On Bob Dylan’s 1979 album Slow Train Coming is a interesting tune proclaiming our need as humans to serve somebody.  The album is full of religious overtones and serving God is the apparent focus of the song.  After all if you have to serve somebody why not God.

Personally though I wonder if first we should always serve ourselves.  It becomes a bit of a circular argument but perhaps serving ourselves requires us to serve others.

Find the Balloon

I read the other day about an interesting experiment and associated conclusion a post secondary professor conducted with his psychology class.

Each student was asked to blow up a balloon and then write their name on it.  The professor mixed all the balloons in a large open room and tasked the students to find the balloon with their name on it in 5 minutes.  No one was able to complete the task.

Then the professor told everyone to take a balloon and find the owner, within five minutes everyone had their balloon.

The professor concluded there are some things best achieved by relying on others but when you do depend on others good things will come back to you.

Serving the Purpose

Rather than serving somebody perhaps what is best served is your own purpose.  I interpret this as the deeper meaning of the Bob Dylan song as well.

Whether we leverage others, do it ourselves or through some combination of self and others achieving our purpose will bring us satisfaction and joy.

It is unlikely this can be attained without others, per the balloon example help others and let others help you.  The rewards will be worth it.