Our NeighbourGood (ON): Co-Creating Societies Designed for the 21st Century and Beyond! (September 2017 Update)
Where Are We Going?
There are a few questions, the most important questions we as a society could ever ask, but have been failing to ask...
Simply:
- Where as a society are we headed?
- What is it we would like to accomplish?
Our culture at large has been aimlessly drifting along 'developing' for developments sake.
Where are we headed? What is our goal as a society? There is no consistent answer, there is no precise image. We at Our NeighbourGood seek to remedy this absence through creating an image of a beautiful future.
Let's ask some basic question:
What is the Ideal Society We Want to Live in?
Our NeighbourGood is a design for a new society, we'd like to share it with you here. This article is an introduction to our thoughts, goals, and desires. It's a handshake greeting to those who wish to embark on this journey with us. It has taken years researching, exploring and learning about these concepts to bring them to you here. It's been challenging attempting to condense such a large scope of an idea into a a simple message; so, if you feel something needs further explanation, I encourage you to discuss it with me in the comments below.
Do you feel like something about society is not quite right?
How much more powerful is it to do something as a group, having multiple hands, eyes, perspectives, and ideas opposed to going it alone?
Imagine you were living in a system where meeting your needs, in turn, helped others meet theirs; which in turn helped you meet yours better! Take Steemit for example, when we work together, we all succeed whereas acting singularly can prove a much more daunting task.
We believe our society has drifted far off that simple course of working together to meet our needs; today we have created a mirage of excessively meeting the needs of a few while unequivocally under-meeting the needs of all of us! We can do better. We must do better!
A Wealthier Society: Let's Talk About More Than Money
Our societies apply disproportionate value on one type of capital (financial). When 'financial advisers' preach to "diversify our portfolio" they rarely (if ever) diversify outside 1 form of capital. They are financial advisors after-all. A financial portfolio is not a truly diversified portfolio, and gets us no closer to security and happiness regardless of the number! As we see in the Secret Fears of The Super Rich, money doesn't bring security nor happiness. I suggest this is because financial wealth isn't security.
10 Forms Of Capital
| Capital | Currency | Utility |
|---|---|---|
| Experiential (E) | Action | Embodied Experience, Wisdom, etc |
| Intellectual (I) | Knowledge | Ideas, Focus, Problem Solving, Skills, etc |
| Spiritual (Sp) | Intention, Faith, Focus, Karma, etc | Grounding, Balance, Attitude, Passion, Love, etc |
| Social (S) | Influence | Connections, Family, Relationships, etc |
| Material (M) | Physical Resources | Tools, Equipment, etc |
| Financial (F) | Fiat-money, Our NeighbourGood Coin, Cryptocurrency, Gold, etc | Mediums of Exchange |
| Living (L) | Living Resources | Soil, Plants, Water, Animals, Air, etc |
| Cultural (C) | Song, Story, Ritual, Ceremony, etc | Community |
| Health/Erotic (H) | Energy, Arousal | Motivation, Vitality, Endurance, Attention, Beauty, Strength, Sex, etc |
| Time (T) | Attention | Our Life! |
The chart above draws attention to the many forms of capital and value available to us today. Expanding our diversity of capital flows and focus we can become truly wealthy!
In our society, if magical little bits in a computer (money) disappeared overnight, people would literally starve. What type of security is that? All we have are these numbers in a bank account (or crypto-wallet), what if they all turned to zero?
If you invest in financial capital for security- ask yourself:
What is a more secure food source? Using money (any form) to buy food picked from halfway across the globe and shipped to your local supermarket using global distribution channels, or picking fresh produce straight from a collaboratively owned food forest in your own backyard? (Also, the health benefits of hyperlocal food is unmatched.)
Cryto-currency and the blockchain, are more secure methods to decentralize our currency and aspects of our economy (this is a powerful avenue, and one that we're fully invested in and have designed a currency for ON, ONC. However, this still leaves us vulnerable and dependent on a dominant (globally destructive) economy to meet our basic needs. If the economy were to collapse, food distribution channels would be heavily disrupted and people would starve (even more so than is already occurring!) A global economy for meeting consumable needs is an atrocious waste that wreaks havoc across our world. (This is the reason for depleted fisheries, decimated rainforest's, polluted air, soil, and water, etc.)
The promise of Crypto-currency and the blockchain is decentralization of our economy. But why stop there? What I propose is we bring these new realizations to radically decentralize the meeting of all our needs.
