To understand why our ignorance of the desire to give is so harmful, we can think of the relationship between the desire to give and the desire to receive like the relationship between a mother and her child. In a healthy relationship, the baby knows her mother and knows to whom to turn when she is hungry, cold, or tired. But what if the baby had no mother? To whom would she turn to satisfy her needs? Who would feed her, clothe her, keep her warm and love her? She would have to take care of herself. What would the chances of survival be for such a poor child?
Ever since that fateful day when Nimrod chased Abraham out of Babel, some 4,000 years ago, humanity has been like that baby, trying to lead life as best as it could. We have muddled along, but we have detached ourselves from the desire to give, the life-giving force that nurtures us and the rest of the universe.
Like a motherless child, we have been deprived of guidance, trying to learn how to survive by trial and error. In our efforts to find a sustainable order in life, we have tried living in clans, slavery, Greek democracy, feudalism, capitalism, communism, modern democracy, fascism, and even Nazism. We have sought solace for our fears of the unknown in religion, mysticism, philosophy, science, technology, art, and, in fact, in every area of human engagement. All of these ideologies and pursuits promised us a happy life; none have kept that promise.
Without being aware of the desire to give and the need to balance ourselves with it, as do all other elements in nature, we have been acting solely on our desire to receive. Thus, we have created deformed societies rampant with exploitation and tyranny.
It is true that humanity has made many great achievements, such as modern medicine and abundant food and energy production. But the more we have advanced, the more we have misused our achievements, ever widening the gaps between us and increasing social injustice.
It is no one’s fault that human societies are deformed and inherently unjust. Without knowing about the desire to give, we are left with but one option in life: to receive what we can whenever possible. Hence, those who are exploited today will be exploiting tomorrow, if they come into power, because when we work with only the desire to receive, then all we want is to receive.