Gift and Market Economy

I was at a marketing seminar last week (www.freepublicity.com) and was struck by the realization that the most powerful part of the course for me was our participation in a gift economy. The leader had us introduce ourselves by telling who we were, what we did, what we needed, and what we had to offer. Participants who were ostensibly looking for ways to get products and services out and noticed by the market economy (ie, you pay me money for what I have to offer) actually connected more deeply with each other by offering their services as a gift to each other, out of the love of sharing. So, here we were at a marketing course learning about techniques and strategies for material success but finding out on the side that giving is actually more rewarding and longer lasting. If I just buy a book or a product from you, our exchange is very short. However, giving you something creates relatedness that lasts far beyond that exchange; it's like we're connected more deeply now, not just symbolically through the exchange of money. It comes from the heart rather than the head.

Soon we're going to start a gift economy with my book, because I describe and paint a picture of a gift economy in it. I'll give more details when the time is nearer.

From Paradox to Wholeness

I give a PowerPoint presentation entitled "From Paradox to Wholeness" (the next one is June 18 in Chicago. See the website.). The premise is that in order to truly get to wholeness, one must embrace paradox not just as an abstract concept but as the paradox that you are. How do you do that? Follow me into a fascinating world...

Notice what Rene Magritte thought such a world would look like.

It is day and night at the same time. Granted, such a world wouldn't really exist, but let's think of areas in life where opposites or contraries do occur in your life. For example, have you ever been happy and sad at the same time? Among sailors, they say that the day you sell your boat is the happiest and saddest day of your life. What other opposite pairs apply to humans?
Dead and alive
Spirit and matter
Here and there
Male and female

Let's look at the last one. When you look at yourself in the mirror, you certainly don't see two genders. In fact, most of the time, we identify with the one seen in the mirror. Consider, however, that you are both male and female even though only one is physically manifested. What does that imply? It means that there might be a large part of your self that you have been denying or repressing. It means that you have a lot more useful qualities and characteristics that you can tap into to help you deal with situations in your life. For example, if you are generally very logical and intellectual, you can consciously access your more emotional side. Since we all have an emotional side, what's the big deal? Well, if it is simply being reactivated or triggered as a response, it might not be serving your best interests. When you can consciously and intentionally draw upon your emotions, they can serve you well.

I have also noticed that frequently our unmanifested gender has some kind of issue with the manifested gender or vice versa. For example, one's unmanifested male might be a misogynist or one's unmanifested female might be terrified of men. Again, that doesn't leave you in a powerful place to approach relationships with others. When you can recognize and heal the dysfunction between your own sides, it leaves you in a better space from which to deal with others.

"Knowing that you are both male and female, you get to choose which to manifest. When you know all that you are, in your bothness, intending is nothing other than choice."
--The One That Is Both, p. 173

So, if you are feeling brave, try this exercise to get to know your unmanifested gender.

Close your eyes and picture what your unmanifested gender looks like. Is s/he tall or short; blonde or brunette, redhead or gray; sweet and docile or feisty; a warrior or a sage; cheery or dour; what ethnicity; what age?

What does your unmanifest self think of your manifest self?

What did you notice?

Why Paradox Playground?

For years I have been delighted with paradoxes--moreso the visual paradoxes of M.C. Escher and Rene Magritte than the verbal paradoxes, such as the liar's paradox. I take the Moebius strip and the Klein bottle as representative of the type of both/and-ness that I see in the world. Whereas most of science and philosophy seek to eliminate paradox or fix it so that what seems like a paradox can be shown to really be consistent, I seek to embrace it. Indeed, that is how we can get to wholeness, because the whole does include all the pieces, even if they be seemingly contradictory.

By cultivating a mindset that embraces paradox, I think we humans will be better able to cope with our modern "problems." We won't be tempted to see the world in terms of black and white, good guys and bad guys, left and right, Us and Them. By embracing paradox we will see the connectedness inherent in those types of oppositions.

So, in the coming weeks, I will use this space to ponder some interesting ideas I have come across recently. In the mean time, look for the irony in your life.

Welcome

Blogging is new to me, so bear with me as I get my feet wet. The intention for this blog is to share what I have been reading, thinking about, discovering, and writing as I continually research my next book. What is that? you may wonder... I am currently writing a workbook/guidebook/playbook to accompany The One That Is Both. This book will expand the ideas in the novel and provide activities to make the (sometimes) abstract concepts more real and applicable to your life.