This article will focus on selflessness - on a matter that is very difficult and ambiguous for the logical mind, which is embodied in life, where endless dissatisfaction with the real state of affairs and eternal attempts to assert its own importance in the hierarchy of existence no longer rule the ball. As an example, I decided to take two characters from the films "The Island" and "The Bicentennial Man" for consideration.
Selflessness is not indifference to one's own fate and not suppression of personal interests, but a state where the fear of personal failure no longer controls life and the present moment in which we all live suits us exactly as it is. From this state, calmness and constructive creation is born, when your thoughts are devoted to working and helping others. For the body, you do the minimum necessary - healthy food and a healthy lifestyle, without creating a cult out of this, and without thinking about it. The saint is happy because he does not worry about himself. The death of the body lies in wait for everyone, but excessive worries about this only create additional stress. The saint does not wear banners with the words "I am holy and therefore happy!" - he does not create such duality.
The main character of the film "The Island", Father Anatoly, clearly embodies the selflessness of holiness. He has the gift of foreseeing the future, heals people, works selflessly, gives wise advice when people come to him. He sleeps on coals, he has almost no personal belongings - perhaps a mug, a samovar, an icon on the altar … He is not afraid of his poverty, because he is rich in spirit. In a sense, such a person does not live in the material world, but in the spiritual dimension - free from bodily bonds.
When the time came to leave the body, he perceived this event as something completely normal. Father Anatoly spoke of the impending death calmly and even somehow practically. He himself made a simple coffin from rough wood, and before his death he dressed in the necessary white clothes so as not to bother the monk brothers. He never aspired to be a saint, to see and feel what others do not see, did not think of his miraculous gift of a healer as something to boast about. He didn't think about it at all, he just helped people. Why say something about yourself? Self-importance is a constant worry.
Another clear and more modern example of dedication is the main character of the movie "Bicentennial Man", the robot Andrew. In the film, Andrew begins his journey as a robot assistant, designed to follow the instructions of the family that acquired him. Gradually, feelings wake up in him, and Andrew begins to realize that he is alive. No matter how realistic it is, the point is that the behavior of a robot, if correlated with human behavior, is reduced to the fact that it lives for the sake of others, showing total dedication.
Andrew does everything for others, and those around him love him for his dedication, creativity, wisdom and understanding. In general, the very image of Andrew is the embodiment of a person who manifests himself at the level of the heart center. Such a person loves life, does not waste time on endless deliberations and self-reflection, which spends 90% of the energy of the layman. We can say that the meaning of his life is in creation, in action, which turns out to be a blessing for those who are near.
If you think about it, computers and technology do not live for themselves, because they have no self-consciousness - they exist for humans. But is the presence of self-awareness the only reason why a person should think only of himself? Who are we? What are we living for? If we live only for ourselves, why are we needed? Obviously, the true meaning of life is to be useful to life itself, to help it develop and learn about itself.
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Selflessness may seem to reinforce the duality of experience when we are forced to act to the detriment of our interests by suppressing the manifestations of our personality. If selflessness is artificial, feigned, or copied from an image, then the duality of experiences is almost inevitable, and can only lead to even greater selfishness and hypocrisy. True selflessness has its own inner charge that motivates to act without suppressing personal interests. In fact, selflessness and personal interests merge in this vein. Then a person feels bliss simply from what he creates.
And perhaps it is impossible to avoid suffering and emptiness when the ego defends its position and there is no self-giving. Most of the psychological and esoteric literature now available is overflowing with various "knowledge", but suffers from a lack of sincerity and faith. We seem to jump over this stage and suffer from our egoism, the desire to remain right in any situation.
Self-development books are often read by intellectuals, and even if the author “shares” warmth, this can be regarded as his tearful weakness, while the reader may be fenced off from sincere words, due to the fact that shame and irritation obscure the feelings of the soul.
By reading the books of authors who write from the heart, you can connect to their faith and holiness, provided that the author has confidence in the information that he expresses. The concept of faith can be divided into two types. The first is the blind faith of a blind person in the existence of some kind of light, about which he knows nothing. The second is the true faith of the one who sees, which itself is light and knowledge.
Blind faith is the faith of dogmatists and orthodox materialists, when a person is blindly convinced that there is no God, or he blindly believes in canons, postulates, rituals and follows them mechanically, for the sake of feeling belonging to a group isolated from society.
True faith is very difficult to describe. It is easier for her to penetrate when you see her embodiment in a living person. You can read the biographies of the saints, or watch how they live at least in the same films. If there is an opportunity to observe a living selfless person, this is great luck. A grain of holiness is revealed to some extent to everyone when we ask God (any power from above) not for material benefits, but to become cleaner and wiser.
Pure cold knowledge is a very difficult path, both from an intellectual and a moral point of view, filled with suffering from the realization of the meaninglessness, frailty and vanity of everything worldly. True Jnana Yogis, following the path of knowledge, can really view reality as an impersonal, ruthless, cold absolute, and being as a mechanical force of nature (prakriti). But most readers should not get addicted to the ideas of jnana yoga, but should, without jumping forward, think about the fact that a really important indicator of development is the presence of love, kindness and acceptance in relationships with people.
On this topic, I recommend the books of Swami Paramahansa Yogananda, from which genuine holiness emanates. Some Christian sources are also good, such as texts such as Philosophy, Feat in the World, and the practice of prayer.
For an intellectual, prayer may seem like something too simple, indigestible in our material life, filled with planning and action. However, the spiritual world is not the realm of the mind at all, and the mind can never understand it. It is possible to understand at least something with the help of the mind only at the level of logical dual constructions.
You can use any Christian prayer that makes you feel warmer. I like Our Father. Here is the prayer given by Swami Vivekananda. It must be pronounced four times, to the four cardinal points:
If the prayer is spoken sincerely, the answer comes immediately.
