In every way I can, I’m now living and working ‘in the Gift’.
I’m seeking to awaken ‘the spirit of the Gift’ within myself, and to see that everything I do and create embodies and encourages that Gift.
In the beginning was the Gift.
We are born helpless infants, creatures of pure need with little resource to give, yet we are fed, we are protected, we are clothed and held and soothed, without having done anything to deserve it, without offering anything in exchange. This experience, common to everyone who has made it past childhood, informs some of our deepest spiritual intuitions. Our lives are given us; therefore our default state is gratitude. It is the truth of our existence.
Charles Eisenstein, ‘Sacred Economics’
For as long as I can remember, I’ve felt wholly dispirited by and questioning of the economic and societal reality we live in. And for the last 6 years, I have wanted to transition my life and way of being toward something entirely different – toward what is known as ‘giftivism’… all ever since discovering Charles Eisenstein’s book Sacred Economics.
It was in 2012 when I was a university student in London, going through a deep and defining depression – awakening to much of the cold illusion and disconnection of our times – when discovering and reading Sacred Economics gently pulled me up and into the light in ways I couldn’t have believed possible. This book gave me real, tangible hope of something better; better than the system and reality around me, that my heart and bones had been screaming was so wrong for so long…
.. and then a knowing, in a miracle of all miracles, that I wasn’t alone. That in my isolating, relentless, despairing questioning of every level of this world, I was far from being the only one. (‘You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.‘ – Lennon)
Ever since then I’ve been centrally influenced – re-spirited – by Charles Eisenstein’s work, and carry my copy of Sacred Economics wherever I go. It’s a companion. It holds all my hope about what I know in my heart to be true: about humanity, our world, our future.
‘Even after all this time, the Sun never says to the Earth, “You owe me.” Look at what happens with a love like that. It lights the whole sky.’
Hafiz
What does it mean to ‘live in the Gift’?
To live in the gift is:
- to see all of life, and of being alive, as a Gift (an awe-inspiring mystery that as humans we’ll likely never be able to fathom)…
- … and that all Gifts are imbued with the two qualities of the sacred: uniqueness and relatedness – that, in the great web of things, all is intrinsically unique in and of itself, and simultaneously all things are intrinsically connected to each other.
- to surrender to and trust the innate Gift of life itself as ever-giving, ever-present, ever-flowing; to know that ‘the Gift’ is who we are.
It therefore means to adopt an awareness and practice of circulation -rather than accumulation and exchange.
Of genuine gratitude – rather than obligation and transaction.
It is to know that nothing can be truly ‘owned’. That all creations (material and immaterial) are gifts that come through us, into being, or pass through us, in temporary ‘possession’.
And it is founded in a fundamental awareness of our interbeing, our connection to each other and everything. Rather than the illusory story of Separation that’s defined the age we live in.
Even scientific communities are no longer refuting it – everything is connected, and everything is ever-flowing, affecting one one another both directly and often very much indirectly.
To live in the gift is to live in that flow. It is to come back to the truth of that flow. Which is, to say, the truth of life itself.
From an anthropological perspective, it’s also worth noting – as Charles Eisenstein does in Sacred Economics…
Of course we don’t currently live in a world that supports this way. We live in quite the opposite. The current global economics system, and the essence of all money as it stands today, is rooted in two things: scarcity and rational self-serving.
To freely give of ourselves and our gifts flies in the face of this paradigm entirely; giving implies a trust in an abundant universe, and it is profoundly irrational in that it’s a ‘loss’ with no guarantee of corresponding gain.
Not only is a heart-led, giving life not supported by our system, but in a society where our staying-alive depends on our subscription to and adherence to the system’s set of economic and societal rules, to go against its two core beliefs and values – scarcity and rationality – most often results in a systemic violence against our basic survival.
In the current system, to live a life of generosity will likely send us into material impoverishment.
Economics was not discovered; it was created for humans, by humans. And yet it is integrally non-human. A compassionate, connected, giving human heart is neither rewarded nor encouraged nor even acknowledged in the current economic paradigm.
This gap – between this current ‘Story of the People’, and what Charles Eisenstein calls The More Beautiful World Our Heart Knows Is Possible – is why many of us feel out of place and in (often raging) resistance to this reality.
And with this gap not disappearing anytime soon, there are still changes we can make, and intentions we can set – both minor and major – to orient ourselves toward living and working in the Gift.
Below are some of mine…
What ‘living in the Gift’ will mean for me:
- no longer charging a fixed price for my work. All my Astrology Readings are now offered in the gift, where the receiver chooses the amount they would like to give in return. How this works is explained on my Schedule a Reading page.
- everything else I create and do – any work or services I provide – will be offered in the same way. Into the future – whether its writing, speaking, courses or otherwise – I will endeavour to receive by gift only.
- considering all actions, all relationships, all events in my life as circulation, rather than exchange. With my values and boundaries lovingly intact, I will give with no expectation of return.
- receiving as openly and vulnerably as I intend to give. To open myself up to receiving, without expectation or judgement of my self and my ability to reciprocate.
Yes, this is all a giant leap of faith…. people are gonna think I’m barmy to offer everything I have to offer ‘for free’. And it’s likely I have many lessons to learn in this transition, working out the kinks as I go. There’s not a lot of blueprint out there (yet) as to how to live and operate in this way. But I trust. I also trust myself, to do this in a sacred, lovingly-boundaried way.
Having sat with these philosophies for years, feeling them into my bones, making these changes feels like – if anything – one thing: liberating. A knowing that this is the right thing, the right way onward.
I also know this will be a practice; that ‘living in the Gift’ is not a destination. I am not suddenly there. I have set this firm intention – and have made some functional changes – and now it will be a daily, devotional showing up. And it’ll call on my greatest ability to surrender and to trust. It already has.
I’m not advocating for or encouraging everyone to suddenly giving away all they have and do for free. Not at all.
But perhaps you may open yourself to some of the ideas and practices of ‘living in the Gift’? Perhaps you already have?
A global shift to something like ‘a gift economy’ may seem a far-and-away reality, but the transition toward a new paradigm embued with these qualities has already begun; a part of the wider ‘Age of Transition’ we are in on Earth today – a total shift in ways of thinking, relating and being.
And – as a part of this one great Gift of life – we all have a mammoth effect on how everything flows and changes (‘what is an ocean but a multitude of drops?’)
As Charles Eisenstein says:
‘On the personal level, economics is about how to give our gifts and meet our needs. It is about who we are in relation to the world. By changing our everyday economic thinking and practices, we not only prepare ourselves for the great changes ahead; we also set the stage for their emergence. By living the concepts of sacred economics, we ease its acceptance by all and welcome it into the world.‘
Charles Eisenstein, ‘Sacred Economics’
I would love to connect with others that are inspired and encouraged by these ideas, this New Story. Have you threaded some of the concepts of ‘giftivism’ into your life already? Or do you hope to in the future? Please do comment here or drop me a message.
(I also recommend looking into Charles Eisenstein’s new online course Living In The Gift which, true to intention, is offered by gift – you choose your own ‘tuition fee’.)
Thank you for reading. I hope you will join me – or at least follow my own curious traversing – on this journey.
All Love
and Gratitude,
Georgia
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