Our culture's technology and wealth of knowledge have provided us with affordable and effective systems and tools for meeting all of our basic needs in a decentralized, local ecology and community that would be virtually unaffected by global market disruption. Many of these technologies are ecologically sustainable or regenerative. Thus reversing and mitigating our effects on our climate and creating a more beautiful paradise to live in!
Evolving to Better Meet Our Needs
Over the previous centuries since our last massive restructuring of a dominant society- a lot has changed. We've grown a lot, we've learned a lot, we've built a lot! We've accomplished some incredible feats. But now, it is time to take what we have learned and build a new paradigm. A new society where we can better meet our needs and the needs of our earth (ecology)!
What do I mean by needs?
I'm not merely discussing our physiological needs, (food, shelter, water, warmth, rest, etc) I'm speaking of much more. Many of our needs have been unmet for so long we hardly recognize them as needs anymore.
A List of My Needs
| Need | Expression |
|---|---|
| Diversity | Variety, Adventure, Challenge, Surprise, etc |
| Significance | Self - Expression, Meaning, Validation, Feeling Needed, Purpose, Wanted, etc |
| Love | Connection, Communication, Intimacy, Interdependence, Community, etc |
| Growth | Physical, Emotional, Intellectual and Spiritual Development |
| Contribution | Effectiveness, To Give, Care, and Serve an Idea Greater Than Myself |
| Routine | Consistency, Stability, Grounding, etc |
| Physical Health | Clean Air, Organic Food, Fresh Untainted Water, Exercise, Sexual Expression, Natural Shelter |
| Autonomy | Freedom, Space, Independence, etc |
| Play | Joy, Humor, Passion, Creativity etc |
| Honesty | Authenticity, Integrity, Presence |
| Bliss | Celebration, Nothingness, Relaxation |
If you study the needs I have addressed above and compare them with what your needs are. You may realize that many of these needs can't be purchased, and the pursuit of money as a primary route of meeting our needs is inherently futile.
Money is Fragile
Making money as a medium to meeting our needs, is a fragile and insecure method that inevitably falls short of truly meeting our needs; as many of our needs can't be bought!
Most organizations focus on making money (primarily by participating in the economy) and do not focus on meeting the needs of its employees. As it seems, corporations often fail to acknowledge most needs and forms of capital, giving disproportionate concern for financial capital and little to no consideration about its employees' needs (except what is necessary to keep employees 'productive'). This narrow 'economy-centric' objective has created a society where most people's needs go unmet and have been virtually transformed into robots and cogs in a vast economic machine.
We live in a world where progress is quantified by GDP (Gross Domestic Product, a measurement of a countries productivity). We at ON foresee a near future where falling GDP signifies progress, as we meet our needs outside the money economy!
Decentralizing Our Needs
If you're reading this I imagine you are well aware of some of the 'alternative' technologies, discoveries, governance structures, tools and techniques that work so well in the fringes of our society; but lack mass adoption due to power dynamics. The Internet has decentralized some informational power structures and has allowed many of these discoveries to surface and circulate.
A partial list by Charles Eisenstein:
"Technologies of Reunion include material technologies, social technologies, and also non-material technologies based on a different understanding of what is real. A partial list might include: mycoremediation of toxic waste; composting toilets and graywater blackwater recycling systems; herbal medicine; therapies using psychotropic plants; earth building techniques; sacred architecture; sound healing; hypnosis and mind/matter techniques; nonviolent communication; compassionate listening; sociocracy, holocracy and other group decision-making methods; council processes; gift economics; restorative circles; family constellation work; tantric sexual practices; communication with other-than-human beings; nonviolent methods of political direct action; implosion motors; over-unity energy devices; worker-owned cooperatives and other forms of economic cooperation; biodynamic agriculture; silvopasture; perennial-based horticulture; wetlands restoration; Montessori and Waldorf education; technologies of voice, dance, and mask; the use of trance and dream states…" -Charles Eisenstein
We now have enough pieces necessary to create a more beautiful society.
We know it in our hearts that we can live a more beautiful life. We know that most of what we do today, we don't have to be doing, occasionally we may catch ourselves day-dreaming away from the monotony, thinking. It doesn't have to be this way, it could be so much more beautiful. Our culture has so masterfully taught us to suppress these thoughts, to say to ourselves "that's just the way things are"...
