Category: Utopias

meaning through shared realities

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Dante-Gabryell Monson
Date: Thu, May 15, 2008 at 1:43 PM
Subject: meaning through shared realities

I have grown up in a individualist society , and I feel that my heart and mind is not satisfied with competitive and consumerist individualism. In eastern europe I discovered a certain sensibility that resonated with my heart , yet at the same time I realize that I am part of a Paradigm that is not one of ( some mainstream socio culture in ) eastern europe , or not of western europe , but one that is in creation.

I realize that there are some precious people I meet on my road , and with whom I would like to build with.

I also realize that what has meaning is to share , and to co-create , yet that it is not easy in the current situation to find a way to share space in peoples realities , as often it is already packed with their obligations , or also because a lot of people are scared of the chaos of the unknown , which I might reflect to them through my attempts of creating new solutions , beyond the current structures ,

even when many of them do appreciate that I am trying to develop new solutions.

I meet a lot of people , but at the same time it feels isolated , as it is most of the time only for the time of a cup of tea , and not in a shared reality , towards a common intention.

Sometimes people are curious about my different approaches , but when i stay for longer then a cup of tea it seems to often make them feel threatened by my different approach , perhaps as it becomes a mirror to their reality , and to a potential of doing things differently , which re-questions their own structures , and re-questions the validity of what they considered being obligations.

Yet I am progressively developing the intentional networks with which I hope to co-create , and develop the bases that will facilitate alternative lifestyles , approaches , solutions – preserving and expanding our space to be different , while opening up the opportunities to empower each other through and with our differences – in a collaborative individualist approach :

Many people , including politicians and economics , are not satisfied with the current financial system , and the ways whereby we count economics and value creation , as we realize that it does not necessarily lead to ” development ” , but to destruction in the interest of a few.

To be able to cope with the complexity of the world of today , we need to empower each other while using the available tools , and learning and living approaches are very central.

Trust information systems and decision making are also very central ,

and today , compared with the past , we do not need to fight for control over land and people to have control on communication channels that enable such society building ,

we do not need to go through civil wars ( as the one that hapenned in Finland in the beginning of the 20th century ) ,

we can develop alternative systems that can provide solutions directly to the people , and , as more and more people see their interest in using it , it will grow by itself without having to take over control on any other system – in effect , ending up with multiple parallel societies and realities , and as individuals we could choose the multiple solutions and societies we are active in – complementing each other.

Anyway , hope this does not all sound too complicated. I hope soon we can develop some documentary that can illustrate and make such perspectives easily accessible.

Event : Sustainable Hospitality Exchange , Amsterdam , 27-29 June

http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/wiki/SHE

last weekend of June in Amsterdam (27-29 June)

” SHE also wishes to connect the praxis of
hospitality exchange to a wider framework of cultural exchange,
gift-economy, trust-metrics, sustainable traveling and living a joyful
life ”

more below …

also see the bewelcome collective , same place , same time ,

but on a longer period  :

http://www.bevolunteer.org/wiki/Amsterdam_BeWelcome_Collective

https://www.bewelcome.org/forums/s374-Amsterdam%20BeWelcome%20Collective

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kasper Souren
Date: Sat, Apr 26, 2008 at 5:17 PM
Subject: Fwd: SHE wants you as a facilitator!

You heard about the SHE-conference? SHE stands for Sustainable
Hospitality Exchange and is a conference that organised during the
last weekend of June in Amsterdam (27-29 June). It is based in a local
former squat that can host a hundred people and more. The goals of SHE
is to increase exchange of knowledge on the different hospex-networks
around the world & foster debate and change.

SHE wants to be an open-space conference on topics related to
hospitality exchange. SHE wishes to enable face-to-face debates and
workshops on how these networks are run, on best-practices, on
volunteer-work, on empowerment, on community building and all other
related topics. In addition, SHE also wishes to connect the praxis of
hospitality exchange to a wider framework of cultural exchange,
gift-economy, trust-metrics, sustainable traveling and living a joyful
life because above everything SHE wishes to create the debate: what do
we mean with sustainable hospitality exchange?

In the end though, SHE is how you envision her. Look her in the eyes
and think what you could do with SHE! Imagine a space with
enthousiastic people who are very eager to hear about the history of
Hospitality Club, Couchsurfing & Bewelcome, as well as Servas and
other networks of hosp-exchange. Imagine an open podium, space for
art-installations & great food, a self-managed bar and lots of nice
people that want to live & learn by sharing.

SHE is curious to know if you are interested. SHE is really looking
forward to hear from people such as you to start thinking what you
would like to do with her. Would you for example like to facilitate a
workshop on any of the topics related to SHE? Or do you have any other
groovy ideas that SHE might benefit from? Of course you do!

Workshops that SHE is already envisioning are for example: experiences
on volunteer work, how to build up a local hospitality exchange
community, sustainable traveling and hitchhiking, trust, hospitality
exchange and money system, free software and coding, salsa, cultural
western-centrism, history of any given network, et cetera.

The space for SHE is already organised. It has lots of room for
plenary sessions & workshops. There are tables, chairs, a bar, a
dj-set and a podium as well. But SHE also already exists in
wiki-space. So why don’t you start getting into SHE? You can check her
out for more information. You can also edit the pages and give your
input straight away: http://turl.ca/sheconf

For now SHE is being facilitated by a small but committed group of
people who would love to hear from you. Please write SHE-assistants
Kasper (kasper.souren – at – gmail.com) or Robin (robokow – at – gmail.com) with
your ideas and forward this e-mail to good people.

