"Help", an interesting word, I was surprised to find no wikipedia page on it describing the history/ use and significance of the word help. I assume, it is taken for granted that everyone understands this word (at least from a superficial or a bookish sense), what about the true essence of its action?
As a child, nobody told me to help someone, maybe in a "moral of a story sense", yes, they did! In the primary school years walking back home one day and saw a old crippled woman begging, she could barely stand. As a child having learnt of all the glorious moral help based stories, I decided to take this woman home to the shock and dismay of my parents. However, my parents understood why I did it and fed the woman, gave her some clean clothes and before I knew it she was on her way to the streets begging. I was confused, I thought we were supposed to help but I remember something being told like, we shall help what is within our powers and beyond this it her fate (something similar). I do not want to point out any moral or significance to this story, if you want interpret anything out of it, go ahead.
As I grew up, the action of help bothered and enticed me, I wanted to help but I also wanted to understand its the true essence. I was stuck and one can say, I am still stuck. In this confusion or frustration I volunteered quiet a bit for diverse NGO`s (non-governmental organization) as a teacher/ coach/ campaign manager etc etc. In this mist of helping, one day someone asked me, if I was truly helping or just doing something to soothe my ego, is there anything such as self less help? Listen to most of the speeches people give when working an NGO, volunteering, donating or so on; felt/ feels good doing something meaningful, i wanted to give back, could not see the plight of poor people etc etc. Kudos for doing all the work and helping but where does the true motive lie?
On a parallel pane, there was/is this seeker in me looking "beyond horizons" making sense of spirituality. I read scores of books on gurus, enlightened beings, truth seeker mostly sitting in their caves or houses meditated and did nothing profound to help the world (at least in their words). Most of them say, they the formless being, guided by the ultimate truth did what felt natural or was in the flow. This is where my true frustration began, there are these enlightened dudes probably with the answer to everything in the universe and then there are people like me, with many unanswered questions. Those guys do (or believe in doing) nothing and me, going crazy jumping from one place to the other doing "something" which from my limited perception believe is "help". All those guys say, truly understand who you are and the answers will come from within? The ever agitating self could not satisfy with a possible answer ,which sounded like a cheesy dialogue from a star wars series. So the quest of deep digging went on (whatever that meant?!?) So it was not long, when one could see me with scores of economic books, understanding "help" intellectually termed poverty eradication, millennium development goals, aid etc etc. The Economicwallas, argued on both sides saying aid is has done more harm than good and we should stop donating, giving aid, let Adam Smith`s invisible hand do the work. But naked greed of capitalism and market economy cannot be trusted in times of disasters, so we need aid: medical, relief and so on. Some even suggested do some tests and find out what really helps based on statistical facts and not intuitions. The argument goes on, having read all this, I could write a book on, limitations of the help/ development based on economics. It is irrational to thus blame the government for any kind of mess. Governments are the reflection of the self. If one looks deeply, government only reflect what is in our minds, out of some pseudo urge for security, power, control and wellbeing we sustain them. (please see to agree or disagree is not the point)
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| Source: www.toonpool.com |
So, finally some clarity emerged out of this chaos to understand the true essence of "help". The enlightened dudes made some sense to me now, I have been going about wanting to help or do something completely blindfolded. Walking around the streets or sitting at cafe`s I observe people and see I am not the only one. Everybody is going about their daily lives, "living", eating, working, helping, running completely blind folded. The worst part is I don`t think most of them are aware of this (this might remind some of us of the movie Matrix). The ingenious engine, the mind, never tires of feeding us thoughts and noise to keep us distracted from finding our "true" self. So in order for us to do whatever that is we want to do, we need to figure out our true purpose, this will come only if one truly understands (not intellectually), who or what the self is? Then anything one does, help, work, swim, juggle it will be in alignment with the universe and will not come from the ego to satisfy its needs, wants and commands.
Start by sitting and staring at a flower or look at tree and be bewildered by their stillness. How can such beautiful and massive beings be so still but the tiny pineal gland (claimed to be the centre of thought/ identification/ conditioning etc) or this existence of ours is an non stop engine? I am still staring at that tree, what about you?
