Generosity
"The greatest suffering, without exception, is striving to satisfy one's own needs, over others." Trumpa
Many prisons do not pay their inmates for their labor. Inmates cook, clean, and perform all of the services that keep the facility running. Yet, inmates must rely on the compassionate monetary gifts sent from friends, spouses, and family members for meaningful toiletries, clothing, medicines, and food.
Prisons give us very little so we have very little. Collecting and holding on to what we have feels normal. Because of that destitution, there lays a crossroad inmates face with regards to money: horde or share.
For many prisoners stinginess and selfishness comes with the territory. Yet, one of the most important aspects of rehabilitation involves generosity.
Generosity is defined as, the trait of being willing to give your time or money to others. Those who give freely do so exhibit a charitable heart. They are not concerned with how much they have.
Greed and selfishness are traits of a heart concerned with its own needs and not necessarily a perceived lacking. A person can be greedy and selfish whether they are poor, financially comfortable or wealthy. This behavior stems from a heart that lacks empathy to the needs of others focusing only on a fear of doing without.
Yet, for those who share their commodities whether they have a little or a lot, exhibit a spirit of peace, calm, and tranquility. They free from the sway of material attachments. They empathize with the needs of others not worrying about doing without.
The inmates who achieve this new heart no longer feel the need to keep, horde, and protect money. They have pruned the root that caused many of them to become incarcerated: the love of money.
This heart can be developed whether incarcerated or free. Every time you give your heart shifts towards peace a little more and a little until you recognize the interconnectedness of us all. I am not implying practicing generosity that is enabling, or allowing yourself to be taken advantage of, nor placing yourself in financial strains for others. It would not be prudent to give the coat off your back in a snowstorm.
When we view the world as a place with limited supply or define our happiness by material objects. Then its easy for people to neglect the needs of others in order to fulfill their own. This is a heart belief of hedonistic scarcity. The truth is joy does not come from the outside but from within and the world is to large a place to not be able to satisfy everyone's needs. Giving may benefit the getter. However, giving satisfies the giver as well.
Ronin Wolf