Just as everything in life, the truth is, "that's just the way things were!"
A More Beautiful Way
It's overwhelming to attempt to understand or restructure entire societies, even talking about it is enough to paralyze someone from taking action. For this reason, we address meeting our needs beginning with the most basic elements of society, our families, our businesses and our neighborhoods(communities).
Between these 3 we devote the majority of our active time; we seek to build our own systems of voluntary collaboration where 100% of that time goes towards meeting our needs, and doing so as beautifully, and effectively as our new understandings allow. This is where we'll start to affect change!
Our Families
Our families and personal paradises are the central element in which ON aims to create. A family dwelling where the majority of our needs are met with our closest loved ones! A family domain consisting of approximately 1 hectare (~2 acres) of paradise gardens supplying the majority of our food, love, beauty, water, air, inspiration and divine connection. A place to be whole and at one with the beauty of our world. A paradise garden created by your hands and the hands of your loved ones and the community you are a part of. A place where the plants and animals are familiar with you, recognize you and grow fruit designed specifically for you! A peace of paradise where our hearts and our minds are at ease and in their creative maximum.
Our Businesses
Our business will be the business of life, of promoting more life, and creating more beautiful lives! ON will act as an incubator for like-hearted people to mingle and create personal economic ventures if they so desire. There will be a plethora of opportunity to pair with ON, and leverage the collective capital for personal ventures. The wealth of the entire organization (which includes the individual) is a prime directive of ON through supporting individual creativity and passion.
Our NeighbourGood
Just as a healthy forest contains an abundant variety of life, symbiotically creating needs, sharing gifts, and utilizing the 'waste'/abundance of others, a healthy 'NeighbourGood' consists of a wide variety of people, with various passions and enterprise models that will synergistically support the whole! Our NeighbourGood (ON) integrates chosen aspects of sustainable-homesteads, co-ops, and eco-villages with progressive technologies, designs, and systems!
Shared ethics and vision is what unites people to create ON's. These ethics will be as diverse as the possibilities of people willing to connect are! The first ON is partnered with The HEART Collaborative (THC ) and will have a shared purpose (for some) to facilitate THC as a collaborative enterprise. This ON will adhere to the ethics laid out by THC.
What
"Though the problems of the world are increasingly complex, the solutions remain embarrassingly simple." -
Bill Mollison
An Our NeighbourGood is a registered co-op (or similar) in the country of its incorporation. It is a separate entity that is equally owned and operated by its Neighbours (members).
ON is not labeled as a fully self-sustainable community (though some may chose to have this as an aim). ON is not a commune. ON is a hybrid model designed to transition people out of our current paradigm. ON's aim to provide a substantial amount of our needs while requiring minimal time input and capital requirements. Allowing its' Neighbours to continue employment and interaction with the old paradigm if they desire; while also providing a community and environment that will allow Neighbours to thrive entirely independent of the previous systems.
ON will create/provide by/for its Neighbours:
- Land to steward and to build personal housing.
- Potential ON dividends.
- Commons to reduce overhead for high-quality of life.
- A regenerative ecological footprint.
- Growing equity. (Your share in ON will become more valuable as ON matures)
- A society and shared purpose (community/organization/passion).
- Radical affordability.
- Radical transparency.
- Relationships with people striving for similar goals.
- Guidance, design, and possible labour for ecological focused housing (financing for housing is personal).
- 90%-100% utilities. (Combined between personal housing and ON's production.)
- 50%-100% required nutrient/vitality/medicinal-dense food. (Combined between personal gardens/forests and ON's food systems.)
Our NeighbourGood, as an organization, consists of 2 main components. I'll use the analogy of hardware and software.
Hardware
Land-base:
Our NeighbourGood consists of a physical area of land where each Neighbour owns an identical share of ON and is allocated land to steward. This land is wholly owned by the steward as represented in a lien against ON for that land. If ON were to dissolve the land would become fully owned by the Neighbour. Depending on the environment (rural, suburban, urban) ON's will typically commit 33-66% of the land for family or singles' housing/homesteads. The other 34-67% of the land will be held in commons by the NeighbourGood and made accessible to all Neighbours. The allocation of land will depend on environment and shared purpose. This land will consist of the community centers, community food production systems, beautifully stewarded native lands, community enterprises, and the Transition Facilitation Center (a environment ran by THC for facilitating the transition for people into various ON's, this will be part of the first ON).
