Former Westboro member shares experience

[Jade]

I really enjoyed reading this article. It is the story of the granddaughter of Fred Phelps. She was a media figure from a very young age. She spearheaded their Twitter ministry and spend many years tweeting her undiluted hate. In this process, she got to know some "outsiders" on a more personal, unfiltered level, and this process led to an awakening of sorts. It's an interesting story about how completely distorted 'service' can be, even when one seeks to help others, and the series of steps that one often sets up for oneself so that an awakening can be gradual yet powerful. 

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/1...elps-roper

[APeacefulWarrior]

It kinda illustrates what happens when "Christians" decide to ignore everything Christ said or did, huh?

This also reminds me of the Scientology documentary "Going Clear," which I watched on Netflix recently. It covers similar ground, in terms of people honestly believing they're doing service and slowly coming to realize that everything they believed was a complete sham. On the plus side, spiritually speaking intentions are more important than results when it comes to doing service for others, so at least their hearts were in the right place.

[anagogy]

On the plus side, spiritually speaking intentions are more important than results when it comes to doing service for others, so at least their hearts were in the right place.

I actually disagree with that to be honest. Remember the old expression. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." I think with service to others it is only a service to others if the "others" desire the action. So actions matter just as much as the intent. The receiver of a service must want the service or the only person being serviced is the self.

[APeacefulWarrior]

Well, the problem is that outcomes are so hard for us to judge ahead of time when incarnated.  If doing service WELL was a pre-requisite for being service-oriented, no one would make it out of 3rd density as a positive, since wisdom is only learned much later.  Just look at how badly things went when Ra tried to incarnate as an Egyptian pharaoh.  His message wasn't accepted, and Akhenaten is generally considered among the worst of the pharaohs historically.  But he was still doing service.  It just didn't work out like he'd planned.

(Although he did eventually inspire one of Philip Glass's best long-form compositions, so there's that at least.  )

Or a more mundane occurrence:  A group of friends attempts to stage an intervention with an alcoholic friend who's self-destructing, but he refuses to listen and just gets drunker.  Would you REALLY say they were only doing it for themselves?  

If someone is seeking to do service to others, opening themselves up and learning to radiate love, that still contributes to their own spiritual development.  Obviously, if it's successful and reciprocated, that opens up the opportunity for MORE development, but failure doesn't negate the original intent or the spiritual growth brought by the attempt.  And in this case we see that Phelps-Roper is clearly very service-oriented, she just grew up in an environment where her desire to do service was turned to very unwise ends.  Now that she's broken free of the conditioning, she will likely be a much more effective service worker - but she probably wouldn't be a service worker at all without her original failed attempts.

Also, Q'uo has said the same in so many words.  It's difficult searching the Q'uo archives, but one session I dug up says:

For you can see dimly into the nuances of your intention to be of service and you can hear the requests made of you to be of service to others which others offer you. Yet you cannot see into the hearts and the spiritual intentions of those who ask for your service. You cannot know if that which is requested is that which is honestly desired. You are working by faith alone to know yourself and to give of yourself in a way that will be of true service to another.

The discrepancy betwixt what you desire to offer and what is possible to offer of that which the other actually needs or desires is variable. Perhaps what you see is what you get. Perhaps the request is genuine, heartfelt and transparent. However, it is just as likely that a request for service comes from an entity who does not know himself or accept himself and who is not aware of that which he actually desires in a spiritual sense. The waters therefore are muddied. The goal is almost impossible to see.

Spiritually speaking, it's far better to ATTEMPT to do service for others, and fail, than to not try at all for fear of failing.  Certainty of success is effectively impossible.

[anagogy]

Well, the problem is that outcomes are so hard for us to judge ahead of time when incarnated.  If doing service WELL was a pre-requisite for being service-oriented, no one would make it out of 3rd density as a positive, since wisdom is only learned much later.  Just look at how badly things went when Ra tried to incarnate as an Egyptian pharaoh.  His message wasn't accepted, and Akhenaten is generally considered among the worst of the pharaohs historically.  But he was still doing service.  It just didn't work out like he'd planned.

It didn't work out as planned, and how have they spent their time since then?  Trying to correct the mistake because the outcome matters.  

Or a more mundane occurrence:  A group of friends attempts to stage an intervention with an alcoholic friend who's self-destructing, but he refuses to listen and just gets drunker.  Would you REALLY say they were only doing it for themselves?

 
In a lot of cases I would say they are doing it for themselves, because they don't approve of what is happening and its makes them feel better about it.  In reality, these things often just infuriate the person who is negatively self destructing and furthermore, fail to address the real reasons why they are self destructing, just making it even worse.  Occasionally, they are indeed helpful to the person, and it helps them snap out of it, but I would say just as often it is a miserable failure and a waste of time (and I say this based on personal experience).

Anyway, its just my personal opinion.  I honestly and legitimately think that help not asked for is more destructive in most cases than no help at all.