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Funding My Existence

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It appears we are living at the dawn of a new era. Throughout our culture we see signs of change, progress, and evolution. A "Creative Class"  is on the rise that -- with the help of the Internet and other related technologies -- will reportedly transform our entire socio-economic system.

And yet, at the same time, something is amiss. Much of this so-called Creative Class can only prosper by finding work within the current corporate infrastructure, resulting in very little actual creativity or innovation. The very ones who might create the necessary change in society must expend their time and energy worrying about "making a living." Those who can keep a job have to sacrifice ideas that contradict the wishes of bosses and the company's stockholders.

For those who have been diagnosed "abnormal" by our society, this problem is especially prevalent. Such people are variably labeled anti-social, eccentric, introverted, highly sensitive, ADD, bipolar, neuro-atypical, differently abled, gifted, or one of many other similar terms that have a derogatory effect. The trouble is that the only people who ever made any worthwhile changes in this world belonged to one of these categories.

The most creative visionaries often cannot function adequately in modern society. This makes it extremely hard to avoid unemployment, let alone to feed and shelter oneself. But admit that you feel this way, and you're instantly labeled lazy, arrogant, elitist, etc. We're evidently not ready to admit on a mass scale that the current definition of a "normal" human being is not only imaginary, but impossible.

It is time that we break out of this double-bind. One idea how to do that has sat dormant in the cultural underground for the last few decades. In 1969, R. Buckminster Fuller (a.k.a. Bucky Fuller) published his short volume, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth. As Fuller writes:

"...we must give each human who is or becomes unemployed a life fellowship in research and development or in just simple thinking. Man must be able to dare to think truthfully and to act accordingly without fear of losing his franchise to live. [...] For every 100,000 employed in research and development, or just plain thinking, one probably will make a breakthrough that will more than pay for the other 99,999 fellowships."

This will never be possible in a purely capitalistic system that runs according to the tenets of selfishness and greed -- or the misapplied motto "survival of the fittest." The Internet has allowed for certain non-traditional funding platforms, but the most popular ones are oriented around funding creative projects -- not funding a creative life. And taking out any kind of loan seems dangerous when there's no way to be sure about the possibility of paying it back.

For some of us, a "job" or a "career" is not the answer. For some, it's time to admit: "What I really need is help FUNDING MY EXISTENCE." Fuller also used the term "mind fellowships." His purpose was very clear:

"Through the universal research and development fellowships, we're going to start emancipating humanity from being muscle and reflex machines. We're going to give everybody a chance to develop their most powerful mental and intuitive faculties. [...] What we want everybody to do is to think clearly."

With this spirit in mind, let's give birth to an online community designed to provide existential funding to the people who need it. Recipients will have to demonstrate what value they have contributed to society in the form of ideas, projects, art, innovation, social movements, etc. Donors will be able to choose which individuals interest them the most.

We've spent enough time talking about futuristic visions of society. Some feel an urgent drive to manifest it in reality. It is time to enable those people by funding their existence, allowing them to worry about more pressing matters -- like changing the world.

 

Image by Shirley Two Feathers, courtesy of Creative Commons license

Comments

Way Out

The way out is to create our own new categories, start-ups that transcend the old paradigm. Love is the solution, love lights the way. Follow your heart and see where it leads. http://scottjsimon.com

Postmodern Bullshit

And the pseudo-intellectual post-modern critical bullshit pose will not get results, only a wallow in the muck.

Pay to Play

Much of the whole dilema seems based on the current trends of "gift reciprocation" .. the very nature of money and corporate or government sponsored funding. How such has become conglomorately centralized over time. Like musicians "seemingly" needing company support from music mogels to financially succeed.

Either many many "starving artists" ... or a handful of redundant superstars ... wanting to "make it big" has become the only accepted trend. As the economy shrinks from over indulgence what one needs to survive is becoming more realistic.

Of course so much creativity today is based on external resources, and the pay-for services of those needing to support large "mega-projects ... like a 100 million dollar movie set.

I truly believe the whole world needs to gradually scale down to mini-projects .. more qualitative value squeezed into the "economy of genius" .. as there is just way too much phantasmagoria in mainstream artistic expression.

Beyond the shared creative concept itself, as in simply presenting and receiving ones ideas, what does one really get from the expressions of others.

