You have been helping, giving, showing up and spending your precious time to alleviate the sufferings of those who seemed to cry out for help. You have been getting up early, spending that money, filling up that extra gas, and giving of yourself to assist those who seemed less fortunate than you.
Your heart went out in pain to those who never asked for your help — and you thought it was because they couldn’t. But you knew you had to help them anyway. It was your call, your mission, your faith, your sole reason for existence. You were here to help.
And you did. You helped out of the purity of your heart and because you had more, and could give more.
But those you helped had turned around, and, like pigs in the Biblical parable, devoured your precious pearls and the light you had given, and then they went after you.
You tumbled so low, lower than you thought was ever possible, lower than you thought you ever could be, and you found out that your own suffering was a bottomless well, a deep dark pit of destruction. A well of tears that would never dry up. A hole that opened up and sucked you in.
And you were left dried up, withered, wanting — empty.
You had nothing more to give. And you never knew what went wrong, but your help did not really transform anyone nor change their lives. True, you helped them for a time. But at the core, they remained as they were, unable to respond to the light, incapable of gratitude or appreciation. Not saved. Not transformed. And ultimately, not even better off.
Only now, you too have tasted the very darkness and despair you were trying to alleviate.
What was it? What was wrong with the idea of helping others? Of doing selfless service? Of running out to help those in need — whether or not they asked for it?
Did you perhaps convince yourself that animals are more grateful and now you are better off rescuing them? Or have you befriended cynicism and scoffed at the naive do-gooders? You never asked for anything in return, it never crossed your mind even once, and yet there you are, sick and sucked dry…
A Russian yogi wrote: “Never intervene with the suffering of another. One must be tired of themselves and drink the bowl of poison they have been allotted. Do not be over-confident and think that you can help anyone.
“You can only help those who are ready to receive your help. A person who suffers sees the world through the pain he is experiencing, and is therefore deaf and blind.
“Everyone carries the baggage of their life experience, not seeing that it is dead weight that they carry on their shoulders. If you attempt to intervene in the suffering of another, it will drag you with a karmic whirlwind into someone else’s game.
“Remember that suffering is contagious. Walk your own Path and do not turn around at human pain.
Only if you walk your own Path, can you help people transcend themselves.”
It may sound cruel, harsh and indifferent. There is so much to do, so many to help, a whole world to save. And yet, despite all our best efforts, the world is not getting saved. Nor does it need saving.
The poor stayed poor. The spiritually poor asked for an easy fix. The needy asked for more. And they remained just as they were, because their own world did not change.
It was only those who experienced personal transformation who were able to embody gratitude, joy, and loving-kindness. Because only personal transformation propels out of poverty, greed and misery. You could not impose your consciousness or your love on anyone.
And now it is your turn to accept it, and let it go. It is not harshness or indifference. And you must never close your heart or despair of goodness and help. You will know when someone asks for your healing. And you will learn to open the door to those who knock.
The world does not need saving. But you can save the whole world by saving yourself.
