The Gift Economy in Action

Update: 10/31/14: WOW! Check out how this story continues. See Laura Bruno‘s comment below. The gift just keeps on giving.

I know the video below is “staged.” But the fact that someone decided to stage it and others wanted to “play” various parts — the bum, the old lady, the frail man, the young woman, the waiter, the hard hat guy, etc. — is (just like) real life!

Hmmm. I wonder if anybody “got paid” for their efforts making this 5 minute video? Wonder if anybody contaminated the freely felt kiss of the gift with the convenient fiction — for those who would rule us — that we are taught to call “money” and to value as “the bottom line” — and, thus, to seek it, above all, by, oddly enough, bottoming out, holding ourselves down, anchored in place, unable to move; just to maintain, accumulate, guard against the encroachment of “the other.”

The gift, in contrast, is a current that moves freely, wandering, playing, caring, changing, letting go. Keep the energy moving. That’s the key. When we all do that, there’s plenty to go around.

The secret of abundance is flow: to receive, and let go, over and over again. The more we give, the more we receive, and the greater the number and kind of exchanges between and among us, the more resilient the community, the more connected we feel, the less we need to hold on.

So here’s . . . my gift — to YOU!

Enjoy!

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3ld9_p2bS0