He stared at the donation page. “Give what you can,” it said.
He could. But a whisper rose: What do I get?
He laughed at his own question — embarrassed, then curious.
For some among the wealthy, giving can feel like investment — a way to grow image, influence, or control. For many with less, it can feel like self-confirmation — a quiet proof of being a good person. Both might call it generosity. Both seem to move Ki in their own way.
So is there such a thing as pure giving?
Koichi Tohei wrote that Ki flows where the mind is calm and unified. Yet in forced selflessness, the mind splits — part giving, part judging the gift. The Ki is severed.
Ginny Whitelaw taught that the “Driver” energy — the part that wants results — must not be silenced but integrated. For the Driver who gives, the question is not “What do I get?” but “How can this giving move both of us forward?”
Aikido teaches the same: force meets force only until one learns to blend. If we push our ego away, it pushes back. If we blend with it, the energy harmonizes.
So perhaps donation is not about money leaving our hands, but Ki leaving and returning in balance.
When you give without awareness of this return, resentment creeps in. When you invest only for return, greed hardens the flow. But when you give with awareness — knowing that what leaves will teach, grow, and come back transformed — the exchange becomes whole.
The paradox dissolves: to serve the mission is also to grow through it. To invest in another is to invest in the Self that is not separate.
So the question becomes:
Can you give in such a way that both you and the world become richer — not in possessions, but in resonance?
⛩️🖥️
