Where does our tradition of gift giving come from, and why do we still celebrate this? We would all probably cite the biblical account of the three Magi, but gift giving has a much more ancient source. Gift giving hearkens back to the economic form of exchange that humankind practiced before the advent of money. Money did not become a factor until the establishment of civilization. Civilization, for all its amenities, also brought class divisions and poverty, so gift giving and receiving reminded people of a time when people lived in egalitarian, close-knit communities bound more by the heart than by the impersonal "head" system of money.

When people exchange gifts today, is it merely an exercise in nostalgia, or is there some value in it that is not enclosed by the ubiquitous money system? What did the gift economy accomplish, other than distribute goods? One major difference between the gift and the money economy is the former's emphasis on quality and the latter's emphasis on quantity. The money economy thus marked a loss of qualitative relationship. Civilized life may be richer, in terms of quantity, for those fortunate to have money, but that is a poor substitute for the loss of qualitative relationship amongst people.Rather than depend on the generosity of others, today we would rather be able to pay people for their services. After we pay them, our obligation to them ends, and any "relationship" that survives the business transaction is minimal, at best. Gifting, on the other hand, creates community by creating relationship between the giver and the receiver. The receiver of a gift is bound to experience gratitude and desire to reciprocate when the opportunity arises, or at least "pay it forward" by gifting someone else in turn. Gift giving created a circular distribution of goods and services in the small communities before the advent of the age of money. Gifting works best in small communities where people know each other. The exchange of goods with people of other communities was usually done through barter.

Civilization extended the field of governance beyond the village to large countries, thus shifting the basic form of economic exchange from gifting to barter and money, both of which reduced the quality of community. The power of money has only grown since, and now we are subject to the reign of quantity, which we fear could finally kill all the quality out of nature, and ourselves with it. Gifting puts us in closer alignment with nature, for nature's relationship to us is as a gift-giver. We celebrate that relationship every Thanksgiving, usually by the gifting of nature's bounty. At Christmas, we celebrate the highest human potential as gift giving to each other. Implicit in the religious dimension of this custom is that we cannot take our wealth with us when we die; what we take with us into the next life, rather, is everything we have given, for gift giving best emulates the economics of heaven, as it were.

We are faced today with the prospect of economic collapse. Should such a calamity take place, our savings and financial arrangements could vanish, and all we would be left with is the bonds we have with people we have exchanged gifts with. During this holiday season of gift giving, consider going back to the original purpose of gift giving and give from the heart. This might better be done through the gifting of services and self-produced items rather than consumer products bought with money, money that usually leaves the community. There is more to gift giving than simply following a behavioral tradition. Take stock of the things you can do well that others can use, and consider how conscious gift giving can nurture the heart of your community.