Thus, in a society dominated by merely material conceptions of life, service is interpreted in terms of providing for bread or clothes or other physical amenities of existence. In a society responsive to the value of intellectual culture, service is interpreted in terms of spreading learning in different forms. In a society that has developed a taste for beauty, service is interpreted in terms of organizing the production and distribution of works of art. In a society responsive to the ineffable values of the heart, service is interpreted in terms of constructing those channels that will facilitate culture and expression of the heart. In a society alive to the supreme importance of the spirit, service is interpreted in terms of imparting spiritual understanding.
Of these different types of service, the service that is concerned with spiritual understanding is the highest, because spiritual understanding includes the right perspective to all human problems and promotes their solution.
-Discourses 7th Ed. p361