Everyone seems so jaded, as if in need of such grandiose scales of high tech presentations ... "major attractions" etc. etc, ... like comparing the actual communicative value between a campfire story teller and a Hollywood blockbuster movie ... between Austin City Limits and a Stadium concert with all the fireworks .. a You Tube video lecture and a large conference with all of the traveling expenses ... a Burning Man phantasmagoria and a pow-wow.  

I remember actor Richard Gere during an interview once said that if he was born in previous times he would have, out of love for acting itself, joined the gypsie-like caravans, acting just for "scraps" ... that the actual creative happiness is enjoyed more by both the performer and audience the more intimate and organic the setting.

Most actors artistically prefer live Broadway plays to movie sets, although the pay is way less. It seems as if creativity itself has been qualitatively highjacked from more common local reciprocation, as in plain 'ole sharing, into sheer quantitative exclusivity ... big stars and peons ... craving fans and icons ... when the actual value shared really never equals the promotional hype. 

Every locale has musicians, yet one feels he has to travel the world for basic entertainment .. how much of ones happiness is really based on the creatvity of others, and how much support beyond a little food clothing and shelter from others does one really require to communicate qualitative value beyond the cost of all the whistle and bells, and the consequent "superstar" lifestyle of those whose actual aura is scapegoated by the limelight.

The whole media game is based on the profit motivations of those behind the scenes .. similar to the centralization of economy via Global Banking Cartels is the who's who of creative success stories.

Some even argue that the whole system is intentionally rigged to keep actual creativity to a minimum as in phantasmagorical presentations with little actual creative value till one actual craves the fireworks more than the meaning of the celebration itself. 

I met a doctor who once performed surgery in the Phillipines for baskets of fish and other shared gifts, while living a very humble existence. Once he moved to USA and worked in a hospital he noticed right away the less qualitative value in the care, yet all the doctors were much more wealthy.

Beyond the actual perpetuating structure of the economy itself, creative sharing and co-enhancement of shared ideology is right at all of our fingertips.

There is very little essential happiness one needs from the expressive genius of others outside of basic sharing among the collective ... we have just removed ourselves so far away from each others actual needs and have created so many unnecessary problems that require virtually endless resources to accomodate to the point where everyones own "internal opulence" has been taxed to death in the name of a few "select" instigators of illusion 

Forever telling us what we need and should want ... how each of us is lacking in creative genius in the first place, when every school yard has a little of what is everywhere else.

Even the greatest Indian Warrior or Chief had a teepee the same size as every other more common Indian, same amount of life necessity possesions give or take a few qualitative feathers marking his distinction ... that we have polarized ourselves into thinking there must be material representation granted for our unique spiritual value which no matter how you really look at it is forever equal all across the board. 

After a little food clothing and shelter what does one really need but the love of work itself and the happiness of sharing.  

The love of work itself

Great comment! I am a musician and if I could find a way to trade an evening of my performing for a meal and a place to sleep I would. We live in money driven times, money is our value system. That is what children are being taught by the culture they live in. I hate to say it but I see it getting worse before it gets better. We indoctrinate everyone with materialism. I hate to this also but even a lot of this website is "spiritual materialism" as Chogyam Trngpa would say...

You have only the responsiblity to work but no right to the fruits thereof.

I just spent three years working in the reality T.V. industry so i mnight be jaded but we are being taught to sell our connection to the light of our soul and replace it with the light of electronic media, losing our intuition connection, trading our birthright for a digital junk food just like jacob and esau...

http://mystery-saint.blogspot.com/

see I just did it right then, shameless self-promotion!

Happiness IS sharing.

Beautifully written.

Nice Comment

It's like the conversation I had today with another broke poor line cook I work with.  We cook because we love people.  No one else would do what we do for the pay we get.  It's about love.  Too often I forget.  Money is another hell I've fortuantely escaped.  Sad though I wish I had a pile of cash for my art.

Getting the Relationship Right is Key

Question:  What motivates those who are working on the "inside" to help the "outside" escape their corporate "outsider" status?

What I'm saying is:  If I'm working a Corporate job, and it's bringing in money to fund the world-changers, (good, great,) -- when do I get to go "inside" as well..?

And:  Can I have that in writing, please?

I have bad, almost traumatic memories of working with someone who (to my irritation, not to my belief:) claimed to be "closer to God" than I.  I funded him because (A) he was a friend, (B) he clearly understood our shared (may I emphasize "shared"?) mission, (C) he was skilled at group dynamics and creative encounter.

