Make a Living by Giving
Dear All,
I share these words with you in love, in the hope that they may serve as a loving and gentle reminder to remember what is truly important in life, in your life.
When a mature tree falls, it has given a lifetime, literally spent its life giving. It has provided shelter for many birds and insects that have called it home, it has offered oxygen and nourishment, beauty to humans and countless other gifts to the world. Even after the tree dies, it continues to give, it continues to contribute to the world as the tree slowly composts and becomes food for many other creatures. New life is given the opportunity to grow again on the remains of his body and on the memory of what he has given. In times when we are experiencing the sad consequences of man who has not given back enough to the world because he has been quite busy taking, I would like to share some words about how to live a life by giving. Because, in fact, our life is not that different from a tree, we also have to give during our lives.
In life we have one big central question that resounds in our inner chambers, namely “Who am I?”, a question that can actually remain open throughout our lives and does not require an unambiguous or definitive answer. But, if this is the great central question, then the question that arises from it is: “What do I have to give?”. What it is that you have to give speaks to your innate and unique purpose in life and thus provides insight into the many ways in which you can try to express this with every step. So it is not only a question that covers our entire walk of life, but also a question that lies hidden in every moment, every unfolding moment life asks you the beautiful question: “What do you have to give?”. The beauty of giving is diametrically opposed to the behaviour that characterises the modern world, namely an attitude of 'taking'. We have created a world in which we generally no longer live from “what do I have to give?” but in which we live based on the assumption that we can simply take something away. From an early age, a certain lifestyle is promoted that, when you dissect it, is really only concerned with how to take something for yourself, be it money, material possessions or experiences. The worldview we thus maintain is an enormously individualistic and self-centered worldview that actually revolves around the 'desire' of 'obtaining' 'something' for 'ourselves'. The fundamental difference between “What can I take?” including 'me' as the largest stakeholder and "What do I have to give?" is the expansion of yourself as the center of life to a larger circle of attention in which the desire to serve becomes central.
“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”
If we approach life from the question “What do I have to give?” then this speaks of contributing to more than just satisfying our own individual desires. This is the beauty of the question, that you always have the opportunity in every moment to offer 'something' to the world that can be of service and which is therefore of service not only to yourself but to 'yourself as part of a bigger picture'. As Malidoma Patrice Somé says, “We are not only the recipient of beauty but we must also give it back”. This is what we often forget, we sometimes think that we are only on the receiving end of beauty and take everything that is available for granted. But we also have to give back, it is a mutual relationship, a dialogue that is always going on. We live amid this fact at all times, we receive life and at the same time, we also have to give back to life through what we offer the world, through our individual expression. This is a constant interaction in which there are always two forces that work together, like the ocean that comes in and goes out, but in this dance of coming and going, finding a harmonious balance. Everything in life depends on this dialogue, on this interaction between what is given and what is taken.
There is a reason that 'giving' does not rhyme with 'taking', but that 'giving' rhymes beautifully with 'living'. It literally rhymes that to 'live' you have to 'give', because 'life' is 'given' to you. In fact, it is a given that everything has been given and therefore it has been given to you, isn't that wonderful? Like the Sun rising, the fruits that grow on the tree, the bird that shares its song, the water that flows, the trees that provide us with oxygen, the small insects that clean the soil, our body that repairs itself, all this is a given and is freely given to us. Then why worry about what you can take? When we come to realise that everything that manifests here is constantly giving, offering itself to the world for the benefit of the world, then this can inspire us to change our approach to the world, then our own lives can also become an expression of giving. Life always invites us in every moment to offer our talents and gifts to the world and so we only have to make ourselves aware of what it is that we have to give, in a day, in a moment, in a meeting at the office, in a greeting on the street or in line at the supermarket. This constant practice is a gift, it is a gift to us in which life asks us to offer our gifts, isn't that really the most beautiful gift? That we are all here to give? A simplicity so great that we would almost take it for granted, but if you think about it carefully, that may be the entire problem, that we take life for granted without expressing our gratitude by giving back to life.
“Life’s persistent and most urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?”
Dear person, as the allusion indicates, when we take life for granted, we “take” away something. What we take away is the opportunity to experience with gratitude how we are part of such a great mystery that invites us every day to dance along, to sing about it, to write poems about it, to express our gratitude in loving, in truly loving life. Our ability to love life is perhaps the greatest gift we can offer it. We do not need holidays, birthdays, advertisements or other reasons to give something because we can ask ourselves at any moment what it is that we wish to offer, wish to give. I would like to ask you what it is that you have to give and especially how you can dedicate your life to giving. How to make a living by giving…
In love and reverence, sven
