Generosity

“Bodhichitta (translated as altruistic intention) is such that while one engages in fulfilling the wishes of others, the fulfillment of one’s own self-interest comes as a by-product. This is a wise way of benefiting both oneself and others. In fact I think that bodhichitta is really and truly wonderful. The more I think of helping others, and the stronger my feeling for taking care of others becomes, the more benefit I reap myself. That is quite extraordinary.”

~ His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Do you remember an occasion when you did something generous for someone else? If it was as small as letting a child win at a game, or as large as caring for a dying relative, remember what that felt like. The flow of love that moves through us in those acts is the most powerful energy available.

This shouldn’t be thought of as “paying up front” or “earning” benefits by the act of doing something for others; the generosity has to be genuine. But once we begin to act in this way, the good feeling that we get from doing this becomes something that we value in its own right. And the other great side effect is that we get more of what we desire in the process.

Here in the realm of generosity is where we can truly feel that We Are All One. As we do small actions to improve the world, we are improving our world. There is no “other” that our generosity acts upon, but only the One energy of which we are all a part. In quantum terms, anything that affects any part of the field, affects the whole field. There is no “distance” or “time” between particles.

As extensions of the field, our reality works in the same way. Consider the analogy of using a mirror to discover more about how to “be” what you wish to have – you can try all you want to change the image in the mirror (to be happier, thinner, more confident, wealthier), but the only way to do so is to change yourself first. Then the image will reflect the “new you”.

However, generosity is a way to change what you see in the mirror first, before changing yourself. If I give something—money, time, effort, love—I see it happening “out there” and then the repercussions come back into my life in increased love, affluence, etc.

When a well is first drilled, the driller puts a hole in the ground until he hits water. Sometimes the water is an underground river. Sometimes it’s a layer of gravel or porous rock that’s saturated with water—an aquifer. Sometimes it’s a cavern or other large cavity that is full of water. Sometimes what you hit is a network of small seams and rivulets.

This water flows into the hole you have drilled at a particular rate that’s translated into gallons per minute. If you’ve hit a big one, you might have an artesian well, which is one that overflows or even geysers up out of the ground. You’re really lucky then, because your supply of water is essentially unlimited. You’ll need a special pressurized cap if you have this kind of well; or you can build a pond or even a lake with the extra flow.

Most wells are not of this type; in most the water flows into the hole you have drilled, filling the pipe that’s installed there to a certain level and then it stops. Your level of water that is in the well can be three feet below the ground surface, or it can be forty or a hundred feet down. All you’re doing is essentially sticking a big drinking straw into the water source. If you take some out, more comes in, but it will always stop at that level of balance. This is called the static level.

You can’t get more water to come into the well than what is at the static level. You can’t change the level by saving water or adding water. You could avoid using water for three months and it wouldn’t rise any higher—this is the point where your well is balanced with the larger field of water below.

The only way to get new water to come into your well is to take some out. So you use it and more water comes in, over and over. If you use a little, a little more will come in, until it’s returned to your static level. If you use a lot, a lot will come in. It’s the way it works. If there is a drought that affects your well, then this means that the level of the whole field of water has dropped. So water is coming in to your well more slowly and your static level might fall. You then have less available in your column of water, but the principle is still the same. The only way to get new water to come in is to take some out.

Think of these principles when you are thinking about money. We all have a ‘static’ level at which our money beliefs and our desires are balanced. Have you noticed that somehow there is always enough money for something like the broken tooth or the water heater element? Does your life work the way mine did, where if you got some extra money a “bad thing” would immediately happen to use it all up? I found that I could always pay the necessities; it was the fun stuff and luxuries that were the problem.

Lately I have been playing around with this well idea. What if it truly works like the water in my well? What if I am tapped into some source of prosperity that will send me as much as I spend?

Money, and all energy, like water, is a flow. To get more to come in it’s a good idea to get the flow started by giving some away. If we can think of it in this way, it seems less crazy to think about starting a program of charitable giving, if you are barely able to make ends meet. If you can see yourself as a conduit for the flow of wealth, like the well pipe is for the water, you can begin to see, energetically, how this works.

