Defining Radical Generosity
ServiceSpace
--Kendrick Bradley
2 minute read
Jul 30, 2018

 

Recently, I had the opportunity to reflect on how I would define "radical generosity". This is what came up:

Radical generosity (siddhi level): Generosity that comes from someone whose heart is so full of love that they simply don't know anything that isn't love. They see know no separation from themselves and another. He who is radically generous knows that when he gives to another he is simply giving to himself and is therefore constantly giving to others as an expression of how much loves himself.

Radical generosity (gift level): Giving that is unprompted as one feels an overflowing of energy and decides to share that with others. It is the threshold level of energy in which one no longer feels a need to direct their energy towards self-preservation/fulfillment and can redirects awareness towards the service of others. It is the dawning awareness that we aren't ‘alone in a selfish world’ and that when we open our hearts towards service we in turn are served by the collective. Our awareness begins to reconcile the interdependence between giving and receiving therefore knows that giving is truly an act of receiving. Giving at this level requires the temporary suspension of classic logic which dictates that giving results in a loss of something. In this state, one begins to realize the energetic alchemy that occurs, during the process of giving unconditionally.

Radical generosity (In practice): I still recall in middle school I witnessed a young boy that was too shy to talk to all of the other kids. During recess, nobody would talk to him for fear of tarnishing their reputation. He was cast out and rejected, and he knew it too. Kids would laugh at him and tease and the best he could hope for everyday is that he could go by an entire day unnoticed. He dressed weird and talked weird. Then one day, a girl came up to him and offered to be his friend, and it was through that simple act something changed, somewhere inside him he felt ease around his peers for the first time. It was through that simple act of radical generosity that he felt comfortable with himself and slowly built his self-confidence.

It is that story that reminds me how powerfully transformative a simple act of radical generosity is. Even now that I am older I will still always remember how that little boy felt when that girl spoke to him because I was that little boy and I am still grateful for her.

 

Posted by Kendrick Bradley on Jul 30, 2018


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