Pride and Priorities – feel good about doing good!

What makes you feel proud of yourself?

Before answering this question, let’s look at the following very illuminating statement about pride made by Dr. George King in 1965 in a lecture entitled ‘The Coming Year’:

…we should feel doubly honored – all of us – should feel doubly honored, we should feel very, very proud, in the right manner – I’m talking now about spiritual pride, not material pride, which is a cancer. But we should feel spiritually proud that The Aetherius Society was the organization through which the real truth about the Initiation was given to this Earth for the sake of posterity… It’s an amazing thing that this should have happened…

Dr. King was talking here to Members of The Aetherius Society, but whether a Member or not, the essence of this wisdom still rings true.

So let’s think about how we can apply this principle of spiritual pride to our own lives now – and enjoy the happiness it can bring us…!

Here’s the question again: what makes you feel proud?

Is it how good you look, or is it how much good you have done?

Is it how much money you have accumulated, or how much money you have given away in service to God?

Is it your shiny, new car in the driveway, or is it the fact that you have taken part in a mass healing mission such as Operation Prayer Power?

Is it your fancy holiday on a sunny beach, or having attended a religious or spiritual service as important as a Service of Thanksgiving for a Phase of the world-saving mission Operation Sunbeam?

Is it what is admired by the people around you, or what is appreciated by the Gods – that makes you truly proud?

If we make the effort to feel pride in doing good, and feel no pride in materialism– then we are affirming the importance of good, and the unimportance of materialism, in our own minds.

This affirmation will spiritualize our priorities – our choices – and mean that we put more energy into good, and less – or hopefully even none – into materialism.

When we look at our lives, it is what we do that helps others – that serves God – that should make us proud, and nothing else.

This feeling of pride will make us happy – and we deserve to feel happy from this pride. And this happy feeling of pride should not lull us into complacency, but rather should inspire us into doing more good.

While the motive of doing good should not be to feel good ourselves, there is nothing wrong with feeling good, if we are feeling good for the right reason; in fact, on the contrary, it is good to feel good. We all know how much more pleasant it is to be around someone who feels good than someone who does not – so let’s feel good to make others feel good.

Most of us at times feel envy – someone is richer or fitter or clever or better looking etc. But if we are leading a truly spiritual life of service, such envy is exposed as an absurdity. Because none of these things – being richer or fitter or cleverer or better looking etc – matter at all, unless they are somehow applied in service. They can be a means to Godliness when used in this light, but they are never an end in themselves. And to believe in them as ends in themselves, is to deceive ourselves and cause ourselves pain.

If we lead a spiritual life of service, and feel pride in this, this whole value system will serve to free us from the materialistic trap. We will be able to see ever more clearly what really matters and what does not – and this will inform our every thought and action – and we will feel better than we have ever felt in our lives – because this spiritual happiness is the only form of happiness that is really deserved; that is anything like close to the reality of God.

This does not mean that we will never feel sad again – or even that we should never feel sad again. But again, that sadness will not be for some ridiculous, materialistic nonsense like the fact that our next-door neighbor has a bigger, better car than we do – the sadness will be for things that really matter, like the suffering of the selfish and apathetic masses, who could change and be free of such suffering. This too will inspire us to do ever greater good – and then we will feel that spiritual pride – and resultant happiness – all the more.

Naturally, this pride should not be arrogance – and will not be arrogance if treated with wisdom; on the contrary it will lead to greater humility. By valuing doing good, we will value those who do more good than we do. We will therefore co-operate with them more; help them more. We will follow their example – and evolve to become like them – to the Bliss of God-Consciousness…!

To end, here are a few words to inspire us from the Great Ones:

I have no doubt that every loyal member reading this will take pride in the fact that he or she is a part of a Society which is given the privilege of working so directly with The Great Cosmic Masters.

Cosmic Voice – Issue 22, Dr. George King

My message just now, is to rally your forces more than ever before and keep your heads higher than ever before. Higher, with the pride you have in your Divine Task. So that you may lead those by the hand, who have just thrown the rocks of their hatred against you.

Cosmic Voice – Issue 12, The Master Aetherius

… we all enjoyed every moment of it, realizing that we were working under the directions of the Great Adepts for the benefit of the whole planet. Such is the reward of service, for there is nothing so satisfying as working for the Glory of God in the service of mankind….

Cosmic Voice – Volume 2, Dr. George King

Let us remind ourselves – whenever our hearts seem to flutter away from God, in the strange, deceptive breeze of materialistic longing – that in actual fact: there is nothing so satisfying as working for the Glory of God in the service of mankind – and that we should be truly proud when we do so…!

About the author
Mark Bennett is the co-author of two books, both of which he wrote with international bestselling author Richard Lawrence, namely Prayer Energy and Gods, Guides and Guardian Angels, which was voted “best book on spirituality 2007” by readers of Kindred Spirit magazine. He is the youngest International Director of The Aetherius Society, whose teachings he chose as his spiritual path at an early age.