Hatonn on Idealism in Service
I’ve been bad about editing down excerpts lately; it really is hard to do when there’s so many bangers in the archive, and so many of them tend to wax longer. This Hatonn session from ‘79 revolves around how to genuinely serve others, offering thoughts on putting our co-Creatorship into action. It even deals with the free will of those who would walk the service-to-self path. But the most helpful parts of the larger monologue are so neatly and masterfully tied up in this little remark at the end that I won’t put you through a long excerpt; you can read that yourself.
It is this tiny passage that I want to call out because it’s so relevant to my seeking. To hold onto ideals of spirit is painful, demanding effort on the seeker’s part to balance when so much of our illusion laughs at what we feel to be the truth of love. The service-to-others response, of course, is to turn the lead into gold and use the opportunity to apprehend precisely what is bugging us so much.
Learning to love the unloveable: only a Creator working with Its vast self could ever possibly approach this level of supreme acceptance and equanimity. And yet that peace and power is both our heritage and destiny, so we might as well get started practicing, knowing we will err and being ready to extend patience over and over again to the worthy self as it is brought back to the path repeatedly, delicately, and lovingly. That’s the kind of self-work that makes the infinite generosity to others not a chore but an extension of one’s own self to others.
We ask you, my friends, to remember those things which are true and beautiful in your life, in your dreams, in your thoughts, and to refrain from being discouraged at this great reservoir of experience which does not meet the ideal to cherish. You must understand that all upon which you look is a part of yourself. If you are unhappy with what you see, the only alternative is to learn to love it. Not foolishly, but with understanding. Only love can give you that divine understanding and only meditation can give you access to the original Thought of the Creator which is that love.