Living and working by donation
A step by step change
Looking at society around us, we decided to do it differently. We don't longer want to be part of a system where there is still hunger, abuse and most actions are based on the outcome of more money and exploitation. At the same time we do recognize their are still many things you need to pay with money. So how can you find a balance?
Our journey
Our journey is definitely not the easiest one. We have known many challenges and we still do.
Five years ago we decided to change our life. We just couldn't live a life with high monthly costs, being a slave of our work. We decided to leave our house and lived a nomadic life for almost two years, staying with friends, family and strangers in exchange for website development, personal sessions, animal caretaking, and many other creative things we could offer. Besides a roof it also provided us with the resources we needed to live a simple life.
In 2019 we were so lucky having the opportunity to be part of an organisation that worked completely by donation. It was so exciting to learn more about this new way of interacting and sharing. Understanding that an appreciation can have many forms and a business can look completely different than many currently do. When we started In line with nature in 2020, we knew we wanted to base our own project entirely on donations and gifts. Resources which are given and not linked to a debt, expectation or hidden agenda.
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But how is it to work on appreciation base?
To be honest, in the beginning it has been very scary. It invited us to go through many fears, doubts and insecurities.
Little by little we gained trust and felt supported by nature again.
Our collaborations start out of a friendship, a natural encounter. Our projects and initiatives arise in response to what is happening around us and where the local needs lie. This means that our organization is not fixed but, just like nature, always remains in motion.
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When you feel excitement and joy to create something together, you naturally want to give each other appreciation for that. And that appreciation can have many forms, depending on the current situation of all parties involved.
What is Freely Given?
Freely given is the currency of nature. Nowadays, it is not easy to imagine how we can live a rich life other than through the current financial system. But very soon, we will be invited to choose and explore different options. More and more alternative initiatives arise such as: donations, exchange, cryptocurrency, valuation, barter, ...
Deep within us there is the desire to reconnect to the system that has always been around us: Nature.
Inspiration
We are very much inspired by the podcast of :Jacqueline-Fay: Hobbs – Oracle Girl, you find below, which clarifies the ‘Freely Given’ principle and other donation options. The interviewer is Elaira Tickute.
We transcribed a piece of the podcast:
“Everything that keeps you alive and getting up in the morning is freely given. The minute I say that word people go into idea of charities, donation, and all the business structures and tax and economic ideas and structures.
But actually giving freely is the wind that blows in your face. It is the deep breath you take as you dive into the ocean. The movement of your eyes as you open them in the morning on waking. It is the feeling of sand beneath your toes as you walk across a beach with no footwear on. Given freely is the movement of this universe that naturally shapes, inspires and triggers you to initiate something out of your own personal reservoir of joy and inspiration.”
How am I gonna do that?
“You share the idea. The currency starts to flow behind that inspiration, which is pure love, joy in dynamic movement, and then people organize themselves around the collaboration which seems to keep that joy and love, that currency of care flowing. People get depressed if they notice that flow disappearing or the energetics of the situation going down and feeling heavier and then they interact more into the determination to weed out what is getting in the way so that currency of care flows more. And then what they produce and bring into materialization naturally brings money or whatever currency is being used because it is so damn enticing, wonderful, extremely exciting to be involved with, and people just can't stop themselves. They want more because it is so free and pure.
And then, we bring in the technology, the data collection and the finance collection networks which are healthy, that are based in egalitarian and motional beneficial principles to make that actually further and continue, the more people we find want to cooperate with us. That is how it works.”