Selflessness

Being selfless is “having little or no concern for oneself, especially with regard to fame, position, money, etc.; unselfish; devoted to others’ welfare or interest and not one’s own.” Selflessness is often referred to as altruism, as the unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others, which is a term usually used by secular humanists. We do not define selflessness as because that term has too amorphous a meaning to be trustworthy in application to Christed selflessness.

When your devotion is wholly to God, He will direct you in how to see to the welfare of others. Selflessness is the unselfish concern for the welfare of others, an attribute of the Logos, and is a Christ principle. Selflessness is another name for the Logos Emanation, an absolute and abstract principle, a law of being—you must be unselfish—and a law of doing—you must act in an unselfish manner—and a Christed soul virtue.


Edna Lister on Selflessness

Spiritual balance is Wisdom, Love and Selflessness, in equilibrium.—Edna Lister, The Beginning of Wisdom, March 15, 1934.


Lifting is the expression of universal selflessness.—Edna Lister, The Silence, March 17, 1934.


The Supreme Trinity is composed of Love, Wisdom and Selflessness. It is the opposite of the world trinity of hate, intolerance/ignorance and selfishness.—Edna Lister, Love, the Conqueror, April 12, 1934.


"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."—Matthew 19:19 means to be selfless, which is the Christ-consciousness principle.—Edna Lister, Recognizing Your Good, April 22, 1934.


You cannot separate service and selflessness.—Edna Lister, Be-Attitudes, September 19, 1935.


Only that which is pure and selfless shall endure.—Edna Lister, July 15, 1938.


Love and joy must be a combination of selflessness, or the Power cannot move forth.—Edna Lister, December 14, 1938.


True mastery is selfless, self-less.—Edna Lister, A Design for Ascension, 1941.


Simplicity of expression comes from selflessness.—Edna Lister, A Design for Ascension, 1941.


Become one with heaven and give your life in selfless sacrificial service.—Edna Lister, November 6, 1941.


The golden portals to the soul are Wisdom and Love, and the lock is the self. The only key to unlock it is selflessness, the "open sesame."—Edna Lister, The Gates of Gold, March 22, 1942.


God’s honor is an exact, perfect blend and balance of love and wisdom expressing itself in selflessness at all times, under all circumstances.—Edna Lister, December 22, 1942.


When you are living selflessly, your light glows and all heaven knows immediately how high you have climbed.—Edna Lister, July 8, 1945.


The Via Christa is the way of soul expression and selflessness.—Edna Lister, September 10, 1946.


There is no in-between phase between perfection and imperfection, between selflessness and selfishness.—Edna Lister, August 20, 1947.


Not many are able or willing to stand selflessly.—Edna Lister, July 15, 1948.


Perfect surrender to the heart of God is the height of selflessness.—Edna Lister, October 2, 1950.


You must express selfless love as your Oversoul.—Edna Lister, December 5, 1950.


Wisdom, Love and Energy are the perfect principles of being and doing in the selflessness of the Son.—Edna Lister, Atomic Energy and Creative Mind, September 30, 1952.


Initiation consists in becoming selfless in service where it is needed, under guidance from above.—Edna Lister, October 1, 1953.


Today’s selfless vision becomes tomorrow’s exalted expanded living.—Edna Lister, October 5, 1953.


Someone must deliberately give all darkness to the Father. No darkness of whatever degree or kind can be lifted unless somebody who loves God enough will scrape it up and give it to Him as their gift. Your gift ascends according to the purity of your mind, heart and purpose. You cannot lift any more than you are. You cannot lift any higher than you are or pray any higher than you are practicing law. God uses all prayer, from the savage to the highest creator, to overcome darkness and to lift earth. The little grades of prayer, short of quality and quantity, are folded into the next grade; the prayers that do the work are those offered in selfless consciousness. Thus, you move from a state of selfishness to a state of soul-ish-ness.—Edna Lister, November 26, 1956.


Complete selflessness gives no thought of or for the self.—Edna Lister, June 3, 1958.


Faith in action is resurrection and selflessness.—Edna Lister, Faith Unconquerable, November 30, 1958.


Many have been called, so few have chosen the selfless, chosen way.—Edna Lister, March 26, 1959.


The Christ principle of selfless service gives of itself lavishly and counts no effort too long or too hard.—Edna Lister, The Pioneering Mystic, May 5, 1959.


The task of a mediator is to make the faculties completely selfless. You purify your thinking by keeping your consciousness fixed in the Oversoul, to leave the faculties free to use them under complete surrender to be an instrument of the Almighty.—Edna Lister, November 2, 1959.


You must sacrifice and surrender the self until nothing of heaven or earth can cause you to slip even an iota. When a taint touches the heaven-sent Power that you are supposed to express selflessly, it can cast you down unless you are ready and qualified in selfless surrender.—Edna Lister, December 2, 1959.


If you disobey law, the Emanations of Love, Wisdom and Joy in Selflessness, and teach men so, you shall become the least in the kingdom, a mindless floating entity.—Edna Lister, May 8, 1960.


Selflessness in all ways is the goal of the Christos Degree.—Edna Lister, May 13, 1960.


Selflessness is the key to being at one with God.—Edna Lister, Man God-High, November 5, 1961.


A selfless response to the needs of others puts a call upon the Power which is fulfilled immediately.—Edna Lister, Heaven: A Place to Fill, April 10, 1962.


Selflessness is a state of forgiveness.—Edna Lister, Earth’s Final Age, July 16, 1963.


Love is selfless.—Edna Lister, The Magic Word, Your Magic Wand, April 12, 1964.

Top ↑




Edna Miriam Lister
1884—1971
The original Christian Pioneering Mystic,
Platonist philosopher, American Idealist, Founder, Society of the Universal Living Christ, minister, teacher, author, wife, and mother.


Edna Lister


Etymology of self: Old English self, sylf, "self, same."


Selflessness is another name for the Logos Emanation.
Selflessness is an absolute principle.
Selflessness is an abstract principle.
Selflessness is a law of being.
Selflessness is a law of doing.
Selflessness is a Christed soul virtue.


References

Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, 2024.

The Holy Bible. King James Version (KJV).

The Oxford English Dictionary: Compact Ed. 2 volumes. Oxford University Press, 1971.


Related Topic

Altruism