“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” — Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
“The greatest gift is a portion of thyself.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: Second Series (Gifts)
“Happiness is the only thing that multiplies when it is shared.” — Albert Schweitzer, Memoirs of Childhood and Youth
“Now the man of perfect virtue, wishing to be established himself, seeks also to establish others; wishing to be enlarged himself, he seeks also to enlarge others. To be able to judge of others by what is nigh in ourselves;—this may be called the art of virtue.” — Confucius, The Analects (Book VI)
The individual may be many things, but not what they think they are.
The ego is the only thing that is not ego at all. We do not know who started this lie, but most likely it was one of us. Probably the one who was least themselves. There is such an irony, such a paradox at its core.
While the individual pursues selfishness, they work least for themselves.
When they strive for another, it is then that they are themselves.
Who knows more: the thief, the scoundrel, the murderer—or the scholar, the thinker, the sage?
Why is it that those who know strive for others, while those who do not know strive for “themselves,” and in reality benefit in the opposite direction?
One may call it divine justice, or one may call it a causal condition of the system.
How comic the tragic is; how tragic the comic.
Are the prophets who devoted their entire lives to the destitute—on mountains, in deserts, in caves within cities—fools?
Perhaps the one who helps the most is the one who receives the most help.
Who are you?
This question, heard while fighting senselessly in traffic, when we avoid falling into scammers’ traps, or when we are humiliated for doing what is right in trade or duty, is in fact deeply wise.
Who am I?
I did not come into life by myself. Let alone creating myself, even my name and habits were given to me by others. I cannot find the part that is “me.” I suppose the only thing that belongs to me is the illusion of being “me.”
Its beginning spans billions of years; I did not exist then either.
Giving from oneself
The one who “always gives from themselves” is actually profitable.
They lose only an illusion and draw closer to truth.
The fraudster defrauds themselves; the wicked harm themselves; the one who does good to others does it to themselves.
Being crushed is an opportunity—but only under the right perspective.
The game was not set up a few years ago.
We carry the burden of billions of years.
We can escape the illusion of ego only momentarily.
Gurus, dervishes, saints—while constantly helping—are aware of this.
By helping others, they take refuge in these momentary liberations.
The limits of giving from oneself
If help causes harm—for example, if it enlarges a person’s ego—then help must be withdrawn.
Help should not increase others’ illusions, but only serve to dissolve them.
No one is helped in pursuit of worldly desires.
The enlightened walk only on the path of enlightenment.
If other paths lead into darkness, let them suffer.
What is there besides helping them turn back through this suffering?
How great a loss is losing an illusion?
Reaching truth is not a gain, by the way.
Truth is nothingness, emptiness, nonexistence, just like at the end of every life.
The enlightened simply arrive there early.
It is not a place; perhaps it is like watching children’s pretend games from the outside.
The outside of illusion.
Yet it is worth all illusions combined.
Everyone has been given a taste of it:
to mature, to stop being deceived by children’s games, to rise, and from there to look at the games on the ground.
To taste the rest, one must let go of oneself.
The traveler on the path of light has let go in proportion to how much they have given.
See also:
https://www.dmy.info/divine-irony
