receivers and givers

"What about helping suffering people--starving [homeless] and such? Sure. Do it. It's [the way]. But do it without attachment. To be attached means that you identify with your role as the GIVER of help. This in turn casts the other person in the role of RECEIVER of help. Such identifications with roles may fill bellies, but it increases human distance. A conscious being knows that there is neither giver nor receiver... there are only empty bellies, storehouses of wheat... and effort required to move wheat from storehouses to the belly. It is OUR wheat, our belly, our effort. And when all this energy has been transferred, a conscious being realizes that nothing has happened. Thanks are absurd... does your left hand thank your right hand?"

-Ram Dass, Be Here Now

A recent day of outreach was made remarkable in that its organizers sought to provide opportunities for traditional receivers to take on the role of givers. There were complications, but it was mildly successful.

The NA group took up collections over months. Enough was donated to cover the costs for materials to put wood preservative on an aging deck at a local rehab center.

One of the organizers of the outreach project ran into one of the women enrolled in a treatment center who would participate. "I can't wait 'til Saturday," she said. "What's Saturday?" said the organizer, unsure if he remembered who she was. "It's the day of outreach, of course," she said.

And all of the church members who typically occupy the role of givers?

They came together for communion.

And, at least for a few minutes, all the givers were receivers.