This past weekend I had a series of very enlightening and enlightened conversations with several people. The kind of conversations that expand your understanding and are shocking in their clarity of the moment. One of the people I talked to today was my friend Oliver in Sweden, and he took the conversation and ran with it and sent me the article below.
I have come a long way on my own personal journey to "getting it" and to learning about my own internal issues. I talked about a small part of that HERE, and yet, I realized today that even that was a skewed perspective.
This topic is treated as taboo by many many people and brushed under the carpet by many more. There are a some people that are going to not like what I want to say and who might disagree with me, but I ask you to really read this article with your heart and your consciousness, not with the brain that has been programmed by society.
For many many months now we've discussed our "Value" and talked about exchanging value: what it would look like, what it is, when it happens, why it works etc...
Our "Value" is our energy and it comes in many many forms. Sometimes it is the physical energy of creating something, of fixing or making something. Sometimes it is the energetic exchange of healing, or nurturing or helping someone. Sometimes it is mental energy of exchanging ideas, or teaching. Whatever form it takes, All that we DO is part of our Value, and all that we DO together is exchanging our Value with each other.
Exchanging "value" can take on a myriad of forms and can morph between the physical, mental, energetic, material, financial, or even musical forms. As long as everyone involved is happy with that exchange of "value", then it is all good, right?
Here is where it gets into that sticky area that some people seem to have issues with- myself included until my heart convinced my brain to "get it" this weekend.
Why do we tip people? We do it because it's an accepted custom, but we also do it to show our appreciation for good service or for a job well done. It is completely acceptable to say to the server "thank you so much for looking after us this evening" and showing that appreciation in the form of a tip. It is an exchange of Value.
Next lets look at where people get their information from. They buy news papers, magazines, they order channels on their TV, they take courses, they buy books, they go to seminars.... It's a very acceptable thing to do. Society even encourages it!
All of these are exchanges of "value". Completely normal and socially acceptable.
I get it. I am completely on board with that.
Here is where my thinking pattern shattered this weekend. In the article I linked to above, I really struggled to put out a public request for donations.
This weekend I had a shattering of preconceptions and realized that even in my moving forward to ask for "help" and "donations" I was still working and thinking within societal programming. Like the proverbial Oliver Twist begging "Please sir, can I have some more?"
"Shame" for asking for "help"? "Guilt" that I needed "donations" to feed my family?
Yesterday and today I realized that this topic isn't about "giving", or "donations" or "helping"....
.... this is about exchanging Value. Suddenly I realized that it's not about asking for something and giving nothing in return or asking for a "handout". I AM giving something in return. I am giving my time and my energy and a whole lot of brain power.
With that thought came a crashing down of old paradigm programming. What I have to give, what I have to offer DOES have Value! Not everyone might like what I write or what I say, but many people Do- hence they return to my sites day after day, and connect with me by email, or in skype, or in the RTS forum.
If I wrote the type of articles that the main stream media likes to publish, they would pay me to write for them (and they have in the past- I've actually written several articles for different magazines, but that's neither here nor there), but I have chosen to write articles that don't fall into that category. Does that make them worth less? No it doesn't. Does it make my time and energy that I put into writing and researching worth less? No it doesn't.
In the instant that I realized this, I became aware of that insidious programming that has been placed upon us. That brainwashing that tells us that what we do only has value if "they" say it does, that we have to play by the rules of their game in order to survive or to move forward. Control. When it comes to any form of media, you only have value if you play by their rules. If you don't, then you are just some person with a worthless blog who's asking for donations to pay for your rent because you're too "lazy" to get a "real job".
I have a real job. Writing and communicating and researching is my job. Since starting up Transpicuous News and resurrecting one of my older sites, Informed Parenting, I am now on my laptop usually 10 hours a day, and on days when a major story is breaking, it sometimes jumps to 18 hours. I don't have an employer nor do I get a salary or benefits. I DO this job because it's my passion and I am driven to do it. This is the same for many many other writers out there, many other people who have websites geared to bringing people information, no matter what the topic.
What we do has Value.
It is time to change the way we look at "value" and the way we look at exchanging value. So I ask you to please consider what Oliver and I have written here today, and I ask you to think about the Value that has been offered and what it means to you. What many people do not realize is that if each person was to contribute a tiny bit of value in exchange for the information they receive online, they would make a huge difference.