Collaborative ownership reduces the financial burden on any 1 Neighbour, as land is more economical at scale. Collaboratively owning a piece of land extends our sense-of-self to encompass more than our personal dwellings to envelop the whole community.
Shares in ON act as a "title" for land. If you want to transfer your dwelling as you would in the old paradigm you sell your shares exactly as you would land (a lien is held against the original title to secure this.) In this case there is a lot more value to be had in those shares opposed to simply a house and land, there is ownership of the collaborative assets of the whole community. However, there may be little desire to sell these shares as each domain will be a tailor made paradise for the steward/Neighbour.
Food Forests / Intensive Gardens / Aquaculture / Silvopasture Stewardship:
These methods are high yielding food production systems created for/by THC, participants, and Our NeighbourGood! The food created here will serve to lower operating costs for collaborators of THC and living expenses for the Neighbours of ON. These methods aim to provide 90% of the food necessary for THC and ON. Gardeners (outside help, if required) may receive various forms of capital (including financial) compensation for managing these systems.
Community Center and Material Library
Creating access to The Millionaire Lifestyle will be through the creation of a community center and material library. This centrally located beautifully created natural building will be fully equipped with the highest quality materials (made feasible by the economies of scale with collaboration). A community center may contain a:
- commercial sized, high-quality kitchen.
- natural swimming pool.
- theater/VR/recreation room.
- gym/fitness area.
- shared library with unlimited Internet access.
- ideation and design lab.
- collaborative 'home-school' space.
- etc.
And many more materials commonly found in millionaire mansions (where tragically items go unused for 99% of the time).
Not only does this drastically increase our personal access to goods, this model increases the quality of items, reduces waste and promotes social interaction and community.
Material Library
A Material Library within the community center will provide access to most things that have a high-overhead cost and low time use. The majority of our materials that we buy today, we use but for a fraction of the time they are capable of being used.
Example:
Say I wanted access to a $3000 camera for occasional pictures. 99% of the time my camera goes unused. I could have collaboratively bought this camera and received the same utility for a fraction of the cost! Further, since it's only a fraction of the cost we may agree to buy a $5000 camera instead (if there were 15 Neighbors I would pay $333 opposed to $3000 and have access to a better quality camera!)
ON's only own assets that its' Neighbours wish to collaboratively own. This is accomplished with simple, streamlined governance and decision-making processes. Further, ON's are a system of rules and structures (agreed upon by all members) that organize the neighbors around the common purpose of better meeting the needs of the whole. This is the 'software' component of ON and is a major aspect of the new society.
Commons Without The Tragedy:
You may have heard of the tragedy of the commons:
"The tragedy of the commons is an economic theory of a situation within a shared-resource system where individual users acting independently according to their own self-interest behave contrary to the common good of all users by depleting or spoiling that resource through their action."
We avoid this tragedy by expanding what constitutes one's 'self interest' to include Our NeighbourGood (through direct ownership), further we avoid this issue by removing 'independence' from communal resources. We are interdependent actors within our system, not independent actors.
Example, say a Neighbour (Amy) wanted to use the communal gym to teach yoga classes for a personal enterprise. She would bring a proposal to the other Neighbours and through a well defined decision making process the Neighbours establish a proposal that works for the best interests of all.
The end result may be she offers 15% (opposed to 35%+ typical gyms require) of her earnings (a form of rent) to Our NeighbourGood (which she collectively owns) for use of the gym space. This money is used for purposes defined by the Neighbours. She benefits on the front end from a reduced rent and benefits on the back-end by having all her money stay within the system that she collectively owns and that is dedicated to increasing her quality of life!
A goal of ON's economic system is to retain as much value within the system as possible by reducing outputs (Amy paying rent to an outside gym).
(On a larger scale an ON may adopt a demurrage-based cryptocurrency for interactions within ON. With a taxable exchange to other crypto or fiat to promote inter-ON economics. see ONC and Why you want a currency that is taxed
Neighborhood of Natural Homes
Naturally Built Intentional Homes will give Neighbours a higher quality of life with heavily reduced maintenance/utility bills. Homes are built using personal funds on land provided by ON.These homes:
- Catch, clean and recycle rainwater.
- Create energy demands for the home.
- Grow food.
- Are optimally designed and built to maintain inside temperature with minimum heating and cooling.
