There is a story about an Old Man (which is actually my father) who chases Bananas (let’s assume it is banana to represent the value of what he actually pursued). One day the Old Man was planning to go Chasing 2 Bananas. The chances were rather slim, but he went chasing anyway. But then, on the morning of The Chase, one of his old colleagues phoned him and said, ‘Hey, do you have a Banana? I am out of Bananas. I need that Banana for my kid.” Then the Old Man gave his colleague a Banana. Not long after that, his distant relative called him and said, “Hey, do you have a Banana? I am out of Bananas. I need Banana for hunting.” Then he gave his relative his Banana as well, which made him 2 Bananas short. So that, he has to chase those 2 Bananas to make up for the loss, right? But then, on the way of The Chase, another old friend phoned him and said, “Hey, what are you doing?” The Old Man said, “I am chasing Bananas in the jungle.” The Friend said, “Ah, just right on time, I am in the jungle and I have 5 Bananas to share with.”
Growing up, I was always taught that ‘what goes around comes around’. If you did good you got good, and if you did bad you got bad. That is the equation that I ended up holding on to. Especially, when it relates to Rizq (provision) and Sadaqah (charity). I grew up in Muslim environment and I am, being a Muslim myself, familiar with those concepts. In Islamic manner, I believe that Sadaqah is closely related to Rizq. So, the more you give the more you will get. And I have encountered that kind of experience so many times, whether it is my own experience or others around me. I find it kind of fascinating, actually. Because, the way I see it first, it does not linearly make sense. At least to the rule that mankind hold on to since the beginning of philosopher era; the rule of physic. When you have something, then you give some part of the thing away, the value of that something decreases, right? But the relation between Rizq and Sadaqah that I mentioned earlier will be translated as; when you have something then you give some part of the thing away, the value of that something increases.
Then, I try adding more dimension to the equation. I mean, the rule applied in condition that similarly described as closed system, meaning in the condition with boundaries; our boundaries, the environment that we are exposed with. When the boundaries are removed, our environment will integrate to wider boundaries. So far that we integrate to even wider boundaries, the environment become limitless, or let say the closed system become open system. That is how our life integrates to the limitless universe (at least in mankind possessed knowledge so far, the universe is limitless).
Life consists of cycles. Even, Da Vinci expressed it in his famous painting, Mona Lisa. And in cycles, things will always come back to the same spot, in given time. On the other hand, the universe that we know keeps expanding. It keeps getting bigger and bigger. If our life is integrated to the universe, then our life also keeps on expanding, right? Which means the cycles that are running in it, grow with it, too. Thus, now it makes sense when you give something, you will get something with bigger value, coherent to whether this something is good or bad.
Basically what I am saying is: don’t just go chasing bananas, but go spreading bananas, too.
Out of Words 