Posted all around the ashram of the great Indian saint, Sai Baba, are little signs displaying spiritual aphorisms, reminding visitors of the reason they are there. One sign reads Life is a Journey from I to We. That message impressed me like no other, to the point that I still remember it 20 years later. Why? Because it reflects a universal truth of all religions: the path to peace and happiness is not about the exhaltation of oneself and ones ego, but rather is love and kindness toward others.
When we are born, we dont differentiate between ourselves and the rest of the world. Everything is I.
As we become toddlers, we begin to realize that others share our world and we learn how to make concessions and accommodate others.
When we become teens, peers become all important and we try to subjugate our egos to fit in.
When we become adults we continually strive to find a balance between self and others.
The time of greatest selflessness for most people is when we have children, and we put the needs of our infants above all else. We do this because infants are innocent, helpless and beautiful. They need us. We love them.
While most of us are able to take selflessness to this level with our children, we have difficulty doing it in our everyday liveswith colleagues, friends, strangers.
But there are occasional exceptions to this. Some people are able to transcend their egos and see through the egos of othersto see them as innocent, helpless and beautiful. They lower the barriers between self and other and become we.
Many of us have known someone like this. Despite the fact that they are continually putting others first, they are paradoxically yet invariably happy and at peace. Their lives are rich and full. People are attracted to them like magnets and good things continually seem to come their way.
They have completed the journey from I to we and entered the kingdom of heaven, right here on Earth.
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