Living
Synthesis--World Service
In this issue, we are revisiting the idea of service as it is expressed
by the new group of world servers today. Drawing on the work done in
London, New York and Geneva over the Festival Week in December 2005, we
will explore how the new group is helping to ground the theory and
practice of Living Synthesis in the world. Themes addressed in Reflections on World Service
(Newsletter 2005 #4) are picked up again, and examined from slightly
different angles. The apparent simplicity of this topic may be
deceptive. The idea of a group of people who are linked by a common
purpose is nothing new – but a purpose as grand in scope as world
service is new. Moreover, world service is as complex,
organic and diverse as the world itself; and by the same token, so are
the world servers. Yet there is something subtle, intangible,
telepathic even, that unites them into a coherent whole. They are not
an organisation, but something much more needed in these times – an
organism, a living being. The life that pulses mysteriously through all
creatures pulses also through the veins and nerves of the new group. So
the group is not static, but is constantly evolving in response to new
circumstances – new forms of service are continually being invented and
explored, and old forms re-imagined and revitalised. Thus, every time
we reflect on their nature and role, we can expect to see something
new, and to understand a little more clearly just why the group is
unique, and where our place within it might lie.
London, New York and Geneva are the main focal points of the work of
World Goodwill, yet there are also groups cooperating with us around
the world, and a number of these groups celebrated the Festival Week
too. In Australia, Sydney Goodwill held a meeting entitled Gifts of Spirit,
where participants discussed, “the deeply esoteric nature of Giving
which goes beyond the surface exchange of material gifts.” The meeting
opened and closed with the meditation formula “Strengthening the Hands
of the New Group of World Servers”. This formula was also used in two
meditation meetings organised by the Peninsula Goodwill Unit of Service
in Victoria, Australia. In Nigeria, two groups, the Nigerian Group for
Goodwill, and the Eket Unit of Service, each organised a special
seminar for the week. At both meetings, a number of speakers gave their
insights into the work of the new group. In KwaZulu-Natal, South
Africa, the South African Goodwill Association held a meeting with two
talks and a meditation. In the Greek capital, Athens, a meeting was
held for more than 110 people, featuring a talk, a video on the future
of the planet, and a group meditation. And in Denver, USA, a group
prepared a poster and information on the week and circulated it to
their mailing list, and also discussed the significance of the week and
opportunities for participation at their regular monthly meditation
meetings. We feel sure that other groups will also have been active in
celebrating the week, and would be glad to receive further reports on
this work.
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