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homelessness
November 2009 
Questions I ask myself
Posted on Mar 16th, 2008
by 
Little Big O
Little Big O
Questions I ask myself
Here on the rim
of dawn's light
perching, perching, perching
into the sun's fresh gaze
revealing the tendrils of existence:
Art - Adoration of the Sun, by Victor Haddad.
Here on the rim
of dawn's light
perching, perching, perching
into the sun's fresh gaze
revealing the tendrils of existence:
- How did we come to think that the paper tokens of a bankrupt monetary system were wealth?
- How do we proceed to rediscover what wealth is?:
- a neighbor who says hello and storms through our doors with all their kids in tow, eager to climb all over us, to kiss us, to stick their fingers in our noses and invite us to outrageous escapades into unseen worlds?
- a garden full of food.
- a neighborhood where there are no police and no need for or invitation to them.
- a culture that recognizes the uniqueness of individuals and gives them wide berth to pursue their own adventure.
- bridges with barbecue pits and sleeping platforms under them so that passers-through can feel welcome and bring their stories to the mix.
- a justice system that rejects the notion of punishment and works toward restitution.
- absolute property rights including restitution of land rights to people who never sold their land.
- no taxes
- no coercion
- no housing codes
- no government sequestration and licensure of natural human activities like healing, counseling, cutting hair, etc.
- no government authority
- a culture where there are no group rights: no women's rights, no men's rights, no minority rights: only individual rights - the right of individuals to own, create, express, share, trade and discover as sovereign individuals in the midst of other sovereigns.
- a culture where children are taught that authority comes from the heart - and from our heart's capacity and yearning to connect with other hearts. And that anybody using threat to coerce other human beings into whatever "purpose," "mission," or "good deed" that they think they need to "enforce" their "vision" is simply shunned, ignored, AND given an invitation to be fed and sheltered for a week in Silence in a beautiful, natural place, with access to elders who can show them another way of speaking to others' hearts and working with their own.
- a culture where people with authority in their hearts know that obedience destroys true collaboration (co-labor: working together) and co-operation (functioning together).
- How do we proceed to rediscover what wealth is?:
Art - Adoration of the Sun, by Victor Haddad.
Access: PublicTagged with: sovereignty, questions, non-coercion, no taxation, property rights, justice, homelessness
how did you proceed to rediscover what wealth is? that's one way. my way is another. each person is healing from within, in their own way, in their own time. all is good.
my relationship with money was never a healthy thing. sometimes i thought it was the only thing that mattered. sometimes i thought it didn't matter at all. usually i saw it as yet another means of controlling people. but it doesn't have to be that way. money is a tool. like all tools, it can be used to harm, or it can be used to help people. it is up to each person how they choose to use such a tool. i have to trust that if given enough autonomy, the freedom to decide for themselves what to do, people will choose to help rather than harm others.
i still don't understand the modern version of economics, i can't get past all the control issues. but just because i personally do not understand it, doesn't make it necessarily a bad thing. i would be perfectly happy to live in a world run by the barter system, but i recognize that won't work for most people.
My heart lets me know when my experience of Life is rich - and, for me, it has to do with connecting my heart to the heart of others, and not being forced to obey somebody who uses threat to enforce all their “good” intentions.
Stacy,
I don't know what wealth IS, I just know what enhances my experience of it. Being in my canoe for two weeks alone in Silence is HUGE WEALTH. Seeing the pair of hawks that hunt near one of the trails I walk and have their nests up in the trees, too. Reading Martín Prechtel's Stealing Benefacio's Roses inspires a feeling of wealth. Even after all these years, thinking of my friend General Bullshit, a homeless guy in Eugene I used to have great conversations with, buy a beer for and cover all kinds of bullshit, conversationally - and always “keeping it general” makes me crack up for what a gift this guy's spirit was and makes me appreciate the richness of life. Having you present throughout the thread of this blog, popping up with your raw kindness, too, enriches me.
ooooohhhhh………….your vision speaks my heart……..if you were running for office I would vote yess
may I second his nomination ? ? ?
Let us instead be the dismantlers of any offices that think that they hold sway over anybody who didn't appoint those people directly to be their officers. The only office I'm interested in is the one I do my work of building Strategic Alliances between visionary individuals and organizations from. And the way to appoint me is to simply invite me to learn how I might make YOUR adventure richer, more brilliant, with great partners, funding, inspiration, collaborators, resources and, of course, raucous laughter.
If I would be nominated to anything, it is to know you, person-to-person, eye-to-eye, adventure-to-adventure that we might know through experience the invitation that we are to each other to living more fully, more brilliantly, more savagely, lovingly, poetically, fiercely, courageously, and unabashedly!
And if you nominate me to that - and I accept because I recognize true affinity, without which there is no vitality with which to proceed toward anything becoming of passion, adventure and brilliance - I would be honored.
This second comment really struck me, so let me just quote it here:
“My heart lets me know when my experience of Life is rich - and, for me, it has to do with connecting my heart to the heart of others, and not being forced to obey somebody who uses threat to enforce all their “good” intentions.”
These are my riches … this is my store. Oh, and you make my life richer by the perfection of who you already are.
Satya, our gift to the giving is to receive. Thank you. Hmmmm. I think I'll have to pay attention to that a little more in my life:
“Our gift to the giving is to receive.”
“Our gift to the giving is to receive.”
Not to receive can destroy the experience of the joy of giving.
My answer to the receiving question:
Let It In