“Everything in the universe operates through dynamic exchange. Every relationship is one of give and take because giving and receiving are different aspects of the flow of energy in the universe.”
Deepak Chopra :The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success
In the kitchen of our home at Finca Fruición, I watched a mother bird ceaselessly work to prepare her nest, sit on her eggs, and once they hatched, find food to feed her young chicks. After they were old enough, they flew away. As I watched this process, I thought of my own babies who entered into the world vulnerable and completely dependent on my ability to care for them. I remembered how I lovingly gave my attention, time, and energy to making sure their needs were met and they were growing happily. With each new phase of their development, I gave to them; sharing all I could to create a foundation of love, trust, and confidence in themselves, other people, and the world. Upon this recollection, I realized that life itself is dependent on the ability to give. Everyone of us came into the world needing others to care for us, and we often leave the same way, dependent on the care of others. When we have received good, loving care, we can offer it to others and the care we share reflects back to us. Even if we, ourselves, did not receive good care, we can give it to others as we learn what it is and how to offer it. Giving, therefore, is love in action. It is how life can continue, and it fuels positive relationships.
All major religions speak to the importance of giving – “tithing”, as it is often referred to. The spirit of this important action, permeates the divisions of race, culture, religion, class and even species; for all beings have something to share with one another. Even throughout all human divisions, giving can be found. Whether it be a mother nourishing her child, a friend offering a gift to a friend, charitable organizations funding projects for those in need, wealthy philanthropists with a desire to assist worthwhile enterprises, or spiritual organizations doing the good work that they do, giving is everywhere! Giving is powerful and it creates a nourishing web of gratitude.
In Islam, giving is one of the foundational pillars that holds up the religion and culture. Muslims see giving as a way of purifying themselves from their greed and selfishness and also safeguarding future business. They also believe that giving purifies the person who receives, because it saves him from the humiliation of begging and prevents him from envying the rich. The process of sharing with others offers us an opportunity to cultivate compassion and love, to trust in the flow of cosmic energy through the medium of money. By living in service we can nourish ourselves with kindness and share in the power of cooperation. In ancient times, people often gave 10% of what they earned to their spiritual temple, whether it be in grains, fruits, oils, wines, animals, or money. In integral temples, the temple then distributed that out to those in need.
Just as the body will distribute nourishment and oxygen to its different parts, mushroom roots or mycellium, will find nutrients from one part of a forest and bring it to a tree or plant that needs it. This inspired me to believe that our human societies can share energy evenly. Imagine how different humanity would be if all of us, shared at least 10% of what we earned with others. How wonderful we would feel if each one of us could gift another person with something that they truly needed and to witness the joy and gratitude that that person felt. When we can ask the question of “how can I serve?” rather than “what’s in it for me?” we begin to transform our world for the better. Deepak Chopra wrote in his book “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success”
Currency, our word for money, derives from a Latin word meaning “to run or flow.” Money is a symbol of the life energy we give and the life energy we receive as a result of the service we provide others. … Circulation keeps it [money] alive and vital. If we stop the circulation of life energy, if our intention is to hold on to our money and hoard it, we stop the circulation back into our lives.
In this way, it is in giving that we open the space in our lives to be filled again. Opening up, in a spirit of gratitude and offering, is a powerful declaration of love and trust in the flow. Supporting, whole-heartedly, what we care about, can fill us more than any amount of money. When we can offer even a small percentage of what we reap to others, we are cooperating with the abundance of life, rather than clinging to scarcity.
One of my favorite parts of Costa Rican culture, is that whenever someone visits another person, they bring a gift. Often it is harvest from their garden, food made by hand, or plants they have grown. Even those who are considered poor, bring gifts and offer them with gratitude. I have become inspired by this and strive to practice this custom in my own life. I love the simple practice of sharing and how uplifting it can be. I believe that giving is in our nature and that fear and scarcity are learned tendencies. Having watched the cycles of life, felt the maternal instinct, and seen the joy that giving can bring; I feel that life depends on this loving action to thrive and that without it we can not truly be happy as a species. Sure, there are many examples of selfishness in the world and in nature, however, I believe that they are symptoms of an ecosystem in disharmony. This can be further explained by the cyclical nature of ecology. Fritjof Capra describes, in his book “The Web of Life”:
“The fact that the basic pattern of life is a network pattern means that the relationships among members of an ecological community are nonlinear, involving multiple feedback loops. … The ecosystem’s feedback loops are pathways along which nutrients are continually recycled. Being open systems, all organisms in an ecosystem produce wastes, but what is waste for one species is food for another, so that the ecosystem as a whole remains without waste. … A major clash between economics and ecology derives from the fact that nature is cyclical, whereas our industrial systems are linear. Our businesses take resources, transform them into products plus waste, and sell the products to consumers, who discard more waste when they have consumed the products. Sustainable patterns of production and consumption need to be cyclical, imitating the cyclical process in nature. To achieve such cyclical patterns we need to fundamentally redesign our businesses and our economy.”