- Recycle human waste generating natural gas as a byproduct (this gas can be used in the kitchen for burning).
- Are built with non-toxic materials.
- Are earthquake and fire resistant.
- Are potentially carbon neutral.
- Are radically affordable and can scale to most any budget!
- Are the most beautiful homes I have ever seen!
Our aim is to have our homes meet 30%-99% (depending on desire) of our basic needs of food, water, energy, and shelter. (With a goal for the remaining 1%-70% to be met with communal resources.)
Further, some of these homes will be built by the hands of our Neighbours and participants of THC, adding story, love and another depth of beauty and relationship not found in our homes today.
)Software
This is where the real magic happens! How do we optimally organize and relate to each other, our natural world, and our technologies to better meet our needs?
There have been several facscinating appraches to this question lately:
- Holacracy
- Sociocracy
- Deliberately Developmental Organization
- Non-Violent Communication
- Autonomous Accountability: Automatic systems that ensure accountability and create balance.
"Holacracy explores a new tier of organization and culture only recently available to us, and so it is a new practice, one still emerging, and one which takes us into territory still largely unexplored. Fortunately, those organizations practicing Holacracy now have begun to map some of the contours of this new territory, and there is much we can say. It is about living and working together in the fullest possible way, and evolving the organizations and cultures we exist within to the next step along their natural evolutionary journey. It is about embracing everything we've learned so far about human organization and culture, and at the same time seeking to fundamentally transcend all aspects of our current organizational and cultural norms. It is about regrouping around a profoundly deeper level of meaning and capability, so that we can more artfully navigate the increasing complexity and uncertainty in today's world, while more fully finding and expressing our own highest potential. Holacracy is about relating and organizing in ways that enable and sustain this quantum leap – a shift to a new level of organization and culture as fundamental as the leap from the feudal systems of old to the democracies of today." Brian J Robertson (founder holocracy)
Discussing in depth the processes of these schools of thought, and the structure we have developed is outside the scope of this introduction and is addressed at length in the 'ON Governance Practice a Deliberately Developmental Society'
ON will begin with an amalgamation of these approaches. As we practice several methods we'll grow more adept at discerning what are effective methods of interacting and what are not (which will vary per ON but allow cross pollination between ON's). This is why we are called 'deliberately developmental' as we are deliberate in developing new and more beautiful methods of inter-being.
This process is a collaborative open-source endeavor as each ON practices these skills they share with other ON's and this information is open to the public where they can contribute to the process! This is where we incubate and design societies for the new world!
What excited us most about ON is the environment that ON facilitates and the culture this promotes. A culture of dissolved limitations, radical truth, affordability, and transparency. A culture of efficient and beautiful needs creation which realizes the inherent beauty and value in our natural world. A place where our Neighbours are our tribe and help us realize a new world by taking action to create it. A society of abundance where no-one is worried about meeting their needs, or survival. A society unbound by time, where people are free to interact, engage, and create in the moment at the peak of inspiration. A society that promotes deep listening and authentic relationships, that are not based on economic gain, but on the desire to create a more beautiful world. A place where we don't have to worry if someone is trying to 'cheat' us as there is no longer a motive to do so.
The HEART Collaborative (THC), in conjunction with ON will focus on facilitating the internal transformation to rid us of our old programming and prepare us for a new society!
ON is an experimental culture, full of Neighbours willing to be part of this experiment. We will be in the process of living the change and creating alternative societies that will replace our present paradigm while transforming ours.
How
A group of people (A - I) get together to create an Our NeighbourGood. This particular group wants this to take place in a suburban context and fortunately one of the potential members own land. They determine this land can support 15 households with communal land comprising the majority. There are 9 now which leaves room for 6 more shares. Various prices exist for family and single dwellings, but for the sake of this example, everyone is single. They reason that 510K USD will be adequate to build all community infrastructure they need.
Since the process is open-source any group of people can follow our process laid out online!
Or as a group they apply to attend an ON facilitation process at THC (The HEART Collaborative), which is focused on helping individuals prepare themselves for this type of organization and living, while helping the group establish community and structure while demonstrating ON. THC is an ON enterprise built to incubate ON's. THC also pairs individuals and groups based on profiles, interviews, and capital offerings to create potential ON Neighbour pairings. Those who successfully completed the Transition Facilitation Center processes will go on to establish ON's
The first thing any ON does is establish meaning.
- Will they have a central enterprise they will run?
