thanks for all the replies, this has been weighing on my mind for awhile and everyone's responses and intentions have been clearing it up for me
i'm currently reading the Law of One material advocated in the article (
L/L Research Frame Page - under "library") and it explains the Service-to-Self and Service-to-Others in more detail (long but good read). I'm also kind of confused about the phrasing of this and I agree with skydust that working on yourself IS helping others. david hawkins said that the best thing you can do for the world is raise your own level of consciousness, it radiates outward in the metaphysical realm and raises the whole world's consciousness level. all changes stem from within; as gandhi said, "be the change you wish to see in the world." whatever it takes to do it, whether it's service to your higher self or service to others. I personally just had an experience like that a couple days ago, where I had a period of being in unconditional love, and all anger and distrust melted away all around me without me having to do anything!
as for polarization, i'm reminded of david hawkin's work again in his explanations of non-duality; "you don't have to hate chocolate in order to like vanilla". we need to keep in perspective that evil and good both need to exist in order for Creation to unfold and for us to be able to choose, and that we are helping the Dark evolve in their own choices and that they are helping us evolve in our own choices.
i've been noticing a lot of New Age spirituality focused on manifesting all your desires, and while it talks a lot about how to manifest abundance and make your dream wo/man love you, there was almost nothing on how to increase the abundance of love in the world or addressing other people's free will.
maybe this is just one of these things where when people are ready for finer spiritual discernment, they'll attract and find articles like these, and when they're not they won't find it anyway. all we can do is be directed by the divine Presence within and allow higher possibilities for people to find spiritual truth and love when they need it. perhaps everything is unfolding as it should