Have you ever noticed that there are two distinct kinds of people? The first group is suspicious of others and secretive and the second group is open and generous. Jeanne and I have discussed this phenomenon several times. Have you ever noticed that as people get old, they either get nicer or meaner.
We finally decided that the reason for this is that people either believe that it's a "dog eat dog" world where we're all in competition for any little scrap, or they are open because they believe that there is enough for everyone, that there will always be enough for all.
People in the competitive frame of mind are secretive because they suspect that everyone is out to steal all their secrets and take away their business. So stained glass artists in that group are unlikely to help others to learn the trade. They jealously guard against losing their trade secrets, forgetting that somehow they were trained by others to learn what they know. Maybe they had to steal what they know and that's why they are so afraid that others want to steal from them.
The people we like are those who believe that there is an abundance in life, that the universe was created along such rules that when we as, we receive and that there is enough for all. They remember that others helped them to learn their trade and were willing to share with them, so they are willing and often anxious to share with others.
We are not so naive that we don't recognize that we can't share everything! We don't reveal those things that took us a long time to develop or make us more competitive in the market place. These are not secrets as much as they are "trade secrets." A drug company that works on a new formula would be foolish to reveal it to their competitors before it was patented. So, there's a time and a place for everything, but Jeanne and I both feel that it's better to be more generous. We believe that generous people are rewarded with generosity from the universe.