....if even half of RTS's daily readers were to "donate" (we really do need to change that word) $.50 cents a month, that would be enough to cover the food and shelter that we currently have to pay for in monetary currency for my family. $.50 cents a month. If even half of the daily readers of RTS were to put aside $5 a month, that would be enough to support 10 different bloggers from sites that they enjoy reading. That would be 10 people who could stop worrying about food and rent and could focus their work even more. If each person was to give even a dollar a month to 5 different bloggers, this would make a huge change for hundreds of people like me who are sharing their time and energy and knowledge with the world.
A value exchange, regardless of what form that exchange is in, is value for value. If you feel that you have received value from my writings, then I would like to ask you to exchange value with me. In doing so, then I can exchange value with others that I feel that I have gained value from, and they in turn can exchange value with others that they have gained value from as well, breaking down the walls of the old media paradigm.
The NEW Media, is supported by the people, for the people, and through the people. People exchanging knowledge and energy and value without controllers or lobbyists, or committees or bureaucratic bull. Simple yet extraordinary.
I have come a long way on my own personal journey to "getting it" and to learning about my own internal issues. I talked about a small part of that HERE, and yet, I realized today that even that was a skewed perspective.
This topic is treated as taboo by many many people and brushed under the carpet by many more. There are a some people that are going to not like what I want to say and who might disagree with me, but I ask you to really read this article with your heart and your consciousness, not with the brain that has been programmed by society.
For many many months now we've discussed our "Value" and talked about exchanging value: what it would look like, what it is, when it happens, why it works etc...
Our "Value" is our energy and it comes in many many forms. Sometimes it is the physical energy of creating something, of fixing or making something. Sometimes it is the energetic exchange of healing, or nurturing or helping someone. Sometimes it is mental energy of exchanging ideas, or teaching. Whatever form it takes, All that we DO is part of our Value, and all that we DO together is exchanging our Value with each other.
Exchanging "value" can take on a myriad of forms and can morph between the physical, mental, energetic, material, financial, or even musical forms. As long as everyone involved is happy with that exchange of "value", then it is all good, right?
Here is where it gets into that sticky area that some people seem to have issues with- myself included until my heart convinced my brain to "get it" this weekend.
Why do we tip people? We do it because it's an accepted custom, but we also do it to show our appreciation for good service or for a job well done. It is completely acceptable to say to the server "thank you so much for looking after us this evening" and showing that appreciation in the form of a tip. It is an exchange of Value.
Next lets look at where people get their information from. They buy news papers, magazines, they order channels on their TV, they take courses, they buy books, they go to seminars.... It's a very acceptable thing to do. Society even encourages it!
All of these are exchanges of "value". Completely normal and socially acceptable.
I get it. I am completely on board with that.
Here is where my thinking pattern shattered this weekend. In the article I linked to above, I really struggled to put out a public request for donations.
"I have my own personal journey issues that I am working on, just as everyone else is. One of my issues is "asking for help". I have a tendency to try to do everything myself and asking for help with anything makes me..... uncomfortable"It really did make me uncomfortable to ask for "help" and "donations"
This weekend I had a shattering of preconceptions and realized that even in my moving forward to ask for "help" and "donations" I was still working and thinking within societal programming. Like the proverbial Oliver Twist begging "Please sir, can I have some more?"
"Shame" for asking for "help"? "Guilt" that I needed "donations" to feed my family?
Yesterday and today I realized that this topic isn't about "giving", or "donations" or "helping"....
.... this is about exchanging Value. Suddenly I realized that it's not about asking for something and giving nothing in return or asking for a "handout". I AM giving something in return. I am giving my time and my energy and a whole lot of brain power.
With that thought came a crashing down of old paradigm programming. What I have to give, what I have to offer DOES have Value! Not everyone might like what I write or what I say, but many people Do- hence they return to my sites day after day, and connect with me by email, or in skype, or in the RTS forum.
If I wrote the type of articles that the main stream media likes to publish, they would pay me to write for them (and they have in the past- I've actually written several articles for different magazines, but that's neither here nor there), but I have chosen to write articles that don't fall into that category. Does that make them worth less? No it doesn't. Does it make my time and energy that I put into writing and researching worth less? No it doesn't.
