It is a fact of economics that the basis of wealth is generosity. Today the wealth of the modern nations comes from three main sources: 1) The generosity of hard work, self-sacrifice, and inventiveness of the former generations; 2) the generosity of older, gentler nations, from whose Asian, African, and American lands enormous wealth was exploited by western and recently westernized entrepreneurs; 3) the generosity of the earth herself, with the sun, the oceans, and the winds. Now we, the people of modern nations, must “make contributions” with that wealth to create still more wealth for the future. We can repay former generations by generosity towards future generations, by investing in their future, restraining our consumption. We can repay the heirs of the exploited by giving back some of the fruits of the wealth they let our ancestors take, especially in the form of equipment they need to produce more wealth themselves. And we can repay the earth by ceasing to pollute her, cleansing previous messes, and investing in her long-term health. We still have the chance to make these gifts voluntarily. If we fail to take it, all will inevitably be lost.
Petty-mindedness, scarcity psychology, short-term profit seeking, destructive rapacity – these are the real enemies. Their opposite is magnanimity, which makes all people friends. In sum, transcendence is the root of generosity. Generosity is the root of evolutionary survival. Evolutionary survival eventually brings forth freedom for the bliss of transcendence. This is a golden three-strand cord more powerful than the usual heap-habit, ego-habit, addiction cycle. The former is a living Nirvana. The latter is the samsara of continual dying.
The foremost type of giving is, interestingly, not just giving of material needs, although that is a natural part of generosity. That of greatest value to beings in freedom and transcendence and enlightenment. Therefore, the educational system of a society is not there to “service” the society, to produce its drone-“professionals,” its workers, its servants. The educational system is the individual’s doorway to liberation, to enlightenment. It is therefore the brain of the body politic. Society has no other purpose than to foster it. It is society’s door of liberation. By giving others the gift of education, they gain freedom, self-reliance, understanding, choice, all that is still summed up in the word “enlightenment.” Life is for the purpose of enlightenment, not enlightenment for life. The wondrous paradox is, of course, that enlightenment makes life worthwhile: because it makes it less important, it makes it easier to give it away, whereby at last it becomes enjoyable. Therefore, human evolution is consummated in transformative education. Society becomes meaningful when it fosters education. Life is worth living when it values education supremely. And so our “royal” giving should first of all go to support universal, total, unlimited education of all individuals. (From the book “The Path of Compassion” (edited by Fred Eppsteiner), p. 131-3)
