The Prophet Meditation #3 - On Giving

Welcome to the series of meditations on the book of poetry,

The Prophet by Khalil Gibran.

Throughout this series,

We are combining our meditation practice with a contemplative reading as a way to instill the insights and beauty from this classic of spiritual poetry into our everyday life.

Today we'll be focusing on the topic of giving.

In this sermon,

The Prophet suggests that the most valuable form of giving is not of our material possessions,

But rather of our spiritual qualities,

Such as our presence,

Our listening,

Our affection,

And care.

Through his words,

We understand that whenever we withhold giving our natural qualities,

By fearing scarcity or by reserving them to select few,

We actually cut ourselves from the feeling of abundance and connectedness that comes from giving freely.

It is only when we understand that nothing we have will be with us forever,

That we stop grasping so tightly on our possessions and qualities and are able to give them away,

Just as a tree gives away its fruits.

And quite paradoxically,

The more we give freely of whatever resource we feel we lack,

The more of a mindset of abundance we create around it,

And the more of it we receive from the natural flow of life,

Which is always giving and receiving.

This is what we'll be practicing in today's meditation and visualization before reading the passage itself.

Start by finding a comfortable position,

Sitting or lying down,

Just making sure that the front of your body remains open to receive the full range of your breath.

Take a few deep inhales all the way down into your lower abdomen and slow exhales through your mouth.

Notice the weight of your body on your seat and the different sensations in this area of contact of your body with the ground beneath you.

Allow your breath to slowly fall back into its natural rhythm and your attention to turn downwards.

Without having to do anything,

Notice how your lungs naturally receive air from your environment and slowly give it away.

Follow the sensation of your breath in this area of your chest from the very beginning of your inhale to the very end of your exhale.

If you notice you get distracted by thoughts or sensations,

Simply observe the distraction and gently let it go,

Coming back to the anchor in your breath and the rising and falling sensations of your chest.

Now bring to mind something in your life that you feel that you're frequently lacking,

Perhaps lacking a feeling of love,

Of connection to others,

Of appreciation for your work,

Of financial support,

Or emotional support.

Allow your mind to settle on something that you feel that you do not have enough,

A lack that occupies your mind and affects your mood the most.

And notice the different thoughts that come up around this feeling of scarcity,

Observing how these thoughts resonate within your body.

Allow any difficult feeling associated with these thoughts to be here as you observe them with non-judgmental awareness.

Now bring to mind a memory from your past or an example from your present in which you do have enough of that feeling that you usually feel you are lacking.

Our minds tend to focus on what we lack much more than what we have.

So see if you can challenge the thoughts of not enough from your mind and bring to mind an image in which you do have enough in this moment.

Perhaps bring to mind the image of less fortunate people or of a less fortunate moment in your life to put things into perspective.

With each inhale,

Bring to your body the feeling of gratitude for having a little or a lot of that feeling you normally feel that you lack.

You can experiment with bringing a slight smile to your face.

Notice how this gratitude feels in the area of your face,

Of your chest,

And of your belly.

Now imagine that you not only have enough for yourself,

But that you even have enough to give away to other people.

And visualize a situation where you could give freely of yourself to others with no expectation but to experience the joy of giving.

Notice the faces of the people receiving your gift with expressions of relief,

Of appreciation,

And joy.

Notice how you feel in your body when you're giving abundantly and freely to others.

I'm now going to read you the passage on giving from the book The Prophet.

Simply allow your mind to settle on your breath and notice how the words being read resonate within your body.

Then,

Said a rich man,

Speak to us of giving.

And he answered,

You give but little when you give of your possessions.

It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?

And tomorrow what shall tomorrow bring to the over-prudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city?

And what is fear of need but need itself?

Is not dread of thirst when your well is full the thirst that is unquenchable?

There are those who give little of the much which they have and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gift unwholesome.

And there are those who have little and give it all.

These are the believers in life and the bounty of life and their coffer is never empty.

There are those who give with joy and that joy is their reward.

And there are those who give with pain and that pain is their baptism.

And there are those who give and know not pain in giving nor do they seek joy nor give with mindfulness of virtue.

They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.

Through the hands of such as these God speaks and from behind their eyes he smiles upon the earth.

It is well to give when asked but it is better to give unasked through understanding.

And to the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving.

And as there ought you would withhold all you have shall someday be given.

Therefore give now that this season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors.

You often say I would give but only to the deserving.

The trees in your orchard say not so nor the flocks in your pasture.

They give that they may live for to withhold is to perish.

Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and his nights is worthy of all else from you and he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream.

And what desert greater shall there be than that which lies in the courage and the confidence nay the charity of receiving.

And who are you that men should rend their bosom and unveil their pride that you may see their worth naked and their pride unabashed.

See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver and an instrument of giving.

For in truth it is life that gives unto life while you who deem yourself a giver are but a witness.

And you receivers and you all receivers assume no way of gratitude lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings for to be over mindful of your debt is to doubt his generosity for who has the free hearted earth for mother and God for father.

I hope you enjoyed this meditation in this poem.

I experienced this passage is so full of striking insights on the nature of giving the importance of spiritual giving compared to material giving the art of receiving gracefully without placing a burden of reciprocity upon yourself and the idea that giving comes from understanding the bigger picture rather than from contrived virtue.

But if I had to pick one takeaway it would be the idea that whatever we withhold from others out of fear is actually quite futile and worthless when kept to ourselves.

The real value of anything rest in the experience of sharing it with others especially regarding our attention our creations and our natural qualities.

True wealth then is not in how much you have accumulated but in how much of a flow of value you are able to give and receive with others with an underlying faith in the abundance of life.

I'll see you next time for a new meditation with wisdom from the prophets.