The Way: Selflessness

"He must increase; I must decrease."  — John 3:30

Rudolf Steiner:  "The well-being of a community of people working together will be the greater where there is less egotism. To realize this, one is therefore dependent on finding people who are able to leave behind all selfishness. However, this is practically impossible as long as people’s welfare is determined by their work situation. Whosoever works for himself or herself must eventually fall into selfishness. Only the person who labors solely for others can slowly become more and more selfless. There is one condition, however. When a human being works for others, he must find the motive for his labor in the other; and when someone works for the human community as a whole, he must feel and experience the value, the essential importance, and the idea behind all this."

Source: Rudolf Steiner – GA 34 - LUCIFER - GNOSIS 1903-1908 – Spiritual Science and the Social Question

Source (German): Rudolf Steiner–GA 34– LUCIFER – GNOSIS 1903-1908 Geisteswissenschaft und soziale Frage – October 1905 (p. 214)

Translated by Nesta Carsten