Receiving the Gift Economy
Sepp Hasslberger: The Gift Economy - Receiving stimulates giving
I’m pointing you to Sepp’s blog entry, but using that as a spring board to my own musings.
It’s better to give than to receive? We’ve heard that, and we can contemplate its meaning. We’ve also heard that there is nobility in receiving a gift well, with respect, humility, or better: generosity. We’re recipients of the gifts of nature, of life. How well have we received them? Receiving well involves stewardship - it involves valuing the act of generosity and the gift received.
We’ve been gifted a gift economy. Have we received it well? Two aspects of reception here … one is bound in attitude, relation and perception - the other in our stewardship as recipients.
When we hear about the gift economy, do we give it it’s proper due? When we receive from the greater gift economy, are we thankful enough to participate with generosity ourselves.
There are ways to receive with generosity, we should endeavor to live that way.
April 1st, 2008 at 4:07 am
giving and receiving:
normally we are told giving is more noble than receiving, but considering, it seems they may be just about equal in importance.
Since a flow can only persist in time if it is balanced (inflow more or less equal to outflow) if we’d insist on giving only - thinking to do more good that way - without graciously and thankfully receiving as well, we would soon find we have cut off the necessary feedback for the flow.
And what is a gift economy other than a continuous flow of giving and receiving?