- What are their defining ethics?
- What are they aiming to accomplish?
Then we move into setting up Initial capital.
Collaborative Capital Exchange Contracts (CCEC): These are agreements drafted up by members of the existing ON and a potential new member. This allows and promotes people with a diversity of capital to come into the organization and have an equal stake. This process better places value on whole people, not just bits in a bank. This allows Our NeighbourGood to add members who best add value to the culture.
Example, 9 people form an ON. I will give some simple examples of CCEC's. These are done dynamically and on a case by case basis with each ON needing and receiving diverse capital.
Example Collaborative Capital Exchange Contracts (CCEC)
Our NeighbourGood Members CCEC:
Ex (T) = Time Capital (see capital chart above)
Hrs/Wk = Hours a Week
Communal Time Exchange (CTE): CTE's will vary based on ON's needs and is determined voluntarily by all Neighbours in order to meet the needs of ON, some may have no time commitment others may have more, but it is only through voluntary agreements that these commitments are made. The tasks performed during these exchanges vary widely. This diversity keeps these efforts fun, interesting, intrinsically-rewarding and dynamic. Some examples include growing food, creating buildings, maintaining communal spaces, advancing communal owned enterprise, knowledge sharing, etc.
Example Our NeighbourGood CCEC
| Name | Upfront Capital | Recurring Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| A........ | 150K USD (F) | 90 USD/Wk (F) / CTE 3 Hrs/Wk (T) |
| B........ | 20 BTC (50K USD) (F) / Expansive Seed Bank (L) / Communal Permaculturist 15 hrs/week for 222 weeks* (Valued 30 USD/h) (T, E, I) | Communal Permaculturist 5 Hrs/Wk (T, E, I) / CTE 3 Hrs/Wk (T) |
| C........ | 10 Hectares Land (M) / 50 Fruiting Trees and River (L) | Build Social Connections with Local Government and Community 2 Hrs/Wk (S, T, E) / CTE 6 Hrs/Wk (T) |
| D........ | 130k USD (F) / Our NeighbourGood Legal Documents | CTE 8 Hrs/Wk |
| E........ | 80K USD (F) / Communal Professional Yoga Instruction 7 hrs/Wk for 250 weeks* (Valued 40 USD/h)(T, E, I) | CTE 8 Hrs/Wk (T) |
| F........ | 50K USD of Homesteading Equipment (M) / 100K USD (F) | Community Facilitator 2 Hrs/wk (S, I, T) / Community Dynamics Knowledge Share 2 Hrs/Wk (E, I, T) / CTE 4 Hrs/Wk |
| G........ | 20K USD Building Equipment (M) / 20K USD (F) / Communal Natural Builder and Architect 20 hrs/week for 184 weeks* (valued 30USD/h) (T, E, I) | Communal Natural Building and Maintenance 8 Hrs/Wk |
| H........ | 10K Medical Equipment (M) 100K USD (F) Community Naturopath 4 Hrs/Wk for 167 weeks (Valued 80 USD/h) | Community Naturopath 2 Hrs/Wk / CTE 6 Hrs/Wk |
| I........ | 20K Various Food Production Systems (M) / 10k USD (F) Passionate Horticulturist 20 Hrs/Wk for 200 weeks (Valued 30 USD/h) | Passionate Horticulturist 8 Hrs/Wk |
A Shared Vision
Each ON will have its own purpose (vision/mission/aim) driving its existence (some will have a central enterprise; such as hemp cultivation) to reflect a shared purpose of its Neighbours and to meet the needs of the local ecology. This means the diversity of ON's will reflect the diversity of our world's population, effectively designating every person as a potential Neighbour given the appropriate Neighbours and facilitation.
Effective communication can occur on a community platform (similar to slack) where proposals and discussion take place on most topics. This supersedes the need for physical meetings, allowing people to contribute information on their own schedule without dealing with power dynamics typically present in physical meetings. Physical meetings discussing ON will be seldom, as we would like to reserve our physical gatherings for connecting, celebrating and personal development! This forum is designed utilizing the philosophies and discoveries laid out in the aforementioned schools of thought (holocracy / sociocracy / non-violent communication / deliberately developmental organizations). This structure, will make it easy to understand the operation and role for each Neighbour. This eliminates much of the frustration found in similar cohousing and intentional-community systems.
Once established each ON determines parameters for collaboration and creates proposals and visions they would like to accomplish.