Hope to hear from you soon!

SHE

Permanent Collective Spaces for Project Development

my post can also be found on

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hc_ecology/message/268

I am eager to get to know about anyone that has ideas regarding spaces where we could live or hold events in a self organized way.

1) CouchSurfing and Travelling School of Life – Common Interests ? + Gathering Contacts for Collective Spaces
2) Legal Platforms for Collectively Purchasing Land ???
3) Decision Making Practices and Tools


1 ) CouchSurfing and Travelling School of Life – Common Interests ? + Gathering Contacts for Collective Spaces

Maybe an example of where Travelling School of Life objectives ( http://www.tsolife.org )
and CouchSurfing Objectives ( http://www.couchsurfing.org )
could potentially meet – such as in having our own Spaces :

http://wiki.couchsurfing.com/wiki/index.php/Permanent_CSC

( also see pasted below – on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hc_ecology/message/268 )

and also other tools planned for development in CS :

http://wiki.couchsurfing.com/wiki/index.php/Future_Features_%26_Functions

one extract : ” From the CouchSurfing <!– D(["mb","University,nwe thought it would be good to be able to search people by interests.nLike I want to learn the guitar, who can actually host me out there andnprovide some lessons.. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;
n
nhttp://wiki.couchsurfing.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
n
nall pages: http://wiki.couchsurfing.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Allpages
n
—

2) List of Spaces + Legal Platforms for Collectively Purchasing Land ???


Talking about Nomadic Social Centers in Urban and Rural areas during my travels these last months, n
made me realise that there is alot of enthousiasm on this topic , and alot of people thinking and working on such topics.

I also met farm owners in different european countries that would be happy to host and let nomads self organize on their land. n

and I remember talking about this topic with Tsolife friends – a list of spaces was started and it will soon be on the www.tsolife.org wiki

—

nWhich kind of Legal Platforms for (Purchasing?/Borrowing?) Land?

Borrowingn : I remember Casey mentionned an idea that would offer interested owners of land to borrowing us their land / living spaces , under the agreement that their “property” would be returned in an equal or improved state n“,1] ); //–>University, we thought it would be good to be able to search people by interests. Like I want to learn the guitar, who can actually host me out there and provide some lessons.. ”

http://wiki.couchsurfing.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

all pages: http://wiki.couchsurfing.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Allpages

—

2) List of Spaces + Legal Platforms for Collectively Purchasing Land ???
Talking about Nomadic Social Centers in Urban and Rural areas during my travels these last months,
made me realise that there is alot of enthousiasm on this topic , and alot of people thinking and working on such topics.

I also met farm owners in different european countries that would be happy to host and let nomads self organize on their land.

and I remember talking about this topic with Tsolife friends – a list of spaces was started and it will soon be on the www.tsolife.org wiki

—

Which kind of Legal Platforms for (Purchasing?/Borrowing?) Land?

Borrowing : I remember Casey mentionned an idea that would offer interested owners of land to borrowing us their land / living spaces , under the agreement that their “property” would be returned in an equal or improved state <!– D(["mb","

Purchasing : It might eventually also be interesting to understand how to develop legal platforms to reclaim land by opening up a subscription and collectively buy land – , that could be used for all kinds of projects , and would be self-organized / and where objectives would not be focused on maximisation of profit , but on maximising opportunities and empowering individuals and communities – such a platform would ask for donations to buy land , and although I imagine cooperatives could develop on such land , the land in itself could not be sold or speculated on , and would not be dominated by any individual or selected group of individuals – it would become land managed by the collective of individuals living on the land – through decision making processes with wich we could experiment – … hmm … such as Concensus ( ? ) n

3) Decision Making Practices and Tools

… I propose to gather Decision Making Practices and Tools links and knowledge – my current list of links on this topic:n

http://del.icio.us/deliciousdante/decision

feel free to contact me on any of these issues – would also be nice to have some discussions on these topics on the lists and eventually complement existing articles on our wikis such asn

http://dominik.valledismeraldo.com/new/index.php/Tsolife/Openorg

nhttp://wiki.couchsurfing.com/wiki/index.php/Organizational_Structure ( ? )

——————————“,1] ); //–>

Purchasing : It might eventually also be interesting to understand how to develop legal platforms to reclaim land by opening up a subscription and collectively buy land – , that could be used for all kinds of projects , and would be self-organized / and where objectives would not be focused on maximisation of profit , but on maximising opportunities and empowering individuals and communities – such a platform would ask for donations to buy land , and although I imagine cooperatives could develop on such land , the land in itself could not be sold or speculated on , and would not be dominated by any individual or selected group of individuals – it would become land managed by the collective of individuals living on the land – through decision making processes with wich we could experiment – … hmm … such as Concensus ( ? )

3) Decision Making Practices and Tools

… I propose to gather Decision Making Practices and Tools links and knowledge – my current list of links on this topic:

http://del.icio.us/deliciousdante/decision

feel free to contact me on any of these issues – would also be nice to have some discussions on these topics on the lists and eventually complement existing articles on our wikis such as

http://dominik.valledismeraldo.com/new/index.php/Tsolife/Openorg

http://wiki.couchsurfing.com/wiki/index.php/Organizational_Structure ( ? )