On my first day of my studies for becoming an Integral Coach we received an article written by Rachel Naomi Remen called “Helping, Fixing or Serving?”
It starts saying: “When you help, you see life as weak. When you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve you see life as a whole. Fixing and helping may be the work of the ego, and service the work of the soul”.
This has really put me into reflection, even still. It makes me remember the different stages and practices that I have explored in my persona path.
It made me think, because at some moments in my life I have felt weak and needed help. I have also felt broken and needed to be ‘fixed’. When I did 5 years of psychoanalysis, I felt like I was rebuilding my life with different pieces of a broken puzzle. However, I wouldn’t say that it was only ego work, mine or the therapists’. I think there was undoubtedly soul work as well. I find the author’s position interesting in that I believe from a higher dimension what really heals is the communication of love that is created between two sentient beings, who are on the same human-divine level trying to give the best of themselves to the world. That is service, the most authentic giving of both the client and the therapist. From a Transpersonal perspective, that is, beyond the person, the ego, the client and himself are seen as a broad, complete being, from the Being. The client is approached more from his most authentic potentials, than from his pathologies, as it had been in the early stages of psychology. However, that does not mean that from the Transpersonal perspective aspects of the ego are not worked on, since it is an essential step to be able to advance on the path of consciousness. As Ken Wilber says, in order to transcend the ego, you must first have a healthy ego. And healing the ego goes through moments of healing the weak, of fixing the broken. Again and again, in multiple cycles of expanded steps of inclusion and transcendence. In summary, I believe that healing and fixing can be as necessary at some point in the process as it can be simply to serve. The important thing is to include and transcend those moments. And not just stay in
Service requires us to know that our humanity is more powerful than our expertise.