In the previous chapter, we said that the desire to give creates matter, and the desire to receive gives it shape. Humans are no exception to the rule: we receive our life energy from the desire to give, and we are formed by the desire to receive. However, since we learned that we could change our surroundings to suit our desires, we have been focusing entirely on the desire to receive. We have become ignorant of the fact that we receive energy and life not from the desire to receive, but from the desire to give...
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?..