People are generally mesmerized with what the richest people in the world give to charitable causes. These donors should indeed be applauded for the remarkable amounts they have given, but they are not the most generous charitable people in America. Giving from surplus is painless. The most charitable donors are those individuals that donate small amounts out of what they need to survive. Their contributions are great sacrifices made to organizations that represent their values. Their numbers are in the millions but their names are largely unknown and their sacrifices go, for the most part, unappreciated. The impact they make, however, can be felt and seen everywhere.
A donation can be used as a sacrifice when one is working magick. But a sacrifice must be just that. A sacrifice, to be effective, must inconvenience in some way. If I do not smoke cigarettes and ceremonially claim cigarettes to be my sacrifice then how effectual can I reasonably expect it to be? To explain this, the writers of the Old Testament devised a little understood story in the parable of “The Widow’s Mite.” In short, it goes to illustrate the donation made at the temple by the poor widow is more valuable61 than the donation that a rich man makes because the widow is making a bigger sacrifice than the man for whom money is no object. Is she more sincere than he? If he were to inconvenience himself more than she, would he be equally ethical or sincere? To put it in a way that hits home: should we be inconvenienced by our charity? I don’t believe that it is necessary, provided it isn’t being used as a magical sacrifice of some sort. Nor would we ever need to inconvenience ourselves if everyone did his or her share. As it is now, the few carry the burden, while the majority could care less. In a magical context, the biblical parable makes perfect sense, but not so much in the practical sense, however. Unfortunately, many people have come to misinterpret this parable’s message. The recipients of the charity we provide have, on more than one occasion, benefited from the donations of various well-to-do supporters. This is how they support us. In Christianity, we are told that the rule is “others first.” However, one cannot help others if they have used up their resources to the point that now they need help themselves. It defeats the entire purpose.
Furthermore, charity must be freely given without expectation; otherwise it is little more than a bribe. Christian missionaries have done more to destroy cultures around the globe than the war machine. They teach, feed and comfort the sick with the expectation that they will embrace Christianity. The motivation is often times less than altruistic. In contrast, organizations like the Order of Thelemic Knights performs its charity work because it benefits our members in a profound way: the act of helping others is a noble end onto itself. Like the Christian churches, we also promulgate our chosen paradigm, but we do so by example.
Think about this. What if every employed human being on the planet donated $5.00 per month to feed the hungry at home and abroad? Provided that the officers of the organization did not spend the money on their own salaries, it is quite possible that with this $5.00, and the donations in food and supplies from corporate giants seeking tax breaks, we might feed the world’s starving population or use the money to teach and enable these people to survive on their own.
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