Friday, October 19, 2012

Chapter 3.2 – Gift economy and abundance

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

Nature practises a gift economy


» Nature produces food from herself and gives it to her living creatures.«
–  Joytopia

The members of nature do what they do because of an internal stimulus. The busy bee collects nectar which the flower freely gives it because it is consistent with its being. It can’t do any differently. It follows its inner motivation, its instinct. Along the way flower pollen sticks to its hairy legs. And while it flies from flower to flower, it carries on the flower pollen and helps pollinate other flowers. Fruits grow from the pollinated flowers – apples, pears, plums, berries, tomatoes peas, beans…, delicious food for humans and animals – all free gifts.

The animals, in their turn, run or fly around and drop their heaps wherever they like (as did our human ancestors). The seed falls to earth embedded in valuable dung and can grow up into a new plant. So that all this can happen the sun gives us warmth and rain falls from the clouds. Worms and other organisms make the soil fertile and solubilise  the nutrients so that they can be taken up by the roots – just like that.                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Has any of the living creatures made an agreement with the others? Have they taken out a loan or set conditions? – Who has thought up this wonderful teamwork? Chance? Hardly, for »God doesn’t play dice«. God gives us the most valuable thing we possess – our life. So nature practises a gift economy. Not a market economy, not communism or capitalism – nothing but a gift economy!

We humans have preserved a few relicts of the gift economy. We can still find something of it in our cultures and religions: »It is more blessed to give than to receive« with the Christians, generosity with the Buddhists, the proverbial hospitality of the Orientals, the gift festivals of the Indians. And also citizens’ voluntary commitment, donations, compassion…, qualities and activities, without which our modern society would not function anymore.


Abundance


»When nature is in order, abundance prevails, i.e. there is more food available than is needed. Food is perishable and can only be stored for a certain amount of time«.
– Joytopia

Not only does nature freely give us what we need; she also gives it to us in abundance. When we sit by a river, fresh water constantly flows from one side, far more than we will ever need. All the water we don’t need goes on flowing. That was at least the primitive situation before industrialisation used, polluted and contaminated water on a large scale. At that time people could bathe in the rivers and drink the water from streams and rivers.

Another example is a healthy apple tree which bears a lot of fruit. Animals (as long as they do not invade as pests) do not consume the entire crop but eat what they need and leave the rest on the tree. Here too, nature supplies more than is needed. The unconsumed apples rot and re-enter the natural cycle. 

An interesting observation is the fact that the use of a resource in nature often creates added value.  Plants and animals that drink water grow and reproduce or at least keep themselves alive. Furthermore, the consumption of fruits also serves the reproduction of the plants that have produced the fruits –  as thanks from the beneficiary to the donors.

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