I agree - putting too much emphasis on the threefold return makes it feel very transactional. And if you go out into the world with a transactional mindset, the threefold return would give you people demanding things of you as a right, three times over...
I didn't help my friend with housing for three years because I expected it to be returned. I didn't even do it because I'd gotten similar help a couple of decades earlier. I did it because she needed it, and I could. It's like putting food in the bird feeder - I'm not expecting the birds to return the kindness (though they are very helpful with fertilizer, I must say). I'm doing it because it's the kind thing to do. (Also it's fun to see the magpies training the cats to not hunt by the feeders...)
I'd like my gravestone to read "she made the world a little better". It doesn't have to be a lot, just that there will be some people and some part of the world that is the better for my having been there. Like when we've had a gathering at a place and finish up by the Ritual of Collecting the Garbage, when we all walk around and pick up all the garbage we find, so that the place is left neater than when we arrived.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2021-08-04 12:16 pm (UTC)I didn't help my friend with housing for three years because I expected it to be returned. I didn't even do it because I'd gotten similar help a couple of decades earlier. I did it because she needed it, and I could. It's like putting food in the bird feeder - I'm not expecting the birds to return the kindness (though they are very helpful with fertilizer, I must say). I'm doing it because it's the kind thing to do. (Also it's fun to see the magpies training the cats to not hunt by the feeders...)
I'd like my gravestone to read "she made the world a little better". It doesn't have to be a lot, just that there will be some people and some part of the world that is the better for my having been there. Like when we've had a gathering at a place and finish up by the Ritual of Collecting the Garbage, when we all walk around and pick up all the garbage we find, so that the place is left neater than when we arrived.