What I found him saying was how important, valuable, and meaningful it was that I work and live in the Corporate world.  He wanted me to stay in the corporate world and fund about 10 people to create the society of dream for me.  He painted it as if the Corporate world was the color of my soul.  He didn't see me, he saw my money.

Our relationship was powerful but ended after a year.  He told me that I was a monster because I say that I love a woman that I don't want to be exclusive with, and he kept putting me through exercises where the punch-line was "See?  You're subordinate to me."  I patiently disagreed with him;  He left Seattle and sent me an email saying that he wanted to erase me from the universe.

I learned a lot from working with him, but boy, what a nightmare.

links

This article was supposed to include links to the project website (http://www.fundingmyexistence.org) and Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/FundingMyExistence).

 Please spread the word if you know people who would be interested in this venture!

Thanks for posting this. I

Thanks for posting this. I find it funny that the most recent post on the facebook page is someone asking for money, haha!

claptrap

What a load of narcisscistic, privileged claptrap. Seriously? Seriously? Someone over the age of 12 actually believes this? So let me get this straight: there are people who are soooooo speshul and creatif and necessary to the very world's existence, that the world should exist to feed, cloth, and clean up after them and (AND!) pay for every speshul creatif idea that pours out of their mouth? Sorry, kids, but the sun does not rise and set with any one person or group of person's speshul visionary ideas.

 This makes it extremely hard to avoid unemployment, let alone to feed and shelter oneself. But admit that you feel this way, and you're instantly labeled lazy, arrogant, elitist, etc.

 

No Kidding!  Really!  I really hate to break it to you, but believeing something to be true about yourself doesn't make it so.  But believing that the world should cater to your specialness does make you lazy, arrogant, and elitist, not to mention childish and revoltingly narcisscistic.

 We are either all god's special children or none of us are.   How about trying the grown-up answer instead.

God's special children

He's saying exactly that - that we are all God's children and our social structure needs to be modified so that those with skills that are marginalized in the current social structure have an avenue of expression.  Failure to open up avenues for creative expression by those who feel compelled to share their gifts and have been marginalized in the past creates stress on our social structure and roadblocks to concepts, ideas and technologies that are beneficial to the whole of mankind.  Liberty in the flow of creative expression is what we all want and when our social structure reflects liberated creative expression we become that society that we are all seeking.  The key to Liberty is to balance that with Individual Repsonsibility for one Life.  After all Liberty and Reponsiblity are the two wings of the Bird of Paradise -)

Uniqueness vs. Special

Somehow we go from our kindergarden {pre-school} teachers and parents "glorifying" our every initial attempt at crayon scribbling and paper cutting, to dog-eat dog competition in a very unbalanced marketplace.  

Like all of the Occupy college students realizing how little value is placed on their learned skills outside of a few corporate scraps thrown for submissive doodling. 

Our whole educational system seems geared to take that "special" creative feeling we each have in relation to our own unique value and mold such towards objective complicity in a very narrow band of "taught" choices.

Peer pressure often takes over after such initial conditioning to where we jeer and jive at each others uniqueness as if "pack consciousness" rules .. as if the lowest common denominator mentality being the most efficient way to keep the inherent creative genius of each and every in line. 

In the much older Vedic system of education in pre-hindhu India, students were only encouraged to study those subjects which matched their inherent nature{dharma} with the guidance from "expert" brahmanas {teachers} who indiviually and collectively would take great care, if not for any reason other than efficiency itself, to make sure energy was only put towards any students natural propensities toward any given subject matter.  

No one would be forced to pursue any subject matter that didn't click after some initial exposure, and if there was some unique propensity for exceleration, there was extra tutoring ontowards apprenticeship {a lost art form} so that the inhernt nature of each student was individuaally catored to.   

Everywhere in our modern Westernized society are the remnants of the reductionist and mechanistic approach to efficientcy focusing on quantitative production rather qualitative progression ... maintaining the norm, as opposed to advancing the culture .. the infamous staus quo ... forever self-determined and self-perpetruated. 

After the industrial revolution the "factory" approach to every thing took over .. as if the very passion for "capitol gain" took over the very love of creativity itself.

In simpler cultures all young girls learned to weave their own clothers, create their own fashion, rather than endlessly, mindlessly pursuing the fantasies of other designers.

