I believe alot of what this article is about has validity. It's very hard to detach myself from what I'm doing. It took me a long time to learn how freeing it can be to think of my self as "doing" instead of the "doer". One of the main reasons I get involved with service is to feel good about myself. It took alot of frustration and saddness for me to figure out that obligation and expectation in helping others can be stripped away. It only complicated how I felt about what I was doing. I didn't really understand why mbj thought this was self-righteous and arrogant. Isn't the main point of the article to be aware of your self-pride when doing service and to strip it down to a neutral, middle passage? To me this was a suggestion of how to minimize the suffering that is inevitable when you become a volunteer and things don't change. To me it says to be ready to become water that can fit into any cup, tea kettle, pipe that you may fall into or have to flow through.
On Sep 5, 2007 supun wrote :