Gift Economy

Tis the season of giving, right? Maybe it would be more appropriate to call it "the season of buying more stuff." In the current Market Economy paradigm, people are increasingly feeling stressed, squeezed and drained as the sense of obligation to buy stuff weighs heavily on pocketbooks while draining our emotional and spiritual reservoirs. All this in the name of "giving".

What better time than the winter holy-days to invest in the Gift Economy! Consider that you are already abundant in many ways and then find ways to share some of that abundance with your family, friends and community. Though it certainly is joyful to hold an ornately disguised object and experience the thrill of anticipation as the mask is removed and the gift revealed, a gift does not need to be a thing. You can give the gift of massage, meals, home repairs, songs, hugs, seeds, something handmade, a love note, anything you can do to fulfill the needs of those around you. Both the giver and the receiver are gifted with the joy of expressing love and gratitude. The emphasis is on our relationships and interconnectedness.

In a Gift Economy, there is no expectation that the receiver give back to the original giver, only the encouragement to "pay it forward" and continue the flow. In other words, when our needs are met, we are freed to express our genius and in turn gift our unique abundance to the world in some way; we become agents rather than passive consumers, giving our skills and abundant resources freely. By doing this, we are spinning the web of life, reinforcing interconnections and with each gift-string we weave, we voluntarily opt out of the Market Economy (exchange culture) that is founded on, and funded by, the myths of scarcity that perpetuate selfishness and fear.

Joy to the World! The Earth is naturally abundant, and so are we. We have the power to choose altruism and love, and to gift each other without having to spend money. When we do choose to participate in the market economy, we have the opportunity to support our local economies by using our money to purchase products made and grown, and services offered, within our own communities. (For every dollar spent at a local business, 45 cents is reinvested locally; for every dollar spent at a corporate chain, only 15 cents is reinvested locally).

For a deeper exploration of the Gift Economy, check out these links:
~The Gift Economy & Gift Giving and the Goddess,
by Genevieve Vaughan
~The Gift Economy
by Gifford Pinchot
~The Gift As a Worldview in Indigenous Thought
by Rauna Kuokkanen
~How to Save the World - The Gift Economy
by Dave Pollard
~Gift Economy Health Care in Berkeley, CA
KarmaClinic.org