they remain separate from all that is real. Thomas Aquinas stated the only way out of this hell: Charity brings to life those who are spiritually dead. Indeed, service to others is the only way to awaken from spiritual death.

Those who we often describe as being saints, sages and humanitarians were orientated to the positive qualities of service to others by giving of themselves. Though there are several high-profile personalities like Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Madela we often esteem, and maybe over esteem, there are countless others who receive little recognition or honour for their service.

Generally, they are the humblest among us, not often seen or recognized. Still, they carry on with their service because that's who and what they are, or we might say, have become. Have you relatives like this, perhaps parents or grandparents? I did. Among others, I was most fortunate to have my mother, who passed away this spring, March 18, 2021. She was unassuming, yet overwhelmingly giving in her words and deeds. She received little recognition for this, rather, the joy of giving was a sufficient reward unto itself. See my tribute to her. https://digitalbloggers.com/relationships/mother-s-commenoration-and-tribute

The partial list of personal qualities identifies characteristics under service to self or service to others. This undefined is further subsumed between EGO LOVE and SOUL LOVE. We easily recognize no one lives their life in just the category of service to self or to others, yet we are orientated one way or the other. The question is which one is our resting point; the one that determines the quality of our being.

Since we are not static, but dynamic, it's good to ask ourselves from time to time which direction we are drifting. How do we move towards service to others when our ego-self would hold us in the spiritual inertia of service to self? Of course, that's a vast topic but we might consider but looking at the union of our heart and mind is a good place to start. See the post Union of Heart and Mind. https://digitalbloggers.com/book-reviews/union-of-heart-and-mind

This union is important because if we aren't whole, we will remain separate and ego-driven, stuck only in service to self. Through our hearts, we open the divine portal to love. Through willing service to others, we fulfil our higher calling and purpose in life. As Pablo Picasso stated: The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.

I could go on discussing this at length, but I'll stop here and leave the last word to Bob.

Lyrics: First Stanza

You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes
Indeed you're gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody

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QUOTES ON SERVICE

The end of all knowledge should be service to others. Cesar Chavez

The most important service to others is service to those who are not like yourself. J. Irwin Miller

Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth. Muhammad Ali

The highest of distinctions is service to others. King George VI

Always have a willing hand to help someone, you might be the only one that does. Roy Bennett

As you forget self in service to others, you will find that, without seeking it, your own cup of happiness will be full. Paramahansa Yogananda

For more Elysium''s Passage Blog Posts, go to

https://digitalbloggers.com/arts-and-entertainment/ep-blog-posts https://digitalbloggers.com/articles/elysiumspassage for the host site

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SUMMARY OF ELYSIUM'S PASSAGE NOVEL SERIES

This is a series of seven Elysium Passager novels regarding a young British philosopher named James Phillips, who finds himself living in an altered state of reality while still remaining on earth.

After experiencing a near-fatal fall while climbing to the summit of a remote mountain in the Andes, James awakens in a new dimension. He soon encounters two mysterious beings who provide him with a very different perspective on the nature of his existence. Over the next year, before his body recovers from the coma, he is challenged to re-examine his understanding of life’s meaning and purpose far beyond anything he previously believed or could believe.

An engaging and sometimes surreal adventure with intimations of impending romance, the narrative explores the most important questions about life, death, reality, and our ultimate destiny.

The Plains of Elysium (Champs-Élysées) was described by Homer, Hesiod, Virgil, and many other poets as the paradisiac afterlife realm reserved for heroes. As the title suggests, this is about a journey through a passage that leads towards Elysium’s exciting realm of adventures.

To read a sample press review at https://www.prweb.com/releases/2018/05/prweb15515775.htm

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ELYSIUM'S PASSAGE: READER REVIEWS

The following comments are excerpts from among the first readers, including a number of Amazon five star reviews. To read the full reviews, go to READER REVIEWS on www.elysiumspassage.com or directly at https://digitalbloggers.com/arts-and-entertainment/reader-reviews

"A delightful mix of fantasy, reality, conjecture, and humour; Mr Meyers draws the reader into the story with a gentle narrative that captures the imagination, leaving one anxious to get to the next page drawing you into his exceptional world.”

"Quietly, gently, and without imposition, the Author unfolds the pages, creating an intricate, interlocking bridge spanning the chasm between mind and heart. Renewing, refreshing, restoring. In my bereavement, it was vigil and light…."

“Excellently written with an exceedingly deep understanding of this world and the next. The characters are very well written and engaging. I can't wait to complete this book!"

