The Law of Give and Take
Before we concern ourselves with how we should give and take, let’s look at one example of this law in nature. Most of us have heard of the word symbiosis. It is a biological term for the living together of two dissimilar organisms because it is advantageous to both.
One of the most spectacular and far-reaching examples of this is the 300-million-year-old symbiotic relationship between fungi and plants. Known as mycorrhizal association, symbiotic fungi associate with the roots of plants. They are responsible for helping plants rapidly take in nutrients, such as nitrates and phosphates. In return, it is give and take, plants are thought to exude or make available through their root’s organic compounds like sugars, which benefit the fungi.
Give and Take
Nearly all healthy terrestrial plants, with the exception of mosses and moss allies, have symbiotic fungi with their roots. The law of give-and-take in just this one form contributes to the health of virtually all land plants on Earth.
We would do well to thank and love these species of the much-maligned Kingdom Fungi, not only for the well-being of land plants, but also for their positive effects on all the plants that provide food, shelter and so forth for the higher orders of life, such as animals and man.
What are some of the key elements of this important law? The law is give-and-take. It is one law. There is no law of giving. Neither is there a law of receiving. There is only the law of give-and-take; two polar aspects of one single procedure. It is similar to our Father-Mother God being one God and not two Gods, or our conscious and subconscious being two aspects of one mind and not two minds. An act of giving is incomplete without at some point taking or receiving something in return. Likewise, an act of taking is incomplete without giving something back.
To which should we give more emphasis, giving or taking? We need to concentrate on both equally. If we devote our energy to giving and giving and giving and refuse to receive anything in return, the exchange becomes imbalanced. In the extreme case, this leads to various kinds of martyrdom. By the law of give-and-take, any idea we might have that, in order to fulfill spiritual laws, God would make us overextend our giving to the point of inbalancing our minds or emotions, or of impairing our health, is neither just not true. And it never will be.
On the other hand, if we spend all of our time taking and taking and taking, without giving in return, we become parasites. No living being is supposed to live at the expense of another, thinking or acting as if he/she/it can thrive on the works or the energies of another without compensation. For compensation is a divine law.
