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Catherine Ingram, Passionate Presence
The Buddha spoke about three kinds of giving: beggarly giving, friendly giving, and kingly giving. Beggarly giving is when we give the least of what we have. We give what we don't really need, what we would never miss, what we might have otherwise thrown away. Friendly giving is when we give what we use and like — not our very best — but that which we can afford and might appreciate having as a gift ourselves. Kingly giving is of a different order altogether. It is when we give the very best of what we have, when we give more than we keep for ourselves, when we give more than it seems we can afford, when we give with no expectation of reciprocity. In awakened awareness we give because the joy of generosity far exceeds the paltry satisfaction of hoarding or displaying wealth. We give because this very life is a gift itself and wants to be completely used up, wants to spread its perfume around everyone it meets.
Three kinds of giving
Wayne Muller, How, Then, Shall We Live?
People who are dying simply see more clearly what has always been true: We are in the perpetual care of others. They are grateful for any and all kindnesses, and they do not take the generosity of others for granted.
We are in the perpetual care of others
Thomas Moore, The Re-enchantment of Everyday Life
Piety is an attitude difficult to cultivate in a generally impious world. With its associated virtues of reverence and devotion, piety moves us to build our shrines and protect our inheritances of nature and culture. Wallace Stevens writes: "The poet feels abundantly the poetry of everything." His accent on abundant feeling could be applied to piety, which is an attitude that grows out of the generosity of our spirit to experience life fully. If we are not pious generally, it's because we don't think we can bear our feelings, and so we keep our emotions and attachments in reserve. Withholding oneself is the opposite of piety.
Withholding oneself is the opposite of piety
As Good As It Gets
Melvin (Jack Nicholson in an Academy Award-winning performance) is a successful Manhattan romance novelist who prefers to keep people at a distance. He verbally assaults neighbors and strangers and suffers from an obsessive-compulsive disorder that compels him to jump down the street in order to avoid cracks in the sidewalk. The only person who isn't frightened or appalled by him is Carol (Helen Hunt in an Academy Award-winning performance), a patient waitress at the restaurant he frequents.
In this hilarious drama about personal transformation, writer and director James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment) pulls out all the stops. A little dog softens Melvin's heart and opens him up to the joys of generosity. Carol, whose son has chronic life-threatening asthma, is the lucky recipient of his largesse. When Melvin's neighbor Simon (Greg Kinnear) falls on hard times after he's robbed and severely beaten, the romance writer takes him in with great and warm hospitality. After demonstrating multiple kindnesses, Melvin is ready for the biggest challenge of all — learning to express his love for Carol.
As Good As It Gets is a shaggy dog romantic comedy. All its messages are worth taking to heart. Don't judge people too quickly. Never write anyone off. Even the weirdest and most irritating people are full of surprises. Everyone is capable of love.
Don't judge people too quickly. Never write anyone off. Even the weirdest and most irritating people are full of surprises.
James Hillman, The Soul's Code
Your visible image shows your inner truth, so when you're estimating others, what you see is what you get. It therefore becomes critically important to see generously, or you will get only what you see; to see sharply, so that you discern the mix of traits rather than a generalized lump; and to see deeply into dark shadows, or else you will be deceived.
Your visible image shows your inner truth
Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are
Initiate giving. Don't wait for someone to ask. See what happens — especially to you. You may find that you gain a greater clarity about yourself and about your relationships, as well as more energy rather than less.
Initiate giving
Ronald Rolheiser, Sacred Fire: A Vision for a Deeper Human and Christian Maturity
Like Jesus, we too are meant to give our lives away in generosity and selflessness, but we are also meant to give our deaths away, not just at the moment of our deaths, but in a whole process of leaving this planet in such a way that our diminishment and death is our final, and perhaps greatest, gift to the world. Needless to say, this is not easy. Walking in discipleship behind the master will require that we too sweat blood and feel 'a stone's throw' from everybody. This struggle, to give our deaths away, constitutes Radical Discipleship.
Giving our deaths away
Elizabeth Asquith Bibesco, Frederic Brussat's Twitter Collection
Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting.
Blessed are those who can give
Louis Cognet, Confessions
All we know is that there's a real drama going on and we're in it and so is God — we don't know how it will turn out. The reign of God is already here since salvation is not somewhere else. Terrestrial values are real values — justice, generosity, kindness are already salvation. The Beatitudes are right now; justice has to be reached on this earth.
Drama going on and we and God are in it
Kabir Helminski, The Book of Language
When much of the world seems blind to the Truth of God's nearness and Mercy, the faithful, the mu'minun, are the ones who must carry this responsibility as the living witnesses of God's generosity and responsiveness, until people can know this for themselves.
The world seems blind to the Truth of God's nearness