Every village had people of expertise at all levels because the inherent qualitative skills of each of them were catored to from early on .. as opposed to this over-centralized "class distinction" between commodities and consumers .. a much more integrative culture for sure.

Some of the upcoming trends of "online education" or schooless learning, where the parents help guide their children towards the subject matter most appropriate, more free from the lowest common denominator standardization {mind numbing} of the present system.

All of us having to now {since the bureaucratic institutions are failing us} take more responsibility via conscious participation in our own creative progressions, to where our occupations match our very nature of creative intrigue, affording everyone a chance to acheive a little genius. 

Like the "micro-lending" trends of the last five years or so, where small entrepenuers would lend small amounts of start up capitol to small village "geniuses" {at least a little genius, as all creativity is "genuine"} to fund their ventures, maybe in the new propossed gift economy we can all start funding each others actual value somehow or other gradually finding ways of bypassing the obsolete select lending institutions, which are all "quantitatively" based, henced minimizing the creative varigatedness of an expresssive culture. 

The more dumber we are made the more great someone with a little creative intelligence appears to be. Most of us realize now that many so-called creative leaders in government, finance, science and entertainment are not that exceptional in their end results all said and done.

In a system that perpetuates mediocrity {status quo} at every chance ... where any new idea has to go through so many political loops only to be turned down by those covering their asses at the top ... well just what does the future hold for us 

 

 

Kickstarter

Nice idea. I think there are a lot of community sites out there like this, namely:

http://www.kickstarter.com/

Great to see that you got a domain name and have a Facebook page. Now that you have announced your project before it has launched, we will be waiting ...

re: Kickstarter

As I write in the article: "The Internet has allowed for certain non-traditional funding platforms, but the most popular ones are oriented around funding creative projects -- not funding a creative life."

Kickstarter doesn't allow you to use funds for living expenses, only for production costs on whatever project you've listed on their site. I find this terribly illogical and insufficient. Time for something new...

By the way, the point of getting the word out before the site launches is so that the community -- specifically, people who need existential funding -- can participate in the brainstorming phase of development. That interaction will be happening on the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/FundingMyExistence

Feeling very inspired by this idea, thanks x

Reading this article came at the perfect time for me...I just had another fight with my husband last night...he is brilliant, an incredible visionary, has powerful insight, love for all beings..but he just doesn't gel with the existing system at all, has been referred to as being on the autistic spectrum, lazy (by me..oops) and others. When I am unconscious, I get incredibly angry and resentful of the fact that he works a handful of hours and I bring in most of our income. When I am more conscious, I tend to think less in old paradigm ways of thinking, comparing people and their actions, being obsessed with fairness to the point of my own misery, and am in a space of knowing that everything has a perfect balance as is. Then, there is a middle space where I want to be part of funding his existence, because I do really believe in his power, his potential to be part of signficant, beneficial, social change..and I do like my work (teaching) - sure I wish the rules of engagement were somewhat different and that most of the fruits of my labour weren't creamed off and given to my corporate employers, but I do have wonderful, meaningful interchanges with my students, and I feel more presently alive and engaged when teaching than in almost any other sphere of activity. So, I could fund his existence, feel good about it, because I am happy in what I do anyway and give him the space to go about sharing his gifts. My challenge is a mixture of old running mental programs, 'it's not fair, if i have to work, you should too', worry that he won't use his time in this way, but will continue playing video games (not wanting to let go of control) and I'm sure others besides. I do think this is a wonderful idea, and love the comments from Buckminster Fuller. What a visionary! As I was reading the article, I became so excited by the idea. I can imagine myself having a part-time fellowship myself, spending some hours teaching and the rest in contemplation, collaborative projects...my husband and I have ideas ccoming out of our ears, but then often they are so big we don't know where to begin..but I would say it's one of our main topics of cconversation. What I have taken personally from your article, is a reminder of my commitment to being part of a shift that helps to create a world that serves all beings and not just a self-selected few who don't realise how much better off they would really be if everyone else was too

you should be horrified, not inspired.

I get incredibly angry and resentful of the fact that he works a handful of hours and I bring in most of our income.

As well you should be angry. Supporting someone in sitting around playing video games and having "visionary ideas" is the very definition of abject co-dependence. And then devaluing yourself by saying the spiritual bypassing phrase "I'm unconscious" when you have every right to be consciously annoyed by an adult who acts like a child.

