David La Chapelle charts the tides of change rocking our world and challenges readers to change their ways of being, seeing, and doing. In the following dramatic passage, he points to the healing powers inherent in the spiritual practice of kindness.
"If nature can give away its bounty with such abundance, then why can't the human community? Historically, some communities did. First Nations people in the Pacific Northwest organized regular potlatches in which individuals gained social and spiritual benefits by giving away much of their tangible wealth — an exercise in economic redistribution that may have helped stabilize their culture over hundreds of generations.
"It is the habit of the universe to give. Maintaining tight control over money, protecting one's assets, and living from a Darwinian perspective of survival of the fittest may create sinkholes in the ecology of economics that will doom the system in the long run. When the capacity to give becomes an anchor point of one's identity and stature, the synthesis of spirituality with rightful economic activities can help restore integrity to a system that is currently failing to meet the needs of the planet. In the end, as in the beginning, this is about love."
