“I was hungry and you gave me food” does not stop to ask whether the person deserves food; the mandate is to give it. Today, for us in our world, it might be seeing someone lonely, scared, or even terrified in a house and spending time with the person. Gentle Teaching asks us to give and give unconditionally. It asks us to become engaged with those who are most marginalized and to give ourselves, as much as we can, to those who are starving, imprisoned, naked, ill, strangers, and the thirsty. There are no questions asked. Perhaps this person is screaming. Our central duty is not to quiet the screaming, but to be with the person.

In industrialized nations we have been taught and certified to only give when someone deserves or has earned the gift. This is a bankers view of the human condition—If you do this, you will earn that. Gentle Teaching has moved away from behaviorism’s punishment based approach to those who do wrong and its reward based approach to those who do right. In our culture of gentleness we reject the enslaving consequence of punishment and the mechanistic consequence of reward. Our culture of gentleness like all of the faith roots mentioned so far, the literature of the past, and the philosophical studies of great thinkers all call on us to give love and kindness, to share all that we have, and, in a sense, the miracle of the human condition is not what we might think a miracle is, it is simply our encounter with the suffering of the earth.