For the seeker
Service, not achievement, should be the central purpose of life. The key question you should ask both of yourself and others is - how much have you done for others and at what cost.
Service should be selfless, i.e. without expectation of returns. This helps reduce the ego and sets one free from the result.
I do have my doubt about whether service should be for profit OR not for profit. I believe that a for profit service, with the genuine intent of benefiting your customer is the best way to do service. It ensures optimal use of innovation and resources to maximize the customer benefit. It would also be a great philosophy to run a company by. You can read 'Henry Ford - My Life and Work' for understanding how this concept can be put to reality.
Role models of the 'Life for service' philosophy would be Steve Jobs, HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Warren Buffet, Mother Teresa etc.
For the non-seeker
The biggest question I have for the non-seeker is 'What happens after you achieve something great?'. There is no joy in repeating the achievement, so why does the original achievement provide you joy? Examples I have for this concept are:
- Michael Jordan quit basket ball after winning 3 years in a row
- Michael Jackson after he became famous
- Gary Kasparov after winning a little too much
You can counter with examples like Sachin Tendulkar and Roger Federer, who seem to enjoy achievement, but were they really achievers? Federer on clay court, Sachin and his match winning are not the same as facing Michael Jordan on the basket ball court!
In short, 'Does it make sense to live your life to 'achieve' a purpose?' OR 'Does it make sense to live your life to follow a philosophy you believe in?'
When you do a service for profit are you not expecting something?
ReplyDeleteIn Marie Curie's biography, it said that the Curies chose not to patent their discovery so as not to prevent the scientific and the rest of the world to benefit from It.
There is open debate whether Bill Gates or Mother Theresa is the bigger saint. Mother Theresa needed people like Bill Gates to create wealth, so she could collect and distribute it.
ReplyDeleteIf you buy into the philosophy of 'empowerment over charity', then you cant empower or serve others while depending on charity yourself. A for profit 'service' ensure you remain empowered.
The idea is not 'for your own profit' service, but a 'for profit' service where you create 500 rupees of wealth for the people you are helping at say 50 rupees and charge 100 rupees for it. Then you use that 100 rupees to help 2 more people. Achievement in this context would mean creating a self sustaining system which keeps on helping others! Eg. Apple by Steve Jobs!
Expectation is a totally different thing. Lets not confuse that with achievement.