Who this article is for...

• People who received a donation invitation from me to support my current Journey

• People who are interested in my experimental approach for a new way how to relate to money, livelihood & the world in general.

Intro

• This article has a dual-use purpose: To synchronize / share my ideas with
  a) people who are roughly interested in the idea and/or received a donation invitation
  b) people who want to go deep, trying themselves an experiment similar to this

• Please choose for yourself how deep you want to go into! I trust you to choose what you want to watch/read accordingly.
  a) skimming over headings & only reading selected sections vs.
  b) reading the whole text & watching every linked sub-video & sub-article. 🙌

What is the "Modern Day Gandhi" Experiment?

The abstract version:
My attempt to truly live from the motto "paying forward" (rather than paying back), to disrupt the illusion of the Story of Separation & help move into a new paradigm, the Story of Interbeing.

A bit more concrete:
I want to give my gifts away in greatest service to the world without ever expecting anything in return. Because that's what Life does all the time: It gives. So who am I to try to defy that universal principle?
The "Modern-Day Gandhi" Experiment means living a simple, yet meaningful (!) life, reducing yourself to zero to selflessly serve a greater cause.
It means (to me) never asking for anything in return, no matter how much "worth" my contribution would be in an economic sense.
It means only investing my time & energy into things that truly align with me, not making trade-offs in my effort to serve, only to conform with other people.

The tree in the forest doesn't receive nutrients from the same tree it gives to but rather receives all it needs from innumerable interconnected sources. The tree doesn't receive from some narrowly determined trade partner but from the whole web of life itself.
This experiment is trying to align with this universal principle even in our unnatural world of today as much as possible. It intends to be a bridge between the old paradigm and the new. It intends to hold not only the vision of a more beautiful world that our hearts know is possible but also the current reality we're living & operating in. And to play with its apparent boundaries.

Why this experiment?

The old paradigm of the world is breaking.
What has (seemingly) worked for a while, is not working anymore. The story that was carrying us through for so long begins to have more & more cracks. Humanity, the earth, and the biosphere are facing challenges they never faced before.

• Planetary boundaries are being reached due to exponential growth on a finite planet.

• Polarization, social injustice, lack of purpose & meaning, and disconnection from community & nature are growing by the day.

• All this while Artificial Intelligence increases the power & speed of whatever trajectory we're on, right now one of accelerating self-destruction.

We as humanity begin to realize that the Story we're operating from, the Story of Separation, just isn't working anymore. That we need a change of direction. That it isn't fun to keep winning at a dying game.

The world as we know it breaks apart and no matter how scary this is, holding on to it only makes it (way) more painful!
It is time to collectively & individually transition into a New Story, a New Humanity, a New World.

We live in a time between worlds.
The old reality isn't real anymore, the new reality hasn't fully emerged yet.

Everything, I repeat everything, that helps disrupt that old paradigm (which is dying anyways) is helpful.
And of course even more so if it not only destructively disrupts the old story, but also actively invites into a new one, the Story of Interbeing.

This experiment is no more (but also no less) than one piece of this disruption and an invitation into the New.

Many people cognitively know already that what we consider as reality (e.g. science) is only one part of a much larger puzzle. Many people already cognitively understand that we're all connected to each other, that we can't separate our well-being from humans on the other side of the earth or from animals, or trees. Many people already know that independence is an illusion and that we strongly depend on all of life's gifts.
Yet when we're actually confronted with a concrete choice (like the one I'm offering the people via my "donation invitations") we realize how deeply the Story of Separation resides within us.

We need both: A disruption of the old AND inspiring ideas for the new.

So we need both:
On the one hand, a disruption of the old, which can only come through addressing & confronting those old patterns, by looking at them rather than looking away.
AND, on the other hand, concrete ways/ideas/inspirations of how to do things differently, examples to follow or at least to orient at.

A short conclusion

The intention of this experiment is not to get money, which is rather a natural by-product if I can actually make better use of it than someone else. The intention is to plant the seed of a World of Interbeing & raise loving awareness of how deeply we're still entrenched in the World of Separation, even most of the people who think of themselves as being aware & acting from Oneness. The intention is to play my unique part as well as I can to help move from a story that ultimately benefits no one (not even the ones that believe they are the "winners") to a Story that benefits everyone (including those that seemingly make sacrifices now to support others without anything being in it "for them").

How concretely will the "Modern-Day Gandhi" Experiment contribute to this shift?

