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andrew harvey
November 2009 
5 Types of Service: Andrew Harvey
Jayne
Two years ago, I consciously began walking the path of sacred service. I was a nun in a contemplative spiritual order for about 4 years when I had the opportunity to serve in a deeper way. Soon after I took my ordination vows and ‘took the veil’, I started working as a shelter administrator for an interfaith homeless shelter that served about 75 people a night during the first year and 85-100 per night in the second year. The shelter is the only one in the city that accepts people who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol as long as they can meet the minimal behavior standards. One night during the first week I was there, I was walking up and down the aisles of beds while people were sleeping. I stopped in the middle of the room and vowed to myself, my soul and the Divine that I would keep my heart open no matter what; that I wouldn’t shield or protect myself from the pain and suffering and that I wouldn’t run. I knew that in order to be a true channel for divine love within the world that my heart had to remain open. You can’t both protect your heart from pain and suffering while at the same time keeping it open to the source of love. It’s all or nothing. Although I had been involved in service as a volunteer for most of my life, this was the beginning of consciously walking the path of sacred service.
What I learned nearly immediately is that you can think all sorts of things about where you are at spiritually, but until you are tested in real life, it’s in your head. Sacred Service provides you with the best way to honestly evaluate where you’re at. Can you stay centered in love, in joy, in peace with your heart wide open while standing in the middle of pain and suffering? When do you shut down? How can you remain deeply connected to the Divine Source on a daily, even minute by minute basis? Walking this path of sacred service moved me from my head into my heart.
The first year at the shelter, I worked 7 nights a week - 80 hours a week. Every night I would return to the Monastery and review my experiences. How was I able to keep my heart open? When did I want to protect or shield myself? Was I able to stay centered? How was I successful? Where did I need work? Last November, I left the path of nun (e.g., of renunciation) to live in the world, with the world and for the world and continue my work of service with individuals who are homeless.
5 Types of Service
Andrew Harvey, author and mystic, talks about 5 types of service:
- Service to the Divine through daily prayer. Get up early and spend an hour in a sacred practice. You must be fed by divine inspiration.
- Service to oneself, as a living instrument of the Divine in action, through the fostering of emotional, physical, and spiritual health.
- Service to all beings, including animals. Bring a consciousness of divine compassion to your daily encounters. Spread joy, honoring and cherishing everyone.
- Service to your local community. Identify the two or three worldwide concerns that most break your heart. Work on these issues in your local community; even a couple hours a week will add meaning to your life.
- Service to your global community. Americans, in particular, must accept the responsibility of being a global citizen, especially when it comes to choices with money and the resulting runaway consumption.
I would encourage you to take 10 minutes to watch this video by Andrew Harvey that goes into more depth on the first two types of service - it’s inspiring!
Access: Public
[Do you need to believe in God or a Higher Power to practice this path?
At the risk of offending some, I am going to say Yes. However, you may define or relate to ‘God' or the Divine in any way that works for you. At the essence is your belief in something larger than yourself. Having a personal relationship or connection with the Divine is how you will sustain yourself in work that can be very demanding and this is why ‘volunteers' burn out. ]
Isn't this a rather limiting concept? Even with all the fine help that many religious organizations do for people, there is always that “religion” slipped under the door.
Hi! Thanks for the comment. I don't believe that a belief in a higher power of some kind - whether that is God or Great Spirit or the Divine or Love itself, has to be connected with a religion of any kind at all. I don't belong to a religion, yet I have a connection to what I call Divine Source which I've experienced as an energy of Love. What I am proposing and I am not unique - I didn't come up with this - is that sacred service is a different animal than service or volunteerism. Many will choose to do service from a different place than what I am sharing. That's fine. What I'm referring to as sacred service which is karma yoga or seva framed in more of an interfaith or spiritual structure, means that you are acting from the place of divine truth - love, joy, peace… and are dedicating your work/service to that energy - which some call God. You are not performing these actions from any sense of I or ego and are not attached to the results of your actions (that's an edited definition). In order to do this deep level of service work from this place requires a strong and continual connection to Spirit - God - the Divine - to the Source of Love. If its not that, then it's service or volunteerism and as mentioned, that's fine. This path is not for everyone. Others will find their way by other means.
I have had enough experience with religion being slipped under the door as you mentioned through the offering of service. I see it all the time and do not agree with those methods. I manage an interfaith homeless shelter which was created in part to provide an other option for people who either couldn't go to the other religiously-based shelter in town (due to various requirements) or who chose not to go because of the religious nature of the services.
As a Humanist and Free Thinker, I sometimes am slightly put off by the notion that someone has to have a belief in a “God” to be a decent and caring human being. Man is capable of many great things, including inventing Gods. Regardless of any of this, I can see that you are doing some very fine things and should be commended for it. Because of what you do, many people are better off for your being there, and that in itself is a grand thing. My hat's off to you m'am.
Bewick -
I think we are probably more on the same page than you think. Belief in a 'God' is certainly not required to do good works or to be considered a decent human being! I work alongside a number of aetheists (self-defined) who are doing very very good work. My 'God' is love. Plain and simple. That to me is something bigger and larger than me and so constitutes what others consider to be a God, who is an entity - a being. Thanks for your conversation today.