From artist Song Dong's "Waste Not", Photo by Alex Pasternack

You must let go of a thing for a new one to come to you.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Whether you have been affected by the current economic downturn or not, you - like many people - may be reacting by fearfully guarding your existing resources. This may seem reasonable, given current uncertainties, however we all need to ask ourselves if we have taken this beyond levels of reasonable precaution. If so, it may constitute hoarding, which would inhibit your happiness and spiritual growth. It will certainly inhibit your ability to be open-hearted and generous.

According to Andrew W. Lo, a professor at M.I.T. and director of its Laboratory for Financial Engineering, our reaction to a general economic crisis stems from both neurochemical and physiological processes:

…the threat of financial loss activates the same fight-or-flight circuitry as physical attacks, releasing adrenaline and cortisol into the bloodstream, which results in elevated heart rate, blood pressure, and alertness.

Hoarding has actually become a medical term. Walter A. Brown, MD and Zsuzsa Meszaros, MD, PhD state that hoarding is “explicitly mentioned in DSM-IV (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) as a symptom of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder and it is seen as well in a raft of other conditions, including traumatic brain injury, Prader-Willi syndrome, tic disorders, mental retardation, and neurodegenerative disorders.”

This level of hoarding is a serious psychological disorder and exists at the extreme end of a spectrum of behavior, more moderate levels of which, we might recognize in ourselves. In fact, Brown & Meszaros find that,

hoarding is a common, highly conserved behavior across species. Animal research has focused on food hoarding, but birds and other animals also collect aluminum foil, beads, and other brightly colored objects. In humans, the rare clinically significant hoarding that results in impossible clutter seems to be on a continuum with normal collecting and the universal tendency to hold onto clothes, books, and other items far beyond the point that they are used or needed.

We might also see ourselves in the two active components of severe hoarding: the active component (collecting) and the passive one (failure to discard). In more moderate cases, the active component might be storing of unneeded financial resources and the passive component, failure to share, donate, or use to help others in need. [many people would question whether there is such a thing as an unneeded financial resource!]

The psychological disorder of hoarding, according to Brown & Meszaros, can originate from a process in brain circuitry, neurochemicals, brain pathology such as traumatic brain injury, stroke, neurodegenerative, or brain lesions. They also identify that genes may also play a role:

Hoarding seems to aggregate in families; for example, patients who hoard were more likely to have first-degree relatives with hoarding symptoms than those who do not hoard.

If this is true of severe cases of hoarding, perhaps we can also see patterns of overly cautious or ungenerous behavior in our own families. On the other hand, we might also see patterns of open-handedness and generosity, or at the far extreme – wastefulness and irresponsibility.

Patrick Arbore, Ed.D. works at the Institute on Aging in San Francisco and gives presentations on hoarding, since severe cases can involve seniors. He gives a long list of reasons for hoarding including:

• Items are perceived as valuable
• Items provide a source of security
• Fear of forgetting or losing items
• Obtaining love not found from people

Does that not sound like a list of reaction to need that we are all subject to? In fact he points to the underlying emotions of shame, grief and loss as motivators for hoarding. Arbore also talks about the spiritual dimensions of hoarding and recovery from that disorder. He says of recovery from clutter (related to hoarding),

It is removing old ways of thinking and believing from our minds in order to free our souls.

According to Arbore, wonderment is the key to spiritual growth for hoarders. Wonderment unlocks the ability to live in the present moment. This experience and appreciation of the people and things around us leads to an understanding of the limits of life, which opens the possibility of a simplified life and an uncluttered vision. This simplicty and lack of clutter facilitates an attitude of gratitude. Ultimately, Arbore says that hoarders are best assisted with caring and compassion for their suffering. This sounds to me like he is teaching caregivers to help hoarders by being generous – and in the end this generosity will unlock their fear and isolation so that they can let go of hoarding and be able to give to others – generosity unlocking generosity.

Key Questions:

• How much are you grasping out of fear, hoarding out of uncertainty or to soothe yourself?
• How has the current economic downturn affected your ability to receive from others?
• What is your experience of wonderment, and what effects do wonderment create for you?

