The giving and receiving of gifts is ubiquitous, especially now as the winter holiday season is upon us.
Gifts characterize our holidays, charitable donations, life events like birthdays and retirements, entire religions such as Christianity, and racist insults (the Indian giver), etc. Gifts have even entered contemporary comedy as when the humorist Garrison Keillor quipped, “guilt is the gift that keeps on giving”.
Not all gifts however are created equal. Some gifts are given with strings attached. In the giving of such a gift there can be an overt or covert expectation of some type of return for the gift, usually for the gift giver. For example, in giving to a charity I expect to be recognized publicly in some manner. Or in gifting a rifle as a Christmas present I expect you’ll use it only for target shooting and not for killing. Strings. Expectations. Conditions. Philosopher Joseph Caputo refers to such “gifts” as representing an “economy of exchange” where a “why” is central to the giving. Why was the gift given? For xyz reason and with what conditions? What was the motivation?
Gifts characterize our holidays, charitable donations, life events like birthdays and retirements, entire religions such as Christianity, and racist insults (the Indian giver), etc. Gifts have even entered contemporary comedy as when the humorist Garrison Keillor quipped, “guilt is the gift that keeps on giving”.
Not all gifts however are created equal. Some gifts are given with strings attached. In the giving of such a gift there can be an overt or covert expectation of some type of return for the gift, usually for the gift giver. For example, in giving to a charity I expect to be recognized publicly in some manner. Or in gifting a rifle as a Christmas present I expect you’ll use it only for target shooting and not for killing. Strings. Expectations. Conditions. Philosopher Joseph Caputo refers to such “gifts” as representing an “economy of exchange” where a “why” is central to the giving. Why was the gift given? For xyz reason and with what conditions? What was the motivation?
In contrast other gifts come without strings and hence are unconditional, without a “why”. When this occurs it’s a pure gift. The Greeks had a word for this type of gift - it was sourced in agape, a type of selfless love. Happy Holidays -