Ask youself: would he do the same for you, make the same time and sacrifice the same for your creativity? Or are you supposed to subsist off his "visionary" ideas? Ah yes, this is how breatharianism comes about. "Honey, if you were spiritual enough like me, you wouldn't need to eat/breathe/sleep/participate like an adult in the world we live in". Like hell, I say. It's actually quite patronizing to hold someone to a low standard because you don't believe they can do any better. Again, the very definition of co-dependence.  "He needs me to take care of him, he's just not capable".  There are plenty of truly great visionary thinkers that have children, take jobs, and act like grown-ups in ways that aren't selling out.

Ah, But then there are these Speshiul Ones, these folks who seem to think being a "speishul creatif visionary" means pouting that someone needs to pay you for your specialness, childishly refusing to care for one's self or others, and valuing one's own speshiul creatifness above all else. Selfish, narcicisstic, arrogant, and childish all in one supremely tidy package! Voila! Awesome!

Every one is dealt a shitty hand of cards to play in this life. Doesn't mean you can't have to play those cards well. Billions of abjectly poor people all over the world don't get the advantages that have been handed out to those of you in the US. I don't hear a suffering visionary here, I hear a whiny privileged guy asking to be paid well for putting two synapses together, and some wife gratefully supporting his incredible selfishness.  Gross!

Think about entrepreneurship

Think about entrepreneurship as a way of funding your existence. Use your creativity: to bring workable and beautiful ideas to fruition, to improve on existing ones or to discover and promote good ones. People are always looking for products and services that will make their lives more liveable. Yes, times are tough, and they probably always will be. That's why if you can be the one to bring a little more brightness into the gathering shadows, you will get the funding you need for your existence and draw funding into the existence of others. Remember -- if you focus on people and the excitement of creating or finding something useful and enjoyable, the capital will be there to fund your dreams. It's not magic. It's the natural outcome of focus plus enthusiasm. One more thing -- just a quick note -- don't get distracted or take advice from the sharks out there -- the people who want to cheat their way through life, providing nothing for nobody, and are always ready to rig the game so they can get the big bucks. Despite their glibness and polish, they really have little to offer -- not even an idea, or a dream. And people are going to find them out. They're being found out every day. That's what the whole Occupy Movement is about -- getting capital away from crooks into the hands of people who can use it. In a truly free system, capital circulates -- everyone's existence is funded through the positive use of the market system.

re: surlytemple

I laughed out loud at your comment. Partly because of how presumptuous and rude it is, and partly because it's probably true. I was a professional musician for over a decade and surrounded myself with artists and counter-cultural types for even longer, and back in those days I could have easily identified with this author's perspective (or at least, what you've made it out to be). But in the mean time I've come to suspect that a sense of entitlement seems to go hand in hand with many artistic personalities these days; I know of many creatives who expect to be patronized by the state (in Europe), institutes, relatives or friends (I was one of them), and of several "spiritual" types who can't understand why their attempts to manifest wealth out of thin air keep failing. People who simply STFU and get to work are usually the ones who make it, and often they are the ones with a true gift. In my experience they are usually very humble people.

"Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration"-Edison

I see no reason to be kind

I see no reason to be kind about exposing entitlement for what it is, which is rude and presumptuous.   It is only a certain sense of pre-existing ease and comfort that would allows someone to complain about what the world owes them.  If you are truly on the brink - you don't have the money, emotional energy, physical health, time, or privilege to complain - you simply do what needs to be done.

Guaranteed minimum income

Guaranteed minimum income

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guaranteed_minimum_income

Basic income guarantee

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income_guarantee

The critical thing is no "means testing", you don't have to document that you are poor or say what you will do with the money.

Guaranteed minimum income was supported by Thomas Paine, MLK Jr, Nixon, and many others. Serious people have given detailed proposals. This was a popular idea among policy people in the 1970s-80s, but all but disappeared after the neo-liberal Reagan/Thatcher revolution.

Way less paperwork than welfare or grants. No need to worry about people "cheating the system". Everybody gets a minimum income. And then they can earn more if they want to do that.

Implemented in Denmark and other countries. [FYI: The UK has the biggest class divide in Europe, the Nordic countries are way better as examples of egalitarian societies.]

There is nothing shameful about wanting a minimal income so you can survive as an artist, philosopher, parent, scientist, start-up businessman, what-you-will.

