Let your Fruit be Fruitful.
On Trees, Community, and Charles Eisenstein’s Sacred Economy
Charles Eisenstein’s Sacred Economics speaks of an economic system older than money – the gift culture of our ancestors. The gift predates credit, money, and even bartering and trade. We give to others freely because we know that will receive freely as well, even though we don’t know where these gifts will come from. A gift economy creates a cycle of giving between humans that establishes bonds and beautiful obligation between one another.
Capitalism’s sure and steady hold on society means that we do not indulge in gift culture as much as we could (and even should). We privatize the public domain (what Eisenstein refers to as “the commons”) and in doing so lose our ability to participate in relationship-driven gift culture.
Depletion of this public domain, or commons, can be done in a variety of ways, but the main idea is that we take something that was free or available to all people and add it to the monetized, private realm to necessitate economic growth. In doing so, we lose obligation to one another, reject our innate need for relationship, and make something that was available to all only available to those who can pay. An example of this is childcare, where children receive care by entire communities at no monetary cost, nor with a monetary value assigned.
Elders and others continue to “gift” their time and obligations to folks with children. This happened in the past, and continues in certain communities today (indeed, I watch similar practices happening today in my village in Gujarat). Children were raised in community and cared for in the commons. Now, childcare is monetized and pulled out of the public domain with our movement away from community and into transaction based practices. We have daycare, babysitting, and apps for both that are now part of an economic system. Rather than all children receiving equal care, monetary value makes it so that some care is seen as more valuable than others and only goes to the folks who have the means to pay for it. Consider the depletion of the public domain to also include deforestation, payment for land and monetized parks, ubering vs carpooling, AirBnB vs hosting guests, purchasing samples and tracks vs the understanding of music as a creation by community, and monetizing dance forms and capitalizing off of them based on virality, rather than creating dances and performing in community.
Going back to the spirit of the gift isn’t easy, but it is slowly and simply doable. It relies on our capacity for compassion, selflessness, openness to vulnerability, and on an understanding of what we can add to the commons to increase our relationship and connection.
There is a tree in my Grandmother’s backyard in India that is called a “Bili Patra nu jhad”. In English, it is known as a Bael tree, spiritually aligned to Lord Shivaji. The leaves of this tree are offered to Shivaji in prayer, but that is not the only thing that makes it sacred. This tree belongs to all village members. It is a part of the commons.
When I am in India, village members will trickle through our yard in small groups, heading to the Bili Patra tree to pick its leaves. They call out to my Grandmother as they go. “Dahi Kaki, we’re here to pick leaves!”, “Dahi Kaki, we’re going to pick Bili Patra leaves!” My grandma, my baa, responds with an “oh right, go!” or “ah, okay, pick them, pick them.” Her response is never a “no” because she doesn’t have any power over this tree. Its spirituality and importance to Hinduism means that it overrides the construct of ownership by an individual. It is owned by all folks as a part of the commons.
What if we extended this spirit of public ownership to other trees?
I imagine a Toronto, a GTA, and a wider world where fruit trees become a part of a gift economy. Where fruit trees become part of a public domain, to be enjoyed and owned by all. Year after year I see trees laden with fruit, only to watch them overripen and brown on their stems. Apples, pears, apricots and more fall to the ground and ferment, for the cycle to begin again next year. Can you imagine the ways in which a fruitful gift could be of benefit to others?
Charles Eisenstein argues that a gift economy creates obligation and relationship because a gift economy only works when the gift given or received is useful, wanted, needed, or helpful. You can get to know your community, they can get to know you as well, and your relationship to one another in the New Earth grows. Imagine opening up your fruit trees to families and community members who can benefit from your offered gift. Imagine the abundance of gifts and connection that will come your way. This gift economy asks for your trust, goodness, and selflessness, but I believe that opening ourselves up to the universe will bring us unimaginable experiences and joys we do not know under capitalism.
Tell your neighbours to help themselves to your fruit trees. Pick fruit for your childrens’ classrooms. Plant a new tree for the benefit of all. Put up a sign in your lawn that invites passersby to help themselves to several apples. Use the Falling Fruit site, or make postings on social media. Tell others about your favourite trees to forage from. Lets bring ourselves back into the commons.
Let your fruit be fruitful.