The first ON will have a collaborative enterprise (THC) that it supports. Many Neighbours of the first ON may not be involved with THC in any capacity and may have their own enterprises. The Aim of the first ON is:
- beautifully meet our needs!
- to provide an environment of abundance to promote and encourage creativity in our Neighbours.
- to holistically integrate ecological, economic, social, and cultural dimensions to regenerate social and natural environments.
- to explore, research, trial and build a new social structure.
- to intentionally design a culture, with our own song, ceremony, ritual, and art.
- to acquire skills that will help our world transition and develop useful and valued tools for a transformed world.
- to deprogram from conventional society and have a sanctuary in which to develop a passion and calling.
- to bond with a cohort who share a common vision of what the world can be.
- to test, incubate, and develop technologies to prepare them for wider application.
'Concentration-of-Wealth'
A concentration of wealth is generally considered an issue (it is if it's concentrating into the hands of a few at the expense of the many). However, concentrating the wealth of a society that equally benefits its members and global community has the potential to transform our world!
Our dominate society sees dispassionate jobs harnessing the whole of our (time/experience/intellectual/social) capital, the entertainment industry monopolizing our (cultural/spiritual/time) capital and banks(through mortgages/credit)/non-local organizations receiving the largest share of our financial capital. We seek to divert those capital flows into one organization, Our NeighbourGood, that we own- along with our community. We raise our collective quality of life through meeting our needs in our co-created NeighbourGood, focusing our capital streams and tapping into the abundance provided by nature, (living capital) through this we become the wealthiest (in all forms of capital) communities/organizations/ecologies, attracting others to join/create and assisting in supplanting the dominant culture.
Societies of the Future
Neighbours collaborating in Our NeighbourGood will enjoy more leisure and a higher quality of life than is typically found in our dominant society as we finally reap the rewards our technology has promised. With this increased leisure we'll be able to pursue our passions, which in turn will create more beauty in the world and possible avenues of capital creation for ourselves and Our NeighbourGood. With Our NeighbourGood we provide Neighbours with more abundance, the healthiest food, pure water, meaningful relationships, waste-less habits, economic security, and passion-driven lifestyles! What's best, is that we fully embody inter-being by collaboratively owning the whole NeighbourGood! This means, that as the commons grow more valuable, our personal value increases. This will ensure that our commons are well stewarded, as they have now become a more integrated part of our being and providing us a paradise to live in.
Imagine living in a society where all of your Neighbours were dedicated to improving your community, focusing their time on making the world a more beautiful place. Imagine if all your Neighbours had the same vision as you (though diverse in the approach), were readily eager to collaborate with you, as your success is directly related to their success! Imagine having the time to collaborate with these people regularly as we all played together at making a more beautiful world! Imagine a society where we had enough 'free time' to do the activities we truly love!
Imagine your community was dedicated to being the best community it could be. Imagine if this community constantly supported each other to become the best people they could be!
Many Minds are hard-pressed to conceive of the beauty and wonder a life like this would entail, and since they can't conceive it they tell us it is not possible...
Our NeighbourGood
A semi-Autonomous, Deliberately Developmental, Open-Source Society, and Holistic Cooperative
What's in a name:
- A Semi-Autonomous: Systems and structures that automatically managed certain aspects of ON.
ex: If one member did not contribute their agreed upon CTE, a process can automatically reduce their share of the organization to equitably reflect this imbalance. Thus removing any need for a Neighbour to take an enforcing role, as they system enforces it's own rules and maintains homeostasis. - Deliberately Developmental: Our ethos that we are deliberate in developing ourselves and Our NeighbourGood and have designed our system to accommodate this growth.
- Open-Source Society: We will share all our knowledge and understandings with other ON's and the world as we co-create a new paradigm.
- Holistic Cooperative: HEART-centric ethics.
- (H)olism
- (E)cocentrism
- (A)lturism
- (R)egenerative
- (T)ransfomative
This is an open-source project. If this interests you and you would like to get involved, please share your ideas! Let's create the next evolution of human societies!
I will be releasing blog posts on Steem related to various benefits, economic models and governance structures associated with Our NeighbourGood. Feedback through this process will help to refine the details and is greatly appreciated!
