Post 12: Service — Walking the Path
When we go through hardship, trauma, or loss, it can feel like the end of the story. Yet many traditions (and modern psychology) remind us that what begins as post-traumatic stress can become post-traumatic growth. The pain we carry can be transformed into wisdom, and the lessons we learn can become medicine for others.
Ram Dass once said, “We’re all just walking each other home.” That is what service really is. Healing is not just about feeling better for ourselves, it is about remembering we are here for one another. The more we heal, the more we have to give. Service is not a burden or duty. It is the natural overflow of a heart that has been touched, broken open, and made whole again.
Ancient Wisdom: Carrying the Medicine Forward
In every culture, healing was never seen as the end of the journey. To be healed was to be entrusted. To receive a blessing, a teaching, or a cure was to carry a responsibility for others. Ancient wisdom traditions remind us that transformation is not a possession we hold onto but a current that moves through us. To be touched by grace is to become a vessel of it. To be healed is to carry healing forward.
Native Traditions — Receiving and Carrying the Medicine
Among many Indigenous peoples of the Americas, to receive medicine was to be entrusted with responsibility. In Lakota, Apache, and other lineages, when a person received healing in ceremony, it was said they now “carried the medicine.” The experience was never only personal. It became part of the collective. To carry medicine meant you were now a living reminder for others, a source of strength, and someone called to pass on what you had been given.
Daoism — The Immortal’s Return
In Daoist practice, adepts sought harmony with the Dao through breath, energy cultivation, and inner alchemy. But the goal was never escape. Masters often returned to their villages to serve, offering guidance in balance, qigong, and medicine. As the Tao Te Ching reminds us:
“The sage does not hoard. The more he does for others, the more he has himself.” (Chapter 81)
Service was seen as the natural overflow of union with the Dao. To align with the Way is to give, and to give is to remain in flow.
Hinduism — Seva as Sacred Duty
In Vedic and bhakti traditions, seva (selfless service) is seen as a direct expression of devotion. Service is not a duty of repayment but an offering of love, a way of aligning human action with divine presence. To serve others is to serve the Divine in them.
Buddhism — Compassion in Action
The bodhisattva vow in Mahayana Buddhism embodies this principle: even upon reaching the threshold of enlightenment, the vow is to remain in the world until all beings are free. Service here is not martyrdom but the most natural expression of awakening: compassion in action.
Christian Mysticism — Hands of Service
In early Christianity, healing and service were inseparable. To follow Christ was to serve “the least of these.” The laying on of hands was never just a rite, it was a way of transmitting presence, compassion, and empowerment.
Sufism — Service as Love in Action
In the Sufi path, service is seen as the highest expression of love. The poet Rumi wrote that being human is to be “a lamp, a lifeboat, a ladder.” Sufis speak of polishing the heart through prayer and song so that service flows naturally, not from duty but from the overflow of divine union.
From Native healers to Daoist sages, from bhakti devotees to bodhisattvas, from Christian mystics to Sufi dervishes, the message is the same: healing ripens into service. To carry medicine is to live as a reminder that the sacred is not confined to ceremony but walks with us into the world. Service is the flowering of healing, the sign that transformation has taken root. It is how post-traumatic stress becomes post-traumatic growth, how wounds become wisdom, and how love continues to circulate.
Modern Science: The Healing Power of Service
Modern research confirms that service is not only spiritually meaningful but biologically transformative. Acts of compassion ripple through the nervous system, brain, and body, changing both the giver and the receiver.
Altruism and Well-Being: Studies in psychology and public health (e.g., Psychological Bulletin, 2013) show that people engaged in service or volunteering experience reduced depression, higher happiness, and improved physical health.
Helper’s High: Neuroscience has documented the release of endorphins and dopamine during acts of service. This “helper’s high” boosts resilience, lowers pain perception, and cultivates lasting joy.
Service and Longevity: Longitudinal studies (Health Psychology, 2012) reveal that consistent service behaviors correlate with lower mortality rates. Serving others seems to buffer the body against the harmful effects of chronic stress.
Polyvagal Safety and Co-Regulation: Stephen Porges’ polyvagal theory explains how compassionate presence, expressed through tone, voice, and touch, signals safety to others. This mutual regulation strengthens nervous system resilience for both giver and receiver.
Post-Traumatic Growth: Research into trauma recovery highlights service as a pathway from suffering to meaning. Survivors who give back report higher levels of purpose, resilience, and fulfillment.
Empathy and Mirror Neurons: Neuroscience shows that mirror neurons fire both when we serve and when we witness service. This shared circuitry deepens empathy and belonging, confirming that service is part of our biological design.
Science affirms what traditions have always taught: to serve is to heal. Service regulates our chemistry, expands our empathy, and helps transform pain into meaning. When we offer our presence to others, we step into a flow that nourishes both self and world.
Ceremony in Practice: Service as Transmission
For me, ceremony is not just about releasing pain or unlocking gifts. It is about preparing people for service. When someone comes through ceremony and leaves lighter, more connected, more themselves, they do not leave empty-handed. They carry medicine. Their presence changes the people around them. Their service might not look like mine. It may be parenting with more patience, leading with more compassion, or creating with more courage. But it is service nonetheless.
In ceremony, I also serve. I absorb, transmute, guide, and witness, not for myself, but so others can step into their own alignment. My path is not to be the end point but a bridge. What flows through me is meant to flow through you, and from you into the world.
Closing Invitation
Service is the path’s true horizon. Healing is not the destination, it is the preparation. Once your burdens lighten, once your gifts return, you carry something for others too. This is how the circle turns.
Service does not mean sacrifice. It means living in alignment with who you are and offering that truth as a gift. Whether through prayer, parenting, leadership, art, or presence, your service matters. It ripples outward in ways you may never see.
At Path of All, this is why I walk and why I serve, to empower others to remember, to heal, and to live as carriers of medicine for the world.
TW
Further Reading: Key References
1. How Can I Help? Stories and Reflections on Service — Ram Dass & Paul Gorman
What you’ll learn: Reflections on service as a path of love and awakening, with moving real-life stories.
Why read it: A classic text that reframes helping others as a spiritual practice, not a burden.
👉 Amazon link
2. The Book of Joy — Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu & Douglas Abrams
What you’ll learn: How compassion, humility, and giving lead to joy even in the face of suffering.
Why read it: A dialogue between two spiritual giants that proves service is the source of deep happiness.
👉 Amazon link
3. The Healing Power of Doing Good — Allan Luks & Peggy Payne
What you’ll learn: Scientific research on the “helper’s high,” showing how altruism boosts physical and emotional health.
Why read it: Connects ancient teachings of service with modern evidence on wellbeing.
👉 Amazon link
4. Posttraumatic Growth: Positive Change in the Aftermath of Crisis — Richard G. Tedeschi & Lawrence G. Calhoun
What you’ll learn: How trauma, when integrated, becomes a catalyst for meaning, purpose, and service.
Why read it: Foundational research that aligns with the principle of transforming wounds into medicine.
👉 Amazon link
5. The Art of Happiness — Dalai Lama & Howard Cutler
What you’ll learn: A synthesis of Buddhist wisdom and Western psychology on compassion, purpose, and fulfillment.
Why read it: Practical teachings for cultivating happiness by living in service to others.
👉 Amazon link
6. Living Buddha, Living Christ — Thích Nhất Hạnh
What you’ll learn: How mindfulness and compassion unite across Buddhist and Christian traditions as acts of service.
Why read it: Shows how service transcends religion and becomes a universal language of love.
👉 Amazon link