From this perspective, we are, by nature, givers. Even through our consumption, in an ecological setting, we are giving back to the ecology in which we are interdependent parts of the whole. It has been in separating ourselves from nature, and creating linear patterns of production and consumption, that we have fallen into scarcity within our species and our world.
At the time that humanity began to perceive itself separate from and even above nature, we began to work hard to cultivated our foods. Eventually, distribution of food became restricted and we, as a species, fell out of abundance. There were the haves and the have-nots, those who controlled the flow, and those who contributed to it. The idea of taxes took form, even in the name of tithing, people were forced to give 10% (or more) of the fruits of their hard earned labors to “rulers.” Giving was no longer optional, it became mandatory. Forcing a bitter taste in the minds of the masses. Those in power took more and more, until even the hardest working folks were living without. Division of labor, industrialization, and specialization in our society have only increased the sense of scarcity and division between the haves and the have-nots. To this day, taxes are demanded by corrupt governments. The majority of people are struggling to thrive, and there is an over abundance of food and other necessities that are not benefiting the masses of humanity. Even nature is suffering from human consumption, as we rape and pillage our natural resources, creating a reality where even water can no longer sustain life in certain parts of the planet. All this because we have fallen into a mindset of greed and scarcity, following linear patterns of production and consumption, and ultimately waste. It is within scarcity we experience hunger pains, sickness, exposure to the cold, loss, and many other forms of suffering. No wonder the energetic flow of money has become stagnated. We must release the fear of scarcity, that cultivates greed in our hearts, in order to receive genuine abundance.
Much of the material giving in human society, these days, further fuels the problem. It is often done with expectation and stress. How many people this last Holiday season gave to their families and friends, not because they wanted to, or that there was a genuine need, but because it is expected. Returning to Depak Chopra’s book “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success” we find that;
“The intention behind our giving and receiving is the most important thing. When the act of giving is joyful, when it is unconditional and from the heart, the energy behind the giving increases many times over. But if we give grudgingly, there is no energy behind that giving. If we feel we have lost something through the act of giving, then the gift is not truly given and will not cause increase. The Law of Giving and Receiving is simple: If you want love, learn to give love; if you want attention and appreciation, learn to give attention and appreciation; if you want material affluence, help others become material affluent. If you want to be blessed with all the good things in life, learn to silently bless everyone with all the good things in life. The more you give, the more you will receive. In your willingness to give that which you seek, you will keep the abundance of the universe circulating in your life.”
This intention behind giving, is how we can re-establish cyclical patterns of production and consumption, giving and receiving. It is in the thoughts, the consciousness of our natural need to consume and release waste, that we tap into the interconnected support of life and abundance. As we transform our thoughts, intentions, values, and awareness, we will begin to transform how we interact with our environment around us. Thus, redesigning sustainable solutions for all of humanity, through abundance for all. Transforming the poverty consciousness into one of genuine abundance, is the first step towards a new cultural and paradigm shift for humanity.
Just as a mother gives whole-heartedly to her baby, we can know in our cores that it is our nature to give with love. It is our nature to receive with gratitude. Through the trust in our inter-dependence with our community, our world, our universe, there is enough for all – as long as we are feeding the whole. Let us fearlessly nourish that which we love, believe in it, appreciate and watch it grow. Let us bless others with that which we have been blessed with, and share our joy with the world. When seeing suffering, consider what it would be like, to be in place of the being suffering, and imagine what would help to ease it. Then give – wholeheartedly!
I was reading a story about a family, who went on a field trip, to see the homeless in their city. When they got home, the parents asked their 5 year old daughter what she noticed about the people they saw. She said that she saw them rubbing their hands and blowing on them. The parents asked what the daughter thought they needed, and she replied with enthusiasm, “mittens.” The family then went to several used clothes stores and bought as many pairs of mittens as they could find. They then set out to give them to the homeless folks they saw on the street. This story shares the beauty of the virtue of giving and strengthens our connection to other people.
Let us learn to give with love and watch our world transform. Whether it is hugging someone who is feeling down, offering a donation to a cause you believe in, bringing harvest to a neighbor, or helping a lost sloth find it’s way to the forest. Giving is love in action. Love nourishes the whole web of life. We are the change, and we give and receive opportunities to embody that change everyday. Be fearless, open your heart and trust in the cosmic flow of the universe. Be a giver of gifts, and a more integrated part of the whole. The value that it brings to your life and your character is something that money just can’t buy.
With love,
Alana Bliss