Here I could go off even more. 😀
But as this article turned out to be pretty long already, I'll try to keep it fairly short and use a lot of referrals instead for those people who want to go deeper.

The two main parts that I want to make explicit in the text version are these:

Donation invitations = Raising Awareness

First, the donation invitations that I send out, confront people with their own choices & priorities they set, making really hard to look away from the current tendency of acting from the Story of Separation.

It is simply not true that we don't have money to give away, even if we have no money in our bank account! Because if we can still afford to buy two coffees per day, a 10th T-Shirt to wear, a Netflix-Abo, or ... [insert whatever fits good for you] then it's not really about having money or not, but about priorities on how to spend it.

• Do I spend it on my own fun & pleasure or do I give it to someone who can barely pay for their basic needs?

• Do I keep spending money to fulfill needs or do I get creative to fulfill those needs in a more creative way, using the freed-up (financial) resources in greater service to the world?

• Do I buy a new washing machine or do I get past the fear of rejection and approach the neighbors and suggest making better use of the resources that already exist (= sharing their washing machine)?

Usually though, it's the person that doesn't take responsibility for her actions who is the one judging, otherwise you wouldn't need to avoid it.
If those choices were really aligned with who they are, they would have no trouble just saying "No thanks, I don't want to share my money with you. I would rather invest it in my own entertainment, watching TV series on Netflix"

All those questions get sparked by the simple invitation to "donate to my life". With only one promise being made: That you will get nothing in return (except when you consider gratitude a return by itself!), but that I will pay it forward by giving my best to serve the world in its entirety.

And because it isn't about the money, the conversation doesn't end with a "Yes" or a "No". As it is about raising awareness & planting seeds, the answer to the invitation is only the beginning. :)
More here (Link)

Of course, all that only works, when the invitation comes from pure intention, not involving any personal agenda or being in to for the own benefit. Which brings me to the second half: The influence on me to be the change I wish to see in the world.

Self-Reflection → Being the Change → Serving profoundly

But..., but..., but... (concerns, doubts & objections)

In this section, I will address the most common objections that people express after hearing "my" idea for the first time.

To keep it short I will merely raise the concern, give a super short 2-3 sentence answer & refer to a video that goes deeper.

The Term "Modern-Day Gandhi"

If everyone would do that...

... then this obviously wouldn't work! Because where should the money come from. So it only works because I do it alone. Right? Not quite...

It's actually the opposite...
Everyone doing it would basically mean that everyone would live in service to something greater, realizing we're all part of an interconnected whole, taking responsibility not just for our own life, but for life itself. How on earth is this not going to work?

You're forcing yourself on other people!

Questions to ask

Of course, there are many many more questions that could be asked.
To keep it simple (for the moment) I will just refer you to this article in which many more questions are addressed and answered. 🙌

What's next for you?

Well, that ultimately only you can know. Regard this as an invitation to trust yourself with making those decisions, not just here right now, but in life in general. 🙌

In case you're only asking for ideas though, still taking full responsibility yourself for what feels right, then here some ideas:

• To go deeper visit this article with more questions & answers (or rather "perspectives") or watch the Looms about all parts (see first blue box)

• Pledge your support, if
  a) you want to support this quest from The Story of Separation towards the Story of Interbeing in general AND
  b) it feels right to concretely do so by supporting my personal Journey & experiment with a monthly donation

• Keep exploring other parts of this site (e.g. other identities & experiments I'm running + other visionary ideas + other projects) → start here

Enjoy whatever you end up doing & don't forget to trust yourself with it.
There is an infinite wisdom flowing in & through you all of the time that you have access to at every moment. No need to look outside to find answers and guidance. Just turn inward and trust the very wisdom that created you. ❤️

Appendix

Other ideas to be included

• right livelihood

  • me spending no single Dollar for something that doesn't serve the world

  • in the process already reduced consume a lot (!)

• confronting with voluntary suffering

  • No other person more committed to serve the world with all they have than me

    • Is it right that I take away from that energy to rather invest it in something that earns money?

    • Is that what the world wants?

    • obvious answer = No

    • but we act in a way that says yes

• Minimalism vs. Maximalism

  • NOT about minimalism

  • maximal flourishing of the whole

  • includes me, because how can I be of greatest service, if I'm not in my power

• current situation -> extra Heading?

• other effects

  • sending messages to Thinkific & Co to give for free
    = planting seed of gift economy

Tags

English: money
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