The gift – an intro

January 7, 2008 at 4:25 pm (cultural comment, poignant) ()

I’m still not feeling up to writing much, but this is an explanation of The Gift as simplified by John Caputo:

“What, then, is a gift? Why does Derrida associate it with justice? And what is so “aporetic” about a gift?
To put it very simply: suppose that A gives B to C. What could be more simple than that? If A gives B to C, then C is grateful to A and owes A a debt of gratitude, with the result that C, instead of being given something, is now in debt. On the other hand, A is more or less consciously and explicitly pleased with herself for generosity. This is all the more true if C is ungrateful and refuses to say “thank you,” or if A has remained an anonymous benefactor, so that C does not know whom to thank. For then A may congratulate herself for an even higher generosity which is so unselfish that it does not even require acknowledgment. This is no less true if everything happens unconsciously, for one may certainly contract unconscious debts or unconsciously congratulate oneself for one’s being very wonderful and generous. Thus, the aporetic result of A’s giving B to C is that A, instead of giving something, has received and C, instead of receiving something, is now in debt. The result, in short, is that as soon as a gift is given it begins to annul itself, or that the conditions which make the gift possible also make it impossible.”

-Derrida, Jacques, and John Caputo. Deconstruction in a Nutshell. New York: Fordham University Press, 1997. pg. 141, as copied from http://ddthesis.wordpress.com/category/deconstruction/

This may not seem particularly simplified! My musings on this concept will follow soon.

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Gifts

January 6, 2008 at 8:11 pm (alt_worship, cultural comment, poignant) (, , )

Having been given the book What Would Jesus Deconstruct? as a gift for Christmas, I want to blog about the concept of The Gift (as explored in this book). Unfortunately, I also got a nasty flu virus as a ‘gift’ for Christmas and still don’t feel well enough to blog thoughtfully. Instead I will copy a story about presents from another website, even though it makes quite a different point from the one I am intending to make!

                                                                    buddha.jpg

A Buddhist Christmas Story
A Christmas Story from the Lotus SutraOne time a young man inherited 4 farms from his father. He also married his childhood sweetheart. He celebrated his good fortune by building a great house with servants and many rooms.

As the children were born the man bought many toys. He filled the children’s rooms with toys of many colors and sizes. The children loved to play for hours in their nursery.

One day a fire broke our in the house. The father shout, “Run everybody.” Naturally he expected his children to run out of the house with them. But they didn’t follow the mother and father outside to safety. The parents called and called to the children, but they did not want to leave their wonderful toys.

A neighbor who had come to help out with the fire suggested that they lure the children outside with more new toys. “But we don’t have any,” said the father. “We’ll just make them up,” suggested the tear-faced mother as the flames grew hotter and hotter. “Come on out,” shouted the father and mother together. “We have horses, carts, jumping frogs, mechanical dolls, bows and even a monkey.”

The children left the burning house and their beloved toys to see the new ones and thus were saved. When the smoke cleared from their eyes they saw the house destroyed. They also noticed that there were really no new toys to be seen at all. For the first time in their lives they knew what it was to have nothing and be very grateful indeed.

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