https://docs.google.com/document/d/151HZlXMR9WJSEptCPWxXFAbiTmX5QnKym9V9Fm49Oyk/edit?usp=sharing

I’m writing this on the 31st day of December 2022. Tomorrow starts a new year and I just made “modern Day Gandhi” (the name might change in the future) my motto for 2023.

Modern Day Gandhi? Why that?
The honest & short answer as always: I don’t know! Because it feels right deep inside.
And here are the cognitive interpretation of my mind to it:

Gandhi’s ahimsa, Gandhi’s non-violent movement brought with its integrity & imperturbable love freedom to India by shining a (loving) light on the suppressing & racist forces that were guiding many peoples’ (especially British colonialists’ at the time) thoughts, emotion & behaviors.

[insert quote about ahimsa / nonviolence]

Today we live in a world where many disruptive forces like that still exist. Racism might be less of a problem than in Gandhi’s time (although it definitely still is!) but I would argue that we have other disruptive forces going on right now that are much more subtle & hidden.

In this way, racism was an easy (although very painful) one to address as it was hard or even impossible to hide when you use physical force to tear an Indian person out of the train’s first class because it’s “for Whites only”.
By still going to the first class and refusing to leave voluntarily, you can confront and bring out those racist tendencies quite easily.
In fact, the incident described above was one of Gandhi’s defining moments in his life, which lead him on his way to later free India. He famously called this incident “the most creative moment of my life”.

My belief is that the biggest problems of today's world are much harder to address…
One of them is how we deal with Ownership & especially money. You can make many cognitive arguments in all directions to (try to) figure that out on a level of the mind. But let's just leave that aside for a moment and turn deep within ourselves…

The last few days this realization came back up much more vivid than before.
I already had the thought about “modern day Gandhi” a few months ago in August/September 2022, just before I started my Journey to give up any home base in Germany & go out into the world. Actually, the term itself came up only after I had clarity on some actions that felt right (and after having established the motto “paying forward instead of paying back” for quite a while). I knew I was NOT going to take the usual way to “earn my living”, but rather invite all the people I know to contribute (e.g. donate) to my life, trusting that I will serve the world greatly with everything I do, with every breath I take in each week, day & minute.

Knowing that I would be rejected a lot of times; that people would want to throw me out of the first class & say via their words or actions: “for Workers only”. Not realizing that work should not be a means to make money, but rather an expression to serve the world, to serve all other human beings, to serve life. “Work is Love made visible” as Kahlil Gibran said and you rightly ask yourself now: “So what then has work to do with money at all?”

Well, the answer is: Nothing! At least in the deepest sense.
Deep down we all want to serve, we all have this deep inner urge to play our role well and contribute our unique puzzle piece to the larger puzzle that we’re part of.
And yes, we all also want food on the table, not only to survive but as the foundation & as a necessity to play our role as well as possible.

But do these two things have to be dependent on each other? Does the way you serve the world also directly have to pay for your food? Is it necessary to spend most of the time earning your living, to then spend the remainder serving the world profoundly?
Or isn’t there already enough? Isn’t there enough food in the world? Enough space? Enough money?
Isn’t all the scarcity we have artificial scarcity?
When I don’t trust that I will receive what I need tomorrow, then I will hoard today. And because I hoard today for tomorrow, I don’t give it to other people that need it today.
And what happens then? I see people in need, people that don’t have enough, I see scarcity. And to avoid getting into the same position I do what? Of course: I hoard for tomorrow.

Back to the realization of the last days:
Even though it’s getting financially close now (to a point where I might need to knock on neighbors' doors to ask for food or accommodation), I know that I don’t want to play that game. Even though I’m very sure that I could be really successful at this hoarding-game, in this capitalistic system, I just can’t play it. It’s just too obvious to me that it’s wrong. That I would be winning at the expense of others. That I would be winning in a dying game.