The finest emotion of which we are capable is the mystic emotion. Herein lies the germ of all art and all true science. Anyone to whom this feeling is alien, who is no longer capable of wonderment and lives in a state of fear is a dead man.
- Albert Einstein

Wonderment by Gail Shotlander

Photo by Peter W. Spear

Kaua e rangiruatia te hā o te hoe; e kore tō tātou waka e ū ki uta
Do not lift the paddle out of unison or our canoe will never reach the shore
- Māori proverb

It is interesting that in the American media, generosity often only appears when non-profits are publicly thanking their donors or in obituaries. In other parts of the world (South and Southeast Asia, the British Isles, Canada), generosity is considered a personal and collective virtue to be taught, fostered, and practiced.  In New Zealand, the Office for the Community & Voluntary Sector, Philanthropy New Zealand, and Volunteering New Zealand have joined together to create a public campaign to encourage and grow generosity in their general culture. This is certainly a response to the economic downturn, but seems to run deeper in their societal values. These valuable materials might also teach us about growing our generosity here in the USA.

The Promoting Generosity Project is being developed by a working group called The Hub. They have already produced two documents that are available on the web: What is Generosity? and What Value Do We Place on Generosity? In these documents concepts of generosity are applied to every sector of society: society as a whole, the community & voluntary sector (non-profits), and individuals & businesses.

Although generosity is not always visible, most agree that the absence of generosity creates a society that lacks connectedness and resilience.
- From Focus on Generosity

Here is their statement of vision for generosity in the New Zealand society:

Vision - A society where:

• Giving is the norm – “It’s what we do”.
• Everybody is recognizing and celebrating generosity in all its forms.
• Giving behaviors are understood, taught and promoted – “Make it magic”.
• Volunteering and giving are supported by government, business and the community.
• Inclusive and engaged communities are built and sustained.
• We are all working together – individuals, organizations and sectors.

Their concepts are based on current research into the benefits to society as well as the detriments to society when generosity is absent. Here is an example:

Where generosity isn’t there, there appears to be less creative problem solving, less ability to care for those who need assistance, more negativity, greater reliance on Government and other organizational /authoritative decision making and direction, and poor community self esteem.
- Sylvia, J., K.Peet., R.Till., and T.Mataki (2008) Building Happy Healthy Communities

The Promoting Generosity Project is also concerned with building and spreading generosity. Among the ideas presented for ways to activate this process in their culture, they state that, Building generosity is a cyclical process: existing social networks provide channels to recruit each other, and people who receive help are then more likely to help others.

Most laudable is their inclusion and connection to the native cultures and religions of their islands. This includes the Māori as well as smaller native New Zealander tribes. I leave you with this example:

In Māori culture, tohu aroha is seen by some as an expression that incorporates the spiritual and temporal dimensions of giving
and manifestations of love, sympathy and caring.
-From Focus on Generosity

What are we doing in the USA, during this economic crisis where so many are suffering poverty, to engender generosity in our people, our systems, our communities?

Eboo Patel

In an interview on the radio program Speaking of Faith, Krista Tippett asks Eboo Patel of the Interfaith Youth Corps, “…what is it that allows you to be that much more generous about other people’s beliefs, and still want to carve out this space where you can work with them?” His answer is:

I think you’re giving too much credit when you say generous. I think we are doing what works. Getting this right, getting the way religiously diverse people work with each other right is a matter of life and death. We have to do what works.

What is the difference between being generous and doing what works? Is being generous too soft to address matters of life and death? Or when you are doing what works, is it not as generous (which seems to deserve “more credit”)?

This is not just a matter of semantics. Mr. Patel is a visionary leader who has found ways to build religious pluralism with young people and the interview is very good, so listen if you get a chance. Patel is perhaps being modest when he deflects Tipett’s complement about generosity, but he also seems to be distinguishing generosity as something that at is once more than is necessary or expected (one of the dictionary definitions of generous), and yet not concrete and practical enough. Doing what works sounds so simple and clear – it is without nuance or by-product.

• Is generosity something comfortable, that can be practiced without having to confront really intractable issues (like religious totalitarianism – Patel’s term)?
• Is generosity so much more than just what works that it can fail to work directly or to work at all?
• Must you choose between generosity and what you have to do?

These are actually important questions to me. I regard generosity as a challenging practice that keeps me in the respectful stance that Patel is teaching (and so much of the rest of the world struggles with in regard to religious belief). At the same time, it keeps me reaching out and extending myself with care (which Patel also fosters). For me, that is what works. In fact, holding to what I think works, without being generous, becomes the opposite of the respect and connection that the Interfaith Youth Core promotes. It becomes arrogant and imposing. For me it is indeed what will work in matters of life and death. What do you think?

Dana or generosity is encouraged as an essential attitude,
which is the best way of offsetting the human tendency of
individual self-centeredness and attachment.
- Nitin Kumar, from Living Like Trees: The Hindu and Buddhist Ideal of Sharing