Is it really better to give than receive???

In turbulent and volatile times like these, the question of giving becomes more interesting. Why? Well, first and foremost uncertainty and loss tends to make most of us hoard or at least withhold our largess. Millions of years of cyclic famine and pestilence have given us a seemingly natural predisposition to holding on to what we got when times get rough.

Not enough to go around. Or at least a problem in distribution. Either way it is the uncertainty that makes most of us draw back. So on to one of the most curious and powerful paradoxes of our age. In times of uncertainty is it still wise to give generously? It depends of course on what you believe is true about human life.

The central question is what or who is the source of your supply? The source of your wealth? The source of your food? Who do you think it is? The government? Your job? Your parents? God?

The answer to this question determines in large measure your willingness to give.

Each is a channel from which your supply is provided but are they the source? Would you be able to provide for all your needs without these channels? One important question is the idea of responsibility. Not as burden, duty or obligation but as "I am response abled." In a sense it means if its to be its up to me. I am free to choose what I want, what I am willing to do and be to have it. I don't blame. I don't make excuses. I just forge ahead with the determination and commitment to produce.

This is a version of the rugged individualism that characterized the American spirit. It is since been eroded and replaced by notions that someone else is responsible for your life and well being. In most cases this is either the Government or the cosmic vending machine which delivers our needs based on needs, or rights or demands, or prayers. The problem with this mindset is that we no longer are in charge of our life. We have given it to an entity (a substitute parent perhaps?) and said "here, take my life and my freedom. You will provide for all my survival needs. In exchange I will give up the idea of self-responsibility and submit to your authority."

Of course it feels good to have our so called "burdens" lifted. But the real price we pay is the loss of our authenticity and integrity. Most of us do not realize we paid this price until we have boiled slowly for many years in a pot of frogs and fears. By the time we start to notice what we have done, we lack the will or courage to act any differently. So we find ourselves further and further from our authentic self, living in a state of separation. This is the great sin against ourselves and our uniqueness.

And this is why we do the thing we don't want to do, when the thing we want to do we don't do. It is this separation from our true identity in exchange for a false sense of security.

So, back to the question, "Is is better to give than receive?"

Well it depends. Each circumstance will reveal what is true over time. Paradoxical wisdom maintains the idea that in spite of fear, uncertainty and doubt it is better to give then receive. What do you think?