PLEASE NOTE: snippets copied from dictionary.com are not under the same license as the rest of the text. If you want to reuse this post for something serious, you may need to remove these snippets and replace them by some other explanation of the same concepts. The bible is in the public domain in most if not all of the world (even though apparently the author isn’t dead ), so you can safely leave that bit in.

I know there is nothing about evolution and hardly anything about communities in this post, but it will fit into the final work somewhere. Please bear with me.

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From dictionary.com:

talent

1. a special natural ability or aptitude: a talent for drawing.

6. a power of mind or body considered as given to a person for use and improvement: so called from the parable in Matt. 25:14–30.

7. any of various ancient units of weight, as a unit of Palestine and Syria equal to 3000 shekels, or a unit of Greece equal to 6000 drachmas.

8. any of various ancient Hebrew or Attic monetary units equal in value to that of a talent weight of gold, silver, or other metal.

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From the bible, king James version, through gutenberg.org (note: entering “God” in the author field doesn’t work):

40:025:014 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.

40:025:015 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

40:025:016 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.

40:025:017 And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.

40:025:018 But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.

40:025:019 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.

40:025:020 And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.

40:025:021 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

40:025:022 He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.

40:025:023 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

40:025:024 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:

40:025:025 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.

40:025:026 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:

40:025:027 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.

40:025:028 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.

40:025:029 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

40:025:030 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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One interpretation of the parable is that if we receive a gift from god, we owe it to him to make use of it and develop it, to his greater glory, or at the very least don’t let it go to waste (bring it to the bank instead of hiding it in a hole in the ground).

Another interpretation, if we take “the kingdom of heaven” to mean something like “a state of happiness”, is that to reach that state one has to use ones talents. Ignoring ones talents leads to deep unhappiness.

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from dictionary.com:

gift

1. something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance; present.

3. something bestowed or acquired without any particular effort by the recipient or without its being earned: Those extra points he got in the game were a total gift.

4. a special ability or capacity; natural endowment; talent: the gift of saying the right thing at the right time.

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So the choice of word for the same thing makes a big difference: either having a talent obliges us to use it, or nothing is required of us both before and after receiving the gift!

So are talents really gifts or do they create a debt somewhere? And which of the interpretations is the best way to read the parable? Let’s consider some options:

Talents make us owe to a god: This concept I dare to immediately reject. If a god or goddess gives a talent to someone who will not use it, he or she could have used his or her infinite wisdom and have known this would happen. It would be what is called in Dutch “finding a stick to hit the dog”, creating ones own right to punish someone. If (a) benevolent giving god(s) exist(s), the gifts would be true gifts, not traps for those who fail to see what they received. That is not to say it wouldn’t be unwise not to make use of the gifts. (too many negations in the previous sentence!)

We owe to humanity that we use our talents: Being a social species, we feel responsible for the well-being of each other. Talents may be useful for taking this responsibility. Also, we need the help of others to develop our talents, it is only fair that we help others develop theirs, either by teaching or by taking away barriers. These need not be the same others, it will even out over humanity as a whole.

We owe it to ourselves to use our talents: This is an easy one. Who would feel happy doing a job that is much too easy for them for the rest of their lives? Who would like knowing they have a talent and never show it to anyone, not even to themselves? We are much happier when we are able to develop and express ourselves, and as a social-creative species we are most happy when we can do this while connecting to others. The big problem is that many can’t, or think they can’t live a life that makes optimal use of their talents.

It is debatable whether we are obliged to use our talents, and in the end it doesn’t matter. Nobody is going to get any happier by choosing not to use their talents (except perhaps in exchange for something else, but even that is most likely a bad choice), we really owe it to ourselves to do what we can do best and what makes us most happy.

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Thanks to Carmen for inspiration!