I think I can state this as an absolute principle. I think most of the trouble in the world comes from people trying to give what they don’t have; and, of course, from people taking what they don’t have, which is as old as humanity, and probably endemic even among animals not restrained by herd or pack instincts.
Thieves are obvious enough. It is the apparently enlightened givers of nothing, or of others somethings, which concerns me here.
And I would say, in order to make myself slightly more clear, that the giving which matters most is of calm, order, peace, inspiration, and purpose. There are rickshaw drivers in the Orient (yes, the Orient) who are vastly happier than billionaires in mansions overlooking the sea.
And I would add, too, on a slightly different note, that one obvious take-away from the history of religion, which is or was my particular field, is that massive paradigmatic cultural changes are possible, and can happen suddenly, as seen from the perspective of history.