Our daily preoccupations often lead us to have an optimistic approach: we constantly try to optimize our time, our money, our energy etc.
This self-interested relationship corrupts somewhat our conception of life and a fortiori our relationship with others. The search for gain and our aversion to loss tend to infiltrate our mental software even in our most familiar or intimate relationships. In the long run, it is our whole being that is transformed if we are not careful. Is there a way out of this or are we forced to lead a dichotomous existence whose sides are in necessary contradiction?
Professional life pushes us to perform. This competitive spirit that we cultivate at work is often difficult to get rid of when we get home.
The rules of life that govern human relationships, although apparently based on interdependence, are more based on the bonds of honor or any other quality of the heart, which in essence abhors the search for material gain.
Generosity is one of the values that allow to consolidate the bonds of honor existing between people. The heart, which symbolizes our moral value, can be developed by our actions if they possess a certain nobility. Dilating the heart means breaking the pattern of profit seeking and profit aversion from time to time. Thinking too much in these terms atrophies our heart muscle, at least metaphorically, and ultimately makes us quite despicable.
There are different ways to be generous depending on the resources we have at our disposal: time, money, attention, energy etc.
When we sincerely offer one of these riches to someone – perhaps because we see it as an offering to the divine – without expecting anything in return, we are reconnecting with the heavenly way.
