Share your light

“He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.”

- Thomas Jefferson, Selected Writings

I came across this quote by Thomas Jefferson and it brought to mind The Gift: How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World by Lewis Hyde, a book I read over a decade ago now, but which often comes to me when I think about sharing ideas, talent and everything that animates the human spirit.

Hyde studied various lore and culture to receive the wisdom that a gift must be allowed to move on. It helps to think of gifts as a constantly flowing river, whose correct treatment is to allow oneself to become a channel for its current, else it loses its gift properties. "When someone tries to dam up the river, one of two things will happen: either it will stagnate or it will fill the person up until he bursts," so says Hyde.

And so to Jefferson. Sharing your light with others, does not diminish you. If anything, it is good for you.

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