#FieldNotes003: Gift Awareness

Our place in the sacred ceremony of exchange

Dear readers,

It’s been a busy few months as I’ve been fully focused on the Zahra Ecological Farm. But know that I think about you all more often than I probably should! I’ve been meaning to share some thoughts on gift-giving or more appropriately termed gift economics. I’ve felt a little bit uncomfortable with the idea of “selling” my writing. That’s not to say I don’t appreciate all my paid subscribers. I definitely appreciate being able to fund my book addiction. But more deeply, I am grateful to all those who take the time to subscribe. To all those who take a moment to participate in a sacred ceremony by expressing that they value this exchange. For that reason, I am indebted to write, share, and participate in a larger human exchange.

I recently heard Charles Eisenstein speak of the ritual when we participate in the exchange of goods. The very act of purchasing is a sacred ceremony where we ascribe the value to a particular exchange. In other words, the purchase of goods and services gives the purchaser a sense of commitment to the thing purchased. This is why we are most likely to attend an event if we’ve paid for it. Plain and simple. It’s also the reason why we’re more likely to care for something we’ve purchased with our hard earned cash rather than we’ve received it from the store.

Unfortunately, this sacred act has been usurped by corporate greed. A transaction in the global monoculture doesn’t establish a relational accountability. The seller and the buyer are alienated from one another. This is one of the reasons why accruing debt and paying interest is not only facilitated but encouraged in our economy. Perhaps our feeling of indebtedness to another is a forgotten legacy of ancestral gift economics…

In the context of my work, as a capacity development specialist, permaculture farmer, and regenerative systems designer, I’ve been thinking of approaches that ground us in what I call gift awareness. Gift awareness is simply the conscious act of acknowledging the complex process of exchange that is all around us. Starting with light turning into matter through the beautiful process of photosynthesis to the final monetary exchange for a good or a service. This complex, intricate, fragile, and obscure web has cosmic implications. We are deeply interconnected with it. I’ve started to invite people around me, whenever I am facilitating a conversation, to reflect on this web, to embrace the complexity, to recognize the harm and violence, as well as the beauty and joy. I don’t want to leave people in a state of despair but rather one of gratitude. For gratitude is a pathway towards healing. Our systems are broken. From the lithium mines to supply our electric vehicles all the way to the fruits and vegetables at our dinner table, there are countless stories associated to the process of extraction, growth, transportation, exchange, and consumption.

In this vein, I invite you to think about your place in this world and to show gratitude. Without that gratitude, all community engagement work is futile. Gift awareness will instill a feeling of indebtedness not only to our fellow humans, but to the whole web.