If you are so afraid that there is a drought in your money situation, you can scrimp and save and deny yourself all you want, but none of that will bring extra flow into your life. As with your well, the way to get more to come in is to let some out.

Generosity sends a message to the universe that you are willing to be that conduit. It says to the universe that you have a belief in the unlimited nature of energy, and that you trust whatever you need will come to you. If you give something away, that says to the universe, “I believe there is more where that came from, I trust that I am in the midst of flow.” The energy of that attitude draws to you the circumstances and ideas and inspirations that bring more wealth into your life.

Giving also affirms that you understand that We Are All One. All major religions stress this idea, from the golden rule to the Quaker idea of the divine spark in everyone, to the idea that all nature is Buddha nature. Jesus said, “If you do it to the least of these, you do it to me” – meaning, to the universal self of which we are all a part. Ideas about the zero-point field bring a scientific slant to these ideas, with the understanding that we are all momentary manifestations of vibrational energy interacting with itself.

What you give doesn’t have to be money. In fact, more personal ways of giving can be more effective and more appreciated. It’s easy enough to dash off a check during a hectic day, but giving time, attention or personal service can be more valuable. Whatever you give, you are saying to yourself and to the universe, “I already have this. I have it in my possession. This is how I am able to give it.” It makes that statement in the most effective way possible: through your action. If you are trying to gain wealth, abundance or prosperity, there is no better way to jumpstart the process—prime the pump—than to be generous with what you have. This is the most visceral, energetically real way to make the shift to what you desire.

In a well, it doesn’t matter so much what your static level is, if you have a good flow. If your flow is good, whenever you turn on the faucet, water comes out. It’s the same with money: Wealth consciousness means knowing that there is always more coming in. In your well, you can do things to increase the flow: You could deepen the well or you can open up more veins to flow into the depth of pipe that you already have. With money the same is true. You can change jobs or add new sources of income, or get promoted.

But with both situations, no matter how deep is your well or your pocket, the thing that is most significant to your day to day experience of having plenty is the flow. That’s what you drill a well for, to use the water. That’s what we want money for, to spend it.

Think about what you’d do if you won the lotto or discovered an unexpected trust fund. First there’s all the great stuff you’d buy, cars, clothes, jewels, electronics, trips you’d take, a second home.

But even in the purely imaginary stages of this, after the initial rush wears off, we all come to different things we’d use the money for: Time with loved ones, experiences rather than things (travel, education, healthcare), and generosity.

Doesn’t it really all come down to this? Aren’t we all innately hardwired to help each other? I know when I get on the “win the lottery” thought process, after all the frantic shopping and relief from worrying about how I’m going to manage this or that situation, I settle into a truly peaceful vision of who I’d help.

This stage of the imagining feels much better than the spending-it-all stage. When I imagine the shopping sprees, the feeling is active, a little hyped, and happy. But there’s a sense to it of making up for lost time, of trying to quickly compensate for all the years of denial behind me, a little sense of desperation.

As I imagine the next stages, that wears off and what I come to is a peaceful stage of imagining generosity. This is sometimes really specific—certain people I know who really need money or assistance of some kind; and sometimes it’s more general—charities I know of that I’d really love to support in a meaningful way.

We are all innately generous. We are, however, so conditioned to think that we can’t afford to express that generosity that it gets sidelined, put off, set aside until our “obligations” are met. We think that it’s an “us or them” situation, that giving would somehow mean our own needs must go unmet.

But the universe doesn’t work in that limited this-or-that way. The universe is unlimited and infinite by nature, and it works by consciousness turning energy into matter.

The sun shines on the entire planet, and no matter how much solar energy we “use”, there is always the same original amount available. Houses used to have few and small windows, because glass was unavailable or too expensive. Now that glass is cheap, houses have lots of windows, whole walls of windows. But that hasn’t diminished the available sunlight to the rest of the world, just because we are all letting more of it into our homes.

All energy is like that. There is an infinite source. And what we are doing by becoming prosperous is putting ourselves in alignment with that source, becoming receivers of it, conduits of it. We are stepping into the stream of light or water (or money) and letting it flow through us, in one hand and out the other. If we open our hands in an ongoing life of generosity, we find that the flow is unending, reliable and as bountiful as our dreams.

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