“Takes the reader on both a philosophical and spiritual journey, a journey that at times is both disquieting and tranquil. James, a British Philosopher, can be irreverent and caustic, traits that should have left me cringing but instead made me laugh out loud. Elysium’s Passage is a fun, enlightening and remarkable book.”

“This is a masterful fantasy, becoming a real possibility, as the reader is drawn into the story. The Summit leaves you anxious for the next book in the series, yet also leaves you totally satisfied with the world you have just visited. Genius! An exciting yet calming experience that is not to be missed."

"There was hardly a page on which I did not find at least one sentence worthy of hi-lighting for future reference. In addition, I thoroughly enjoyed the main character, James, whose personality and passionate verbal exchanges with the other characters kept me coming back for more. I am reading the book for a second time while I wait for the next one in this series to be made available."

“N.G. Meyers has clearly put a great deal of research and thought into what the afterlife may look like, and I like his perspective. It’s an altogether welcoming and exciting vision. The book gives one a great deal to think about and a reassuring confidence that the end of our lives is truly the beginning of life in the next. I highly recommend it."

"I am really enjoying your book, it’s fantastic! It is so incredible and diversified that I can’t really explain it to other people, so what I say is just read this book. Thank you so much for the blessings that you’ve given the world!"

“The humour interjected into a serious discussion makes me laugh out loud. Totally unexpected....l may be in the presence of at least a master, if not a genius. A fair ride into reality... seeking that which is unseen, yet absolutely real.”

“An engaging story of adventure embracing man's deepest desire to search for meaning and purpose, N.G. Meyers takes the reader on an adventurous, thought-provoking journey. This book has substance. It is a perfect blend of adventure and fantasy combined with spiritual philosophy. It ignited my imagination. The author magically weaves a good story laced with wit and humour together with deep philosophical wisdom. This book has it all!”

“An evolution in thought is triggered by many fresh philosophical themes which could inspire readers to re-think their reality and former ideologies that have dictated their lives… the author fires readers’ imaginations to view what could be possible when spirit vacates the body.”

“This is the book spiritual seekers have been waiting for. For me, it granted a great read as well as increased inspiration to live every day with a heightened sense of purpose. I highly recommend it.

“The Summit is capable of hooking readers and luring them to search for Book 2 to discover more about Dr Philip’s surreal trek into the mysterious unknown universe. This thick book is well worth the read and to share…”

“Mind-blowing statements and speculation (‘…everyone is a non-physical thought form conceived in the Mind of God, preserved for all eternity because God’s thoughts never die…’). Many will find Meyers’ journey up the Mountain intriguing—and possibly even life-changing.” (BLUEINK REVIEW)

“In its effort to grapple with fundamental questions about the meaning of life, it raises questions that have echoed throughout the ages, including about where we come from, where we are going, who we are.” (CLARION REVIEW)

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PENDING PUBLICATIONS Of THE SERIES

Amazon in 2024

THE ASCENT: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

THE SUMMIT: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

QUANTUM LEAPS: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

SURREAL ADVENTURES: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

MYSTICAL ROMANCE: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

THE ELIXIR: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

THE RETURN: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

1. The Ascent is the first novel in the Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage that’s foundational to everything that happens in the following narratives that embark on an adventure that will surprise and delight the reader like no other book.

It all begins with an extreme adventure of climbing a remote and challenging mountain somewhere in the Andean Mountains. Just as James, the protagonist, is about to reach the mountain summit, he falls into an abyss that leaves him in a coma for almost a year.

After being airlifted by a forestry helicopter and flown back to London, where his body remains for almost a year. Eventually, he learns it was not him but his body that was rescued. Several days later, without understanding what happened, he continues to climb to the summit in an alternate dimension of higher consciousness.

Fortuitously, he meets two adventurers on the summit ridge who are no longer of this world. After that, his surreal life leads him to several new adventures in the subsequent chronicles that include a rich mix of adventure, romance, and fantasy, along with profound discussions of philosophy, spirituality and the afterlife.

2. The Summit, the second novel in the Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage, carries on where James, the narrator and protagonist, is taught more about a multidimensional reality that he finds difficult to comprehend.

Not only does he find he’s not as clever as he imagined, but his off-world companions on the summit demonstrate that much of what he believed about life was not just parochial but wrong. At first, he finds this difficult to comprehend since their teachings are contrary to his limited understanding of non-material reality.

After being tricked into teleporting off a ledge where he was trapped, James becomes aware of the new reality that makes him capable of far more adventures than could have ever been experienced previously in his physical body back home.

Now, if only he would win over the only woman in this life who matters, the nurse on the other side of the veil, who continually demonstrates her unconditional love toward his healing.

Warning: This book may also open the reader’s eyes to a much vaster reality than most might be aware. As with the other Chronicles, there are discussions of philosophy, the spiritual afterlife and what might seem like fantasy.