Antro-ontologically I know that this is not how it’s supposed to be, that there must be another way, a better way.
This might be even obvious to our mind if you look closely enough, but I believe even more important is what we know deep inside! If we set aside our intellect & reason, we all have this inner sense of right and wrong.

Does it feel right that we have families of 6 scramming into 2 bedroom apartments, while there are plenty of empty, unused rooms, just a few blocks down the road?
Does it feel right that every household in the street here has 2-3 cars, while when you look at the whole street, only 10% of the cars are ever in use at the same time?
Does it feel right that we don’t have enough people available for Social care (you know, the thing that makes us human), while millions of people spend their time working in unfilling jobs to help produce things that no one needs, to create wealth for a few that does not make them any happier?

I know that this is not the way how it’s supposed to be and I believe that you, if you are honest to yourself (like really really honest to yourself), that you know too.

So what Do we make out of that?

For me a few things are clear:
(1) It’s perfect where we are right now (otherwise we wouldn’t be here), with all the problems & challenges. Apparently, we needed them to get to this realization, so thanks. 🙂
(2) I will start by myself, take responsibility & be the change. Yes, the whole system needs to change, but if we’re not being the change ourselves and doing the things we know are right, then how can expect others to change? How can we expect the system to change?
(3) Everyone has a different role to contribute, a different instrument to play. Mine might be to go the “extreme” way, confronting people with their subtle beliefs & exploring new ways of doing things. For others, this might be (at this moment) to far out and their role is “only” to support those who go exploring.
(-> maybe add a conversation with Art about ancient tribes)

Drawing on the second point (= taking responsibility & being the change) I hereby commit to
a) take on this Journey with all my heart & soul force
b) document this Journey, for myself and for other people to follow it.

I will share my way & experiments in other articles & videos like that. What worked out? What didn’t? What challenges presented themselves on the way? Where did I feel inspiration? Where despair? And how did I deal with the inevitable lows that will come?

What is clear to me:
This Journey is not about Minimalism, about spending as little money as possible, trying to just “survive” with the support of other people.
This Journey is rather about Maximalism, about maximal flourishing. In a way that leaves space for other people to also flourish, even enhances their flourishing directly by being able to support another human being. A Journey about maximal alignment with life itself, with the Universe.

This means to me (and this list might be more of a collection for myself):
◾ Being conscious & totally transparent about every dollar I spend + fully “owning” spending it on things that others would consider unnecessary if feel that it supports my flourishing (like a saddle chair in the office + red-light glasses).
◾ Raising awareness that “if everyone would do that, it wouldn’t work” is NOT a problem, because we already have enough of everything we need (remember the artificial scarcity). If everyone would act this way, then everyone would give way (!) more than (s)he receives. How in the world could that not work?
◾ Finding a way that includes me financially supporting my different team members (which supports me being more in my genius zone + thereby serving the world more profoundly).

In the end, there should be a higher financial flow than going the usual way, not less. Only that financial flow does not mean ownership, but only that: Flow. People receive what they need (to flourish) exactly at the right time in the right amount. The key is: “Receive”. They (including me) don’t need to “have” it upfront.
= Financial Abundance without financial possession

Deep down, I know this is possible. Deep down, I know we can create this more beautiful world our hearts know is possible (thanks Charles Eisenstein for this amazing book title!). And for those who still think this is impossible (and I believe that this can only come through thinking!), I want to finish up with another famous Gandhi quote.

After one of his speeches about Nonviolence & the freedom of India, Gandhi once got approached by the renowned historian J.B. Kripalani who said: “Mr. Gandhi, you may know all about the Bible or the Bhagavad Gita, but you know nothing at all about history. Never has a nation been able to free itself without violence.”
To which Gandhi replied with a gentle smile: “You know nothing about history. The first thing you have to learn about history is that because something has not taken place in the past, that does not mean it cannot take place in the future.”

Amen. Let’s get started. Let’s get exploring what’s possible. Let’s change the world.