Sunday Story...A Gift

Sunday Story…A Gift
Seth Godin in “Linchpin” talks about the gift. The gift of your art. And your art is what you do with emotional content. Are you a waitress? Do you deliver your art with joy and verve and love? It’s art. Maybe you teach math to middle schoolers. Do you bring your joy and zest and playfulness to the classroom? It’s art. Maybe you drive forklift in a warehouse, back and forth, here and there, all day long. Are you smiling, changing the tenor of your workplace, or looking for ways to make your job more successful? It’s art.

It used to be that “art” was painting or sculpting or making music. What if art is everything you do with energy, emotion, and enthusiasm? What if art is what you put heart and soul into…even washing dishes? And it really becomes art when I give it away. As a matter of fact it might only be art when I give it away.

I recently saw a video on the Karma Clinic in Oakland California. Dr. Shah operates the clinic as a gift. Patients can pay it forward but they do not get bills for their treatment. She gives each of them a gift. The gift of health as art.

There are a couple of restaurants in the world that operate as a gift. You eat and there is no bill. You pay what you can; you pay what you think your meal is worth. These places are fairly successful and in ways that exceed any financial considerations. The gift of food as art.

You are doing art every day (I hope). Art fills your soul. Art moves you in ways that were not previously imaginable. When you do your art you are serving a purpose greater than yourself.

And when you give your art away you feed the universe. The recipient is fed, certainly. But you the giver of the gift of art may be the biggest recipient. When I give the gift of my art it comes back to me in large and unexpected way. There is no doubt in my mind the Dr. Shah is going to be very well rewarded for the gift of health she gives away to every patient. And not in the afterlife either. At the very least she will be rewarded knowing she made art and she got it in the hands of the people who really needed it.

So how do we reconcile giving the gift of art to the world and still pay the bills? The electric company, the landlord, or the garbage man are hung up on getting paid for their services. They are not embracing the art as gift idea yet. Dr. Shah has faith that there will be enough generosity to cover her overhead. This is a huge leap…a larger leap than most of us can accept.

For many of you this idea won’t require a huge shift. Do your job in a way that conveys your energy and emotion, your joy and happiness and it becomes art. You won’t need to go to your boss and ask for a raise because you are now treating your job as art and giving your art to everyone you come into contact with. Remember the teachers you had in school who truly loved their jobs and every one they came into contact with? That was their art. They did not get paid more than the cranky old curmudgeon down the hall. As a matter of fact they often got paid less. When you shift from doing a job to making art you won’t necessarily get a fatter paycheck. But because you are doing art and you are giving it freely you might get rewarded.

What if I gave all my lessons for free? When someone said, “how much are lessons?” can I say you get to pay what you can, what you think they are worth? Is this possible? Can I explain to people who are frightened to take responsibility in life to take responsibility for choosing their own payment? Is this the new economic model? Can it even be called economics? Isn’t the phrase “gift economy” a contradiction?

When I give you a gift I have no expectation of reward, not now not later. So how can I explain that I am going to give you the gift of my art but the electric bill still needs to be paid? I am not sure this is possible even if I want it to be. Is it possible to say, “Lessons used to cost $125.00 per month but now I want to give them to you as a gift. You can pay as much or as little as you wish. You can pay what you think this art is worth.”? A serious leap. But then I already have many people on scholarships, reduced and no pay maybe it isn’t such a stretch.

And the real question becomes how giving my art as a gift will change the art itself. Will it become even greater, more passionate, and more powerful after I take the money element away from it? As I write this today I have a pit in my stomach and a joy in my heart. A large part of me wants to shift this in this direction so badly. And another large part is scared to death.

Thanks Seth for starting this path of inquiry. And I hate you for starting this path of inquiry. If any of you have any comments, suggestions, or ideas along these lines, please shoot them my way!

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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