When we have a commons, we have to share and be in relationship with each other. Since people are imperfect, relationships are messy and often inconvenient. For a culture of convenience, that's bad news -- so we start to strip away the commons in favor of individual property. Pretty soon, we're left to fend for ourselves; when the going gets tough, we are forced back to the commons as a coping mechanism. Now, we share because we can't afford not to; we give birth to movements like "collaborative consumption", where it is in everyone's convenient interest to share. On the face of it, sharing is sharing -- but it's actually apples and oranges. Sharing of convenience lacks all connection to an inner transformation. When you are in relationship, because it is convenient, because it makes you feel good, because it is mutually beneficial, it can only go so deep. But when you are able to accept an inconvenient relationship, merely because it's a connection with life, its upside potential is incredible. The sharing done from that inner base creates an external field of giftivism.