It's inherently unjust that some people have trust-funds and others have to become wage-slaves. That was American revolutionary Thomas Paine's argument: property owners should compensate everyone else. He wanted to fund minimum income for all via estate tax.

There is so much inefficiency now because people feel they have to keep their jobs even if they know it is a waste of time or even harmful to society, or because creative people feel that it would hurt their livelihood to openly share ideas or creative products.

Please look into this more!

Re: Guaranteed minimum income

Sami! Thanks so much for sharing these links and information. I will definitely look further into it, and probably post an article about it on Funding My Existence when the site is launched! Best, Nick

This article is about me.

I am a 20 year old kid who lives at home with my parents, and is not in college despite being accepted to some good ones. Why? I got pulled into a shamanic initiation. I am writing to this site, asking if anyone will help fund me. I am doing everything I can on my end to pay for the journey. I got a job. I am looking for a second job. I try and find opportunities for extra cash, but they are pretty limited compared to the amount I need. I already used several thousand dollars working with a certain teacher who was limited. Now I am looking to travel to South America, but I need your help! I am exactly one of the people this article is talking about. I am a highly intelligent visionary, who is working crappy jobs and unable to really take care of myself. This is a request that the people who read this, and those who run the site itself try and pitch in to someone who is having an ancient force of nature revived through them in the modern era. I would be happy to share more of my story given the chance, but I really need money. Anyone who is willing to donate, even 5s and 10s help.

Re: This article is about me.

Thanks for sharing part of your story and describing your situation. The best way to stay up-to-date on this project is to sign up for the email list here: http://www.fundingmyexistence.org/

One good step to take now would be to make sure you have a personal account at Dwolla and/or Paypal, so that you can accept donations online!

Best,

Nick

Responding to claptrap

Claptrap raises legitimate issues. Claiming to be a visionary is not a blank check for sitting on your ass. But in indigenous cultures, those who were going through a spiritual initiation were often unable to attend to their own needs. It was often understood that the community provided for the sick person's needs until they were able to resume functioning, at which point the healer would be able to contribute something special to the community as a result of their initiation. In a western culture these people would run the risk of being stuffed in a mental institution and labeled as psychotic. I am one of these people. I am not an artist who undertakes personally meaningful work, voluntarily. I am a sick shaman, who is undergoing the involuntary, painful process of having the power of the universe channled through me. I am not sitting on my ass either. I have a job, and am looking for a second.You are all my tribe, those who understand the relevance of these spiritual forces in modern life. I am counting on you to support my initiation as a healer of the soul and the land. I am counting on you to try and help me get to South America.

Re: Responding to claptrap

You've "hit the nail on the head" here. This won't just be a site for traditional artists. We'll be just as concerned with dreams, synchronicities, and other transpersonal/mystical experiences. In line with the terminology you used, we could call this a support network for a collective techno-shamanic initiation. And the greater "tribe" will undoubtedly be indebted to the services rendered.

Thanks for your enthusiasm!

Sacred Economics

In Eisenstein's Sacred Economics, there is a chapter called "The Social Dividend" which presents excellent arguments in favor of Nick's idea. As industry continues to become more capital-intensive and less labor-intensive, the need for such a system becomes greater. It is an alternative to the reckless endless growth paradigm that dominates economic thought. So many jobs today involve meaningless, repetitive work which may make the bosses a lot of money, but which are soul-killing to the workers. By covering everyone's basic survival expenses, we are freed to do the work we are inspired to do, not "just to make a living."

Re: Sacred Economics

Thanks for pointing that out! I haven't yet read Eisenstein's book, so I wasn't aware of that. I'll be sure to look into it. It would make a great post for the FME blog, once I get that up and running. I hope to post regular articles elaborating on the ideas in this piece, making suggestions for creative introspection, examining what's happening in the world in relation to this project, etc.

So there's a chance you guys

So there's a chance you guys might actually send me money? Wow I had expected to be written off as a kid with entitlement issues (plenty of people have implied that about me). Truth is I actually do desperately need this help. I happen to have fallen into a very debilitating personal crisis that has absolutely no support system for it in this culture. So when I ask internet strangers to send me money, I don't do it frivolously. I am actually one of the people for whom this idea is meant.

