ACCEPT the LOVE, SEIZE the GOOD…why is that harder for some than… giving the Love…sharing the good?
There are givers and takers, at first blush one might assume that the more challenging task would be in the giving rather than the receiving. However for many of us taking requires a much greater sacrifice... taking requires a drink of humility and trust that for some is just too bitter.
So we quietly attempt to position ourselves in the seat of benefactor …hoping our acts of generosity will mask our inability to receive, but what we fail to see is that we are denying someone else of that very role. What appears altruistic and selfless is in fact our most selfish act...the giving has become the taking and such the taking the giving.
Is this simply another symptom of a hungry ego, a need to feel grand and powerful? Yes and no, ego feed, no doubt, but for many, much more than the need to feel grand is fear…the fear of losing control…the fear of being let down, first by ourselves that we are not capable of answering our own needs...second by others, by allowing dependency on others we are exposing a vulnerability that is often too great a risk.
Trust and Love …again it spirals back to here…like taking a crowbar to a rusted safe as we slowly pry it open the light begins to enter ...changing nothing inside merely illuminating the space...we must pry open our hearts and allow love and trust to irrigate its chambers. From here we will have the ability (if we choose) to cultivate the seeds of faith...faith in ourselves and faith in others and begin to engage in relationships of mutual dependence and support where we will permit others to share not only the joys of our successes but also the pain of our failures. Enjoying...perhaps for the first time in a long time a truly healthy relationship.
MAJOR POINT…. PLEASE do not allow this to be misconstrued in an way as to judge those who give… most who give do so with no ulterior motives, their actions are fueled only by a desire to improve the lives of others.
This is dedicated to those of us who believed we had constructed a fail-safe system to insure the safety of our hearts without realizing the most detrimental effect on our hearts is a lack of love.
[Giving and Receiving
Giving and receiving is the basis of all transactions. No interaction can take place without these two. Nowadays, we are constantly trying to elevate one to a place of sanctity and the other to subordination. One is considered superior and the other inferior. Today, we feel we must emphasize the importance of giving only because taking happens in large volumes and giving has become scarce.
In reality, however, there is no giving or taking. With a little deeper perception of life, one can see that there is no such thing as giving and taking. It is just life rearranging itself constantly. Modern science agrees with this today. There is no giving and taking, no adding or subtracting, just a rearrangement of the same energy. If you see everything as yours, you just rearrange as necessary.
When you realize that the essential process of life is a constant transaction, you will realize that for an iota of offering that you make, there are a trillion things to receive all the time. Think of the forces of existence and the zillions of creatures working, knowingly or unknowingly, within your body and outside of it, to make life possible. Everything in the existence is somehow collaborating to keep you alive and well. Only a fool thinks of himself as a giver. Just to be alive is to receive in great abundance.
--Jaggi Vasudev, in Is Philanthropy Outdated
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7 Past Reflections
On Aug 18, 2011 sekaran wrote :
EXCELLENT THIS SENTENCE: Only a fool thinks of himself as a giver ; as per BHAGAVAT GITA
While born our hands having nothing ; the same during the period death nothing in hand; so giving and receiving is basis for all transactions including married life also
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On Feb 17, 2011 ganoba wrote :
For a transaction to take place there have to be two entities.
Accepting this duality is the first error.
If we don't notice this error then all that follows is a futile excercise. It is like beating around a bush.
We are all one. At least accept that we are all related. Within the family do we talk about giving and receiving? When the hand scratches a part of the body is it giving or receiving?
The writer is completely off the mark.
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On Feb 16, 2011 Vaibhav Vinayaka wrote :
Taking seems to be easy, but actually it is harder to be a taker. The one who is at the receving end is always indebted to the one who gives. The world seems to be lighter for those who open their heart and give every thing.
The one who has nothing, does not have anything to loose. So the more you give the less troubled you are.
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On Feb 15, 2011 Rishi wrote :
Today I was thinking about taking and serving. Taking is often associated with pleasure while serving with pain. Is that so? Really?
Taking is the Star that holds it's energy within itself imploding into a black-hole and sucks all the life around it into nothingness. Serving is the Sun that shines it's abundant, god-given energy onto the planet and is rewarded with the beauty we call Earth. Is it really more pleasing to be the black-hole that takes or the bright-light that serves?
I especially like the way the character Eliseo in the movie "Life is Beautiful" expresses the wonder of serving to Guido: "Think of a sunflower, they bow to the sun. But if you see some that are bowed too far down, it means they're dead. You're here serving, you're not a servant. Serving is the supreme art. God is the first of servants. God serves men, but he's not a servant to men."
As I conclude my thoughts, I realize that if I cannot serve, I cannot be. ... [View Full Comment]
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On Feb 15, 2011 suzi nance wrote :
Givers and Takers
ACCEPT the LOVE, SEIZE the GOOD…why is that harder for some than… giving the Love…sharing the good?
There are givers and takers, at first blush one might assume that the more challenging task would be in the giving rather than the receiving. However for many of us taking requires a much greater sacrifice... taking requires a drink of humility and trust that for some is just too bitter.
So we quietly attempt to position ourselves in the seat of benefactor …hoping our acts of generosity will mask our inability to receive, but what we fail to see is that we are denying someone else of that very role. What appears altruistic and selfless is in fact our most selfish act...the giving has become the taking and such the taking the giving.
Is this simply another symptom of a hungry ego, a need to feel grand and powerful? Yes and no, ego feed, no doubt, but for many, much more than the need to feel grand is fear…the f... [View Full Comment]