Talents are not the only mechanism the Talent Exchange offers to facilitate transactions with others. The CES platform provides a range of exchange options including gifting, bartering, swapping, time recording and record keeping.
The ‘official’ (Rand) money system presents itself as a monopoly, as if it is the only method of facilitating exchange. This has had a devastating effect on humanity, with practically all of life now monetised in the pursuit of ‘making money’.
Historically, money is just one of many exchange methods but it certainly was not the first. The most natural method of exchange is ‘gifting’, though we must not think of gifting as a society of individuals going around giving presents to each other! Gifting simply means the giving and sharing of resources and energy without the expectation of a direct reward or exchange. This does not mean that gifting is a random one-way action. Built into each gift is the expectation that some time in the not too distant future the gift will be reciprocated in some form or other. There is no need to keep an accurate record of the gift; a memory of the value or usefulness of it suffices. When the gift is reciprocated, the giver will give something to express the value of what was previously received. Often, to ensure that the giver of the original gift is not slighted, the return gift might be of even higher value. It was common for there to be competitive gift giving. Compare this to our mean money system that works in the opposite direction!
One of the offering options on the Talent Exchange is gifting. This means you advertise something with no expectation of a reward from the member who receives it. If everyone does this then in time there will be something for you and you will be rewarded. It is a form of ‘paying-it-forward’: you receive something ‘for free’ but ‘pay’ for it by gifting something else to another.
The gifting option is a great way for recycling goods that you no longer need or want. There will always be someone who can use your gifts, and hopefully they will gift something too to show their gratitude for what they have received.
To use the gift option hover your mouse over the [Offerings] button at the top and select the Add Offering option from the drop-down menu. From the Select Offering Type page click on Gift and then you will be presented with the Add New Gift Offering form. Fill in the details about your gift in the same way as you would a normal offering but at the bottom, instead of entering a price, give an indication of who would benefit from your gift. For example if you have a lot of glass jars you would like to give away, indicate how they might be used and who could use them.
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