I believe that people are inherently beautiful and kind. I believe that people only act contradictory to this based on their environment and the degree in which their needs are being met. I believe that if we can build a society where everyone's needs are equally met, we will be living in a world of love that is difficult to comprehend. I want this world. I need this world. I need my kids to grow up in this world with other kids growing up in this world. Nearly every living being on this earth, needs humanity to create this world!
I'll leave you with a beautiful quote by Charles Eisenstein.
“The more beautiful world my heart knows is possible is a world with a lot more pleasure: a lot more touch, a lot more lovemaking, a lot more hugging, a lot more deep gazing into each other’s eyes, a lot more fresh-ground tortillas and just-harvested tomatoes still warm from the sun, a lot more singing, a lot more dancing, a lot more timelessness, a lot more beauty in the built environment, a lot more pristine views, a lot more water fresh from the spring. Have you ever tasted real water, springing from the earth after a twenty-year journey through the mountain? None of these pleasures is very far away.” ― Charles Eisenstein, The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible
Rieki
Word-Smithing New Societies
wow Rieki.. what an incredibly thorough proposition. You have obviouslly given this a massive amount of thought! What you propose is the plan for the Golden Age! This is of course the way to change the world for the better in 1000 ways.
Amazing post, thank you for being who you are!
As we share these possibilities and open each others eyes to how much better things can be.. we can achieve great things..
Thank you for the kind words Alex :) We will absolutely be building the golden age. That is our duty in this age, to prepare for our children a new society to be brought up in.
Absolutely, we are achieving great things even now as we think about the new culture and develop it further in our minds! All things that exist were once a thought, the better the thought is conceived the more potential it has of manifesting itself in reality! So, my aim is to fully conceive this idea, it has been over 5 years in the dreaming :)
Thank you for being you as well :)
This looks like there has been lots of work, thought and research that went into planning this. What a terrific solution for some people. I don't think that over 7 billion people can be dispersed at that kind of population density.
Safety is one of the basic human needs. I did not see that represented on your list. I wonder how such a model can incorporate individuals and families who have been traumatized, injured, or incapacitated in other ways. What do you do if couples have children with special needs or diseases that need medical treatment? It's like charter schools only accepting the brightest healthiest kids and leaving the public schools to deal with the rest of children. In Israel, there are plenty of people who left Kibbutz life because social pressure to conform became unbearable. The decision-making process is where it can fall apart and where some people who might consistently get outvoted suffer. To me it looks like an impossible dream, and potentially a living nightmare of social pressure. But if it worked long term? Wow, fantastic! Can I visit?
This post improve that people can always come to a compromise if egos are not too big and it would be amazing to build communities that raise each other, are self sustainable, etc. I love the idea of people being in harmony with each other.
This is a very long article which I haven't had time to read through in detail, but seems so full of good ideas that I'm resteeming it for my own reference to read through later. I'm glad to know that there are people like you who are giving such serious consideration to shaping visions and ideals for the world of the future. We already have all the solutions to the world's problems at our fingertips - it's just a matter of putting them together and putting them into practice.
Thank you for helping get this idea out there! I realize this isn't something typically created on Steemit, and it's certainly not short enough to be enjoyed casually :)
If you do happen to get around to reading it, I would love to get some feedback. If you think it's understandable or missing any key elements I am hoping to better refine the initial proposal!
Absolutely!! It almost seems too easy :)
@rieki, what a worked out plan here, respect brother.
If i understand well, some land is already "provided" to start, where is that? Love
Thanks brother :)
Yes, there has been several offers for land (a few of which may be created into various ON's given enough desire by the interested parties) these land offers are in New Zealand and Bali. As for the first location, (the one I will be personally living in,) the land hasn't been settled on just yet. I'm considering Bali, New Zealand, India, Malaysia (Borneo), at the moment. But, given the overwhelming level of information, possibility, and diversity for the first location to be chosen using logic and making the decision myself; I have yet to pick a location. My focus will be on completing and fully detailing the proposal, organizational structure, currency and platform. This I will do as I continue to build and improve the vision in my mind! When the time is right to create in the material plane I know that the proper home will present itself! :)
"Imagine living in a society where all of your Neighbours were dedicated to improving your community, focusing their time on making the world a more beautiful place."
Yes! I feel this is happening in small on-line groups, but to have this actually happen in physical reality is a great project and really so so needed.
I believe we all desire to be loved, needed and feel valued and it is lack of community spirit that is missing in modern day life.
I wish you much success and look forward to reading your future posts on this.