Ever since returning home, a common theme with my essays has been to share wisdom in the form of some strong lessons I have learned during my life but especially these recent years.
One lesson that I feel supersedes them all came from a friend of mine named Gary Kleiner. Gary was a friend of my mum (and eventually mine) who spent time in the spiritual community my Mother was also a part of in my hometown.
As would be normal for a teen, I wasn’t a big fan of spending time in the community and would be reluctant to talk to most (especially the overly spiritual kinds.) I gravitated toward those who had worldly and similar interests as mine. Gary and I bonded over our love for rock and roll, movies, and sports. He was super encouraging about my music and even christened me a “Rockstar” - which I reveled in. A common thread between us was a mutual love for and admiration of Bob Dylan. He’d be super encouraging whenever I played a Dylan track and we would go over the lyrics of our favorite Dylan songs. On one such occasion, he told me about a lesser-known Dylan song and how the song gives away the purpose of life or “the only knowledge worth knowing” as I like to put it.
So what is the purpose of life and which Dylan song gives it away? The answer to those questions can be found in the song - “Gotta Serve Somebody.” Gary would often poetically deliver words from the hook of the song -
It may be the devil
or it may be the Lord,
but you’re gonna have to
serve somebody.
-Bob Dylan
If you haven’t pieced it together yet, the purpose of life as per the song and Gary was to be ‘of service.’ To not exist merely in a bubble of constantly gratifying the self, but to coexist as a part of a bigger environment and in service of others.
The song suggests that one way to bring purpose into your life is to do whatever you do in your life (including how you make a living) with the intent of serving others rather than serving yourself. This notion is a powerful one for somebody like me who’s an artist, but I feel it applies to all (as the song eludes). It holds no matter what you do - whether you are a writer, janitor, professor, doctor, etc. The idea is to ask ‘what does it do for others’ more so than ‘what does it do for me.’
Of course, it’s worth pointing out that ‘what does it do for me’ is not something you should ignore either. We cannot properly serve others until we have also served ourselves. Like I touch upon in a poem of mine - “empty goblets don’t get nobody drunk.” Before we can serve others it helps to serve ourselves by putting in the hours to learn all that you have the opportunity to about your passion. This may look like medical school for a doctor or apprenticeship and practice under a maestro for an artist.
That said, once you’ve gotten around ‘what it does for you’ and gotten fairly good at it - it is important to then shift the focus to ‘what can it do for others.’ Needless to say, this approach goes well beyond our work and can also be applied to other aspects of our lives including our relationships.
Over the years, I have tried to apply this wisdom to all the work I do (both the creative and non-creative kind.) I have tried to narrow my focus to what I’m most passionate about (thereby serving myself) and then go about it in a way that lets me serve others.
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