My understanding is that non-stealing means not taking without permission what is considered to belong to another. It means not taking anything material or immaterial, not money or a car or a paper clip or an idea. Not taking the clean from waters, earth, and air is a subtler awareness of non-stealing that I became aware of as an adult. Someone can try to steal time, energy, attention, knowledge, and love, but really those can only be given, not stolen. Connie Habash says "generosity is the heart of asteya" or of not-stealing. I think generosity is way beyond not-stealing. Generosity is freely giving whatever, be it material or immaterial, be it time, energy, attention, love. What helps me acknowledge my adequacy is knowing that wanting what I don't have, which may result in stealing, generates unhappiness and grief, and giving freely and abundantly what I think of as mine is generosity and generates happiness and satisfaction.
On Jul 23, 2021 David Doane wrote :