For The Use Of

Jonas Salk, medical researcher and developer of polio vaccine, was once asked by journalist Ed Murrow, “Who owns the patent on this vaccine?” Salk replied, “Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?”

Salk was one of those rare people who already live in the kingdom of heaven while they are on earth, because he understood that nothing “belonged” to him, even the fruit of his labor. People who are advanced in spiritual understanding know that everything—sun, water, air, earth, our very lives and what we achieve—is a gift that is not designed to be owned but to be shared for the benefit of all.

People who live in the kingdom of heaven do not worry that they themselves will be in want or won’t have enough of what they need when they share what they have, because they trust in God’s abundance. People who hoard and protect what they see as “theirs” believe that resources are scarce and they have to ensure they have “enough,” although somehow there never seems to be enough to satisfy their desire for security and distinction. In both the abundance and the scarcity mindset, as you give, so shall you receive. 

I’ve been told that members of Mount St. Sholastica once were told not to write their name in books but to write “For the use of” and then their name. It’s a critical distinction, a reminder that this book is not mine but for my use at present, after which I will pass it on. Jonas Salk essentially stamped the vaccine he developed “for the use of” humanity. His generosity was returned a hundred-fold as all the children whose lives he saved gifted the world with their own productivity and contributions to life on earth and in the kingdom of heaven.