In the instant that I realized this, I became aware of that insidious programming that has been placed upon us. That brainwashing that tells us that what we do only has value if "they" say it does, that we have to play by the rules of their game in order to survive or to move forward. Control. When it comes to any form of media, you only have value if you play by their rules. If you don't, then you are just some person with a worthless blog who's asking for donations to pay for your rent because you're too "lazy" to get a "real job".
I have a real job. Writing and communicating and researching is my job. Since starting up Transpicuous News and resurrecting one of my older sites, Informed Parenting, I am now on my laptop usually 10 hours a day, and on days when a major story is breaking, it sometimes jumps to 18 hours. I don't have an employer nor do I get a salary or benefits. I DO this job because it's my passion and I am driven to do it. This is the same for many many other writers out there, many other people who have websites geared to bringing people information, no matter what the topic.
What we do has Value.
It is time to change the way we look at "value" and the way we look at exchanging value. So I ask you to please consider what Oliver and I have written here today, and I ask you to think about the Value that has been offered and what it means to you. What many people do not realize is that if each person was to contribute a tiny bit of value in exchange for the information they receive online, they would make a huge difference.
....if even half of RTS's daily readers were to "donate" (we really do need to change that word) $.50 cents a month, that would be enough to cover the food and shelter that we currently have to pay for in monetary currency for my family. $.50 cents a month. If even half of the daily readers of RTS were to put aside $5 a month, that would be enough to support 10 different bloggers from sites that they enjoy reading. That would be 10 people who could stop worrying about food and rent and could focus their work even more. If each person was to give even a dollar a month to 5 different bloggers, this would make a huge change for hundreds of people like me who are sharing their time and energy and knowledge with the world.
A value exchange, regardless of what form that exchange is in, is value for value. If you feel that you have received value from my writings, then I would like to ask you to exchange value with me. In doing so, then I can exchange value with others that I feel that I have gained value from, and they in turn can exchange value with others that they have gained value from as well, breaking down the walls of the old media paradigm.
The NEW Media, is supported by the people, for the people, and through the people. People exchanging knowledge and energy and value without controllers or lobbyists, or committees or bureaucratic bull. Simple yet extraordinary.
Different ways of paying attention and exchanging energy!
How come we have different ways of paying attention and exchanging energy? If we buy something there is hardly ever an argument about paying for it no matter if it's gods or services.
When we see beggars on the street next to a H & M store the itch begins, "They are probably exploited by a gangs so they don't get the money anyway so I don't want be a part of that meaning I don't give anything. "
If there is a musician or performer of some sort with a hat collecting money the above thoughts from seeing the beggars do not pop up as often? Why?
We read the news daily online but how often do we pay for them? (Yes, I know the news we get can't be considered being of high quality at least not when talking about MSM but anyway.)
We pay for TV, Cable, Internet, subscribe to channels and what not so why not bloggers in general?
There are lot's of bloggers out there but not that many are making ends meet. Those who are getting a long have a huge reader basis and or are tied to corporations who want's them to advertise their products. Doing research and posting articles and others articles is actually also work but it's still not recognized. A friend of mine who has been putting out tons of info via his blog site could not continue and often got e-mails telling him to get a "real" job.
Yes, the new paradigm is upon us but we need actually to make the changes our selves as said numerous times, I think. This means that we as a collective need to change our behavior when it comes to working together and helping each other.
Take a blog site that has 10000 -> page views per month and were at least half of the readers donate 1 EURO per month instead of a couple of large donors putting in larger amounts as an exchange of energy. Doesn't this sound very very easy and fair? I'm not saying that one should give 1 EURO or .50 EURO to every blog site a month you read but say that you would do it for 3-5 sites now that would make a huge impact.
Just the word donate has a bit of odd sound to it cause it's so heavily linked to organ donations in the pharmaceutical industry were people give away their organs. Is this one of the reasons why we are so reluctant of "donating"?
We will probably still use the representation of value in form of money for awhile, I'm strongly convinced though that one of the first step to move into the new paradigm is to be more conscious about how we use the money than money it self being present in our reality - it will disappear in due time when we are ready for it which might be sooner than later though.
Check out this below video with Amanda Palmer from TED-talk who outlines it perfectly when she talks about "The art of asking" she is a performer and musician.
OT
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