Hi Franz
(and readers of my open letters at http://dadamac.posterous.com )
I'm republishing your email below because it gives such useful information -
- background on your group, Global Villages
- its relationships to Minciu Sodas and Andrius Kulikauskas
- some of Andrius' ideas, the things he was trying to do, and how he went about them (including some financial ideas)
Being (like you) one of the group leaders in Minciu Sodas I appreciated the opportunities to learn that Andrius gave me there. (I never decided my "deepest value" - I was more attracted to his interest in helping us to find answers to questions that we were asking.)
I was also influenced by Andrius' ideas about putting all communication in the public domain, and I was intrigued (though a bit mystified) by his ideas for making a business out of Minciu Sodas. I can see the point of a lot of his ideas, to some extent, and appreciate the fact that he challenged and developed my thinking on them.
Certainly there is a big question of how we develop an appropriate culture for the realities of the twenty first century - with our new abilities to function in new ways in the digital world, but our parallel needs to function in the material world. We are pulled to a culture of freely sharing information and ideas and working collaboratively to create new and better ways of living - as you try to do with global villages. We are pulled by our futuristic visions and struggle to take the necessary steps to turn them to reality. In parallel we have to address the immediate practicalities of feeding, clothing and housing etc.
We are pulled by the established patterns and cultural norms of our "traditional" industrial societies - connected with full-time employment and ongoing "economic growth" - norms which are arguably no longer "fit for purpose" as ways of dealing with our material world. Andrius is certainly not the only one trying to make sense of that problem and looking at different economic models.
Thank you for your email - I add it here as part of my store of useful resources for future reference.
By the way I have a memory of something you are arranging in May - which I read briefly last year and thought it was not relevant to me - but I intended to read in more depth later just in case. I hope the arrangements are going well. (If I should have read it and it is not too late feel free to send me more information)
On a more personal level - it's a while since we did a catch up, my friend - I am wishing you well - in every way - for the challenges ahead in 2011.
Pamela
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Franz Nahrada Date: 20 February 2011 15:42
Subject: [globalvillages] message to a subscriber of this list who wanted to be removed To: globalvillages@yahoogroups.com
Hi Eyal,
thank you for replying and being curious what this list is about. There is a lot I get and there is a lot I suffer from the heritage of Andrius Kulikauskas ways of community building. Andrius was the fellow you met in Jerusalem.
I use the opportunity to reply to your message also publically because a lot of people still might be confused about the style and the purpose of this list. There are more than 330 people receiving these mails and I am pretty sure that 250 people out of this crowd think the same question that you voiced, but dont bother to ask. Andrius had his ways of "mass -subscribing" people which he defendet vigorously as "thats the best way".
Lets put it straightforward: the idea of this list originally is that Andrius wanted to help to create more outreach for the people he was working with at the time. I was one of these people and supported him as he supported me. One way of supporting is to create an audience.
He used to ask people about their deepest valiue in life and offer them to support them in bringing their deepest value to manifestation. He thought that he could reconcile this free activity with a value generating mechanism that would allow him to make a living. So the "support economy" and generous giving would pay back. He called the whole thing Minciu Sodas, Garden of thoughts in Lithiuanian. Andrius now is in Chicago struggling with a pile of debts. There were flaws in his concept, but the idea is still fascinating.
The idea is based in the assumption that creative individuals are generally pushed aside in a society of conformity. Even the net has largely become a form of mass - medium where some views prevail simply because they are better organized, not because they are better.
So Andrius wanted to radically help in that situation. He created a community in which all members were hoped to support each other on the base of recognition and relations. It pays back infinitely, because the creative power of each human is the source on which a rich culture can thrive. Andrius assigned the most active members of his community a yahoogroup and let them follow their deepest value. He collected a large audience on his field trips by simply asking for their email, Thats how you were "recruited". The hope was it would be a wave.
I dont think this is the most effective and reasonable way in the long run, but to my astonishment only a few people have unsubscribed.....
So whats "Globalvillages" in particular?
Its about the way I- and I suppose many, especially the kind we just talked about - would like to live:
* in a small community rooted in natural beuty
* in tranquiity and safety, yet in touch with the pulse of the world
* in a circumstance where we can reach out, travel and discover when we want, not when we must.
Global Villages is the concept of a life that urban people bring to the countryside with the help of the Internet: they bring their work and their education, yet the seek to synthesize with a local culture of healthy and authentic production and improve it and rebuild it. Global Village is about local community building supported by global networking, knowledge exchange and meaningful "access and learning" places.
Its a lifestyle: and we will see this lifestyle - which is still marginal - explode and flourish soon.
Maybe one day you want to come back and support this idea.
I took you off the list for the time being....
all the best
Franz
Global Villages Lab, Vienna, Austria.
....may I ask about how you came to participate and what was your overall impression?
Thanks
Franz Nahrada
founder and moderator
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Hi Franz
I encountered a fellow in Jerusalem few years ago. Ever since I have been getting lot's of emails. truth is i did not follw exactly what is going on i never had the chance to understand what is it all about.
I will appreciate it if you could elaborate on the purpose and goals of the group. I issume the person I spoke to at the time found what I am doing intersting.
All the best
and no offence made/ I decided to get of the list since I realized i did not respect the on going .... of the group.
Have a great week
>>>Eyal
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