3. Quantum Leaps is the third novel in Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage, where James, the philosopher-protagonist, teleports back to London to visit his body and make contact with the special nurse taking care of it in his absence. Immediately, he feels an inexplicable spiritual bond with her for reasons he remains unaware of.

Now aroused by a renewed interest in matters of love, the beginnings of a relationship begin to emerge as he attempts to reach across the chasm of their worlds. But it’s not until the fifth novel, Mystical Romance, that he encounters her in a way that he finds difficult to believe.

However, before that can happen, there is much about his failed relationships that must be resolved before he is ready to move forward in his new life in Elysium’s Passage. It is during this time he christens his comatose body as the fall guy since it took the fall for him down the abyss so he could learn the lessons he’s now learning.

That will be the next focus of his life, where in his next Surreal Adventures, he is given virtual lessons to release many of his past beliefs about life.

4. Surreal Adventures is the fourth novel in the Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage, which finds James, the protagonist and narrator, escorted by his companions to a remote South Pacific Island, where he is left to reflect on what he’s learned.

During the next forty days, he battles the demons of his past as he works through some rather painful issues from his early youth. Here, in a tropical storm, he encounters an eery suspended spectre of the one he loved yet still resents for abandoning him as a child.

After this, he achieves peace of mind and is ready to return to his lodge to join his off-world companions on the Andes summit. However, just when it seemed things couldn’t get any stranger, a sixteenth-century sea captain sails his ancient ‘ghost’ ship onto the beach. Together, they sail off on a mystical ocean voyage to a couple of virtual islands supposedly in the South Pacific, where he witnesses and, at times, participates in several important life lessons.

Near the end, these encounters help prepare him for a new challenge within the interior of a mountain, where he falls deep into a dark tomb of fear. After being rescued by a mysterious stranger wielding his Excaliber, he continues on to where his life is about to be transformed in the following chronicle, Mystical Romance.

5. Mystical Romance is the fifth chronicle in Elysium’s Passage, which will surprise the reader with a romantic twist of how love is expressed in higher realms. From this lofty perspective, everything about intimacy is understood as within, so without.

After escaping his tomb, James, the narrator and protagonist, makes his way through a maze of tunnels until he arrives at a large oak door, which he opens with the golden key he had been given. There, he steps into Elysium’s Passage’s Great Hall, where his life and recent achievements are celebrated now that his eyes have been opened to perceive a fascinating interior world of wonderment… and romance.

To say more might risk diminishing the multitude of delightful surprises as circumstances begin to open to The Elixir, where James is about to re-enter his earthly body’s existence.

6. The Elixir is the sixth chronicle of the Elysium’s Passage series that prepares James, the narrator-protagonist, to awaken and return to his body in London. Before that can happen, however, his off-worlder friend presents a mysterious equation enshrouded with a light code frequency that will stimulate multidimensional DNA strands within him.

Much of this narration is centred in London, where his nurse unknowingly becomes involved in how the Elixir’s equation finds its way from a taxi cab driver to higher echelons of science. There are many twists in how she unwittingly brings the Elixir to the attention of mathematicians and physicists, after which they eventually discover how to code the equation into a laser ray to stimulate his fall-guy body into full consciousness.

Ostensibly a new Adam, he is destined to return humanity to a higher multidimensional existence. How this happens is filled with intrigue, as is his shocking return to his earthly body.

7. The Return is the seventh and last chronicle in the series where James, the narrator and protagonist, has re-emerged from Elysium’s Passage as he readjusts to life in the third dimension. Many of the events experienced in the previous novels are tied together in an exciting, fast-moving, action-packed narrative over several countries.

At first, it seems all memories have been lost, with his fall guy’s brain not being aware of what happened to him while in his coma. As a consequence, it takes a while for him to be convinced he had been out of his earthly body for almost a year.

Through some rather unexpected events and evidence, along with his girlfriend’s urging, he is brought to an awareness of much of what occurred. It takes a while for his mind to catch up with the changes made in his heart during his stay in the alternate realm. But after experiencing several harsh realities, he discovers what he became within while out of his body. Gradually, he comes to understand the many challenges that lie ahead for him in fulfilling his future mission on Earth.

This book is filled with adventure, romance and personal intrigue that ties together all six previous narratives of the Elysium’s Passage series.

THE ASCENT fall 2021

THE SUMMIT fall 2021

QUANTUM LEAPS spring 2022

SURREAL ADVENTURES summer 2022

MYSTICAL ROMANCE fall 2022

HE ELIXIR fall 2022

THE RETURN sometime in 2023/24

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