Page 24 - NAMAH-Jul-2025

Namah Vol. 33, Issue 2, 15th July 2025

spiritual wealth, the limitations of trading resources — the ‘food-chain’ of existence
become obvious. For example, you cannot — without adequate reciprocation. The fire
buy love, gratitude, sincerity and faith in a of consumerism, fuelled by hunger and
marketplace. This domain of inner growth desire, burns through resources, driven by
and riches demands another movement greed and lust. This predatory relationship,
emerging from the deepest depth of your minimising giving and maximising taking,
being. is fundamentally anti-evolutionary and self-
destructive, because it violates the deeper
3. The Stage of the Giver (The Lover) The third, law of sacrifice. It is not surprising that
and most transformative, stage is marked by sustainability has become a central theme in
the discovery of the joy of giving. This shift global discourse.
is profoundly linked to the awakening of
love when you fall in love with a person, Even when we do engage in what appears
place, work or an ideal. When love opens to be ‘giving’ or ‘caretaking’ (like managing
the heart, whether in human relationships or livestock or farms), it is often primarily
towards a larger ideal, there is a spontaneous, motivated by strategic self-interest — the
almost irresistible urge to give oneself to the animals and plants are cared for because
other, to offer, to serve, without calculating they are sources of food or profit. This is a
the return. Simultaneously, you will notice symbiotic relationship, yes, but one based on
the surrounding life responding to you with utility rather than intrinsic care or love for
abundant returns. This stage is where the the other’s well-being and growth.
possibility of true evolutionary acceleration
lies and with it the birth and growth of love Similarly, at the level of nations, we often
and delight within with growing freedom. see predatory behaviour — the seeking to
While growth can occur at the ‘trader’ stage consume the resources of other nations,
through fair exchange and symbiotic powerful and greedy nations sucking the life-
relationships, it is often bound by self- force of weaker nations, leading to conflict
interest. The ‘giver’ stage, propelled by the and destruction. This too is a symptom
expansive force of love, transcends mere of failing to understand and live the law
transaction. It is in this state that the heart of sacrifice beyond the rudimentary stage
expands, and the possibilities for spiritual of taking or self-interested trade. Whether
growth open immensely. individuals, corporations, or nation-states,
the same evolutionary scale applies: are you
Beyond Consumption: Why Rudimentary a taker, a trader, or a giver? Where did you
Sacrifice Fails reach in your inner evolution?

Much of human interaction, individually True evolutionary progress, for any entity,
and collectively, operates at the rudimentary begins when it moves towards taking
levels of the taker or the self-interested trader. responsibility for something larger than
We see this clearly in our relationship with itself and discovers the joy, not merely the
nature. Our modern civilisation often acts necessity, of giving. It is the stage where one’s
as a relentless taker, consuming nature’s own fulfilment is found in the growth and

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