JOSE ATID LEIIA STEVENS 127Receiving
Just because you develop the capacity to give does not
mean that you are good at the balancing end, receiving. Sha-
manically speaking, in order to keep the balance in nature,
you need to be as good a receiver as you are the initiator of
giving. Nothing in nature gives endlessly on one end without
receiving on the other end. A lake has an inlet whether it be
springfed or filled by a stream, and an outlet through a
stream or evaporation. Cut off the source and the lake dries
up. Fruit trees bear in relation to the amount of sunlight,
water, and soil nourishment they receive. When the tree is
not capable of receiving these anymore, whether by age or
disease, its ability to bear ceases.
Human beings are peculiar in the animal kingdom be-
cause they are the only ones who think they can exist auton-
omously or in isolation from the rest of the community. They
think they can cut off their supplies of nourishment either
from the natural environment by contaminating their drink-
ing water and air or by shutting out the love and support that
comes from their fellow humans. They even believe that they
can shut out the resources of the spirit world and expect to
make a go of it.
Similarly, humans are the only ones who cut off the out-
side resources via self-imposed punishment. Because they
feel they are not worthy of love, relationships, health,
money, or material goods, they refuse to admit these re-
sources into their lives even when they are given freely by
others. From a shamanic point of view, nothing could be
more insulting or desecrating than to refuse a gift offered
unconditionally by the spirit world or by any of the creatures
in ordinary reality. To turn down the gift of love or anything
else creates a condition of severe imbalance that leads to
more suffering and unnecessary wounding.
A wealthy American, traveling in Portugal, hired a taxi
driver to take him to an isolated monastery. During the
long drive they swapped stories and got to know one an-
other. The taxi driver said that it would be a great honor
for him and his family if the man would consent to go to
dinner at his house. The traveler agreed and several
days later, upon returning from the monastery, he arrived
at the taxi driver's very humble abode and saw that his
family was very poor. He knew that the feast would be
expensive for the family, perhaps even a month's wages
or more. He insisted upon taking the taxi driver's family