Art warehouse in Dallas, TX

My family owns three 25k sq foot warehouses in downtown Dallas, TX. We used to rent one of them out, but a friend and I (I am an artist, she is an art historian) basically begged my dad to let us make an artist commune out of it. We built a gallery out of 100% recycled materials because new construction wasn't even an option (recycled art gallery is wayyyy cooler anyways) We are using old offices as studios, some people are even moving in, just living and creating art. Everyone pays what they can, we try to pay my dad rent every month, at least a percentage of art sold (surprisingly, we DO sell!!! not as much as we would like though). We have a music room too for musicians, jam nights every week, a stage, etc. Funding my existence would be amazing help because obviously, we've got the space, we have a small amount of money coming in, and we are having fun and doing a great thing, but most of the time we work for nothing, and we still have rent/bills to pay!!! A couple of us haven't had a real paycheck in 6+ months. We're very enthusiastic about FME and we'll be keeping a close eye on it. Thank you for your support of the creative class. Anyways, our website is nervgallery.com (still under construction, we feel you FME :)

How do I talk to the people

How do I talk to the people running this project?

Re: How do I talk to the people

I conceived the project, and I'm currently the only one heading it up. Do you mean talk by email? You can reach me at info [at] fundingmyexistence [dot] org.

TZM/RBE

I can't believe no one's talking about The Zeitgeist Movement as a solution to the problems being discussed here. It's of everyone's paramount importance to support the move to a resource-based economy ASAP.

Re: TZM/RBE

Could that be a project that some mind fellows work on -- moving towards a resource-based economy?

I sent you an email at the

I sent you an email at the address you gave me.Did you get it?

Well Said

Nick, thankyou for your comments. At age 50 I find myself carrying round the twin labels of ADHD and bipolar, but happily embrace the label of "highly sensitive". Up until this age, I have managed to support myself and my family through conventional work, but I know how my mind works, I know how I make lateral associations that nobody else thinks of. I also know that my more conventional colleagues, who are addicted to position and privelege, would run a mile rather than engage in a reasonable conversation about how to actively bring these ideas to light. In many ways I have to accept that the best I can do is to use my own ability to see patterns and cross links, and to introduce other people, who are better at systems and productivity, to the ideas. That having being said, I really do doubt that any significant creativity comes from the "conventionally abled".

Connections to Stuff to Do

this struck a chord with me as a bipolar person because I too have had a difficult time with the conventional work world. As a result, about ten years ago I was awarded SSI and thus I sorta already have a thinking grant. But what I find that I need is a way to connect with other people to make good use of my time. Many of us on SSI or disability also have a lot of time on our hands but aren't necessarily genius enough or creative enough to do something really meaningful with that time. What is really needed are support networks for projects that need hands or minds that are unconventional enough to be able to accept what we can offer. A thinking grant for me has resulted in mostly something eerily like "unemployment" - with all the aimlessness that that implies. There's lots of people out there (and let's not discount the elderly, who also have a lot to offer) who have plenty of time on their hands and much of what that has meant for them (and certainly myself, often) is a sense of disenfranchisement from the society at large who spends most of their time working. Kickstarter funds only projects and won't allow you to "fund your life." If you or someone you know does create a website or something that does allow people to present their good works and creativity as a pitch to get their lives funded, could you also have a section of "worthy projects that you can lend your time to, you who already have a lot of time to offer"? thanks. - gregoryp(tm)

Are you interested in

Are you interested in programming with Python, by chance?

thanks

Thanks for the kind words, and for sharing some of your story.


If either of you would like to participate in the website's creation, please join this Faceboook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FMEAdvisoryTeam/

Organic Realm v Inorganic

Careful wid dat machine, Eugene wodjah

Right on.

I'm developing a platform for just that:  pangaia.sourceforge.net.

Unfortunately, the non-profit (sfcomplex.org) that I was with to build it has gotten displaced because of issues regarding property.

Re: Right on.

Thanks for letting me know about your project. I've found many allies in this process of reaching out. I'm sure some part of the FME site will have a resources/partners section for existing operations.

Existential?

"Some feel an urgent drive to manifest it in reality. Existential funding." At least be aware that this is baby steps in the old paradigm of the separate self. We all feel the damage being done.

Here I Am

Was this article written just for me? ;)  Seems that way....

I'm one of those outcasts from the "professional" world that's looking for support to do my own work in Astronomy and Music.

Please check this out: http://astroandmusic.blogspot.com/2012/05/introduction.html

Peace to All

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