Friday, May 16, 2008

On Service

Living in Saudi Arabia, I often think about cultural differences - not from a perspective of right and wrong, or good and bad, but rather simply as interesting observations. Some attributes transcend culture.

Cultures throughout history generally consider service to others as a noble and dignified pursuit. Religion portrays the act of service as a divine attribute. Ego and individuallity are such strong forces in the human makeup, that acting on behalf of a greater cause than oneself, is considered a magnanimous virtue. My own personal experience corroborates these precepts. I derive profound satisfaction from helping others or making a contribution to a greater social cause. I personally believe that service is the greatest calling in life, and that a life without service is empty and meaningless.

I began to ponder this phenomenan in the context of observations within nature. Notice that honey bees and ants have a very complex and sophisticated social structure that dictates their individual behaviors, and therefore the survival of the species. Each individual organism performs specific tasks within the social structure of the group. Their entire life is devoted to the greater cause of the survival of the group. It is almost as though there is a collective intelligence, or a macro-organism that bounds the social structure. These "service" behaviors are described by biologists as instinct, a mechanistic code in the DNA.

Yet when humans behave in a way that is self sacrificing on behalf of the benefit of others, it is considered to be a divine act. One could postulate that the satisfaction that humans experience from helping others, is actually part of our DNA makeup, or instinct. It makes logical sense that this would be a fundamental survival attribute for the species. Rather than nature verses nurture, I would categorize this argument as divine nature verses biological nature. Food for thought.

dlt

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