...she grabbed a seat, and waited for her two friends to join her.
Haha. Get it? They're all the same woman. She's a complex, category-defying, mash-up.
We are large, we contain multitudes.
(Walt Whitman, paraphrased)
I was originally going to title this post “When Good Intentions Fail.” But that's gloomy. Which would be a double fail. So I went with a self-effacing joke instead.
And why do I say my good intentions in this post failed?
I wanted to transfer a decent amount to Kenny Palurintano (
And speaking of money rewards...
On one hand, I have guilt-free desire for plenty of cash with which to do lots of good. No dilemma there. Furthermore, I recognize the free market as the most impartial (granting both reward and penalty) source of feedback and self-correction.
But on the other hand, I've always objected to our entire lives being organized around -- basically -- consumption. Always eating and acquiring. Eating and acquiring. Yawn.
I'm much more excited by a life that is organized around harmless creation and production. Conservation and preservation. Regeneration and beautification. Higher valued tasks deemed so by their virtue, rather than their valuation. These are very idealistic notions, and I saw them in effect in Kenny's life, which is why I wanted to bring attention to him. His motives are different. Pure.
Anyway, I got some direct and honest feedback about my chat with Kenny.
It came from a friend and client, Monica Moody. Monica is, among other things, a business consultant and career coach who stands for whole-heartedness in the workplace. We have spent hours envisioning and talking about healed and healthy workplaces that honor its peoples' FULL, TRUE AND FREE SELVES. She's bringing love to corporations. #frontline
I got this note from her a couple days ago, and received permission from both her and Kenny to share it with you:
Thank you for sharing the interview that you did with your friend/colleague, Kenny Palurintano. Very interesting. I felt differently hearing about his experiences than I do when I hear Charles Eisenstein speak about his philosophies and views on money and the gift economy. I think the difference is this.... Charles leaves me inspired, partially because it feels like he's always moving TOWARDS that something greater and less like he's running from something. With him, it is clearly about creating new possibilities for how we might share our gifts. Contrast that with Kenny where it sounded like he was running from money to make a point about how we don't need it. When in actuality, it seems like he's just created a life where he is one step removed as he still relies on people who do choose to use it. It feel illusory.
As I sat with this last night -- after watching a series of videos that left me supremely inspired, including a short video interview of Thich Nhat Han which I posted and an interview that Oprah did with Esther Hicks, I made some definitive conclusions about money. And it feels right.
For me....
It appears that we may be running from money but money is neutral. It's a tool. Much like our bodies that allows us access to certain experiences. Not THE way, just a way. Money is not sick. We are sick. So instead of running from money, it seems that if we are going to run from anything, it should be from our own imaginations about who we are. Not money.
I don't know. It's just something about how the culmination of all of these mini experiences from yesterday landed on me. And I just feel really clear right now. And I wanted to thank you for your role in that. I did not listen to the full interview with Kenny, but what I did hear absolutely gave me what I needed. And I so appreciate your curiosity and your questioning. It's really good stuff, Erika. Cause I know so many are trying to figure this thing out.
I should probably add that there is absolutely "no shade" as the young folks would say, thrown in the direction of Kenny. I appreciate his life, his grapplings and his offerings as much as anyone else. And I am in gratitude for his willingness to allow others to glimpse into his world of experimentations with money.
Thanks for the space to ramble and swirl....
And here is Kenny's reply to Monica:
First, I want to be clear that I have never read/listened to Charles Eisenstein or anyone else theorize about a gift economy, all of my understanding is from personal experience and ideas that came directly to me. The connection for Erika was to her experiences with Eisenstein, but that is definitely not the basis that I have.
Contrast that with Kenny where it sounded like he was running from money to make a point about how we don't need it. When in actuality, it seems like he's just created a life where he is one step removed as he still relies on people who do choose to use it. It feel illusory.
I'm not sure how far you got in the audio, as you mentioned later that you didn't go through the whole thing,. My journey from a life based on money to one where money plays little to no role happened in 3 stages, which were each covered in the interview. In the first, I learned about fractional reserve banking, fiat currency, and the Central Banks, and completely stopped using money (running away as you mentioned). The second step was giving up my job/house/etc and living on the road, simply being of service and actively turning away money when it was offered to me. At the end of 2015, I realized that I had been creating resistance to energy finding its way back to me by being anti-money, and I spent all of 2016 just learning to find the balance. I covered a lot of this journey in an article a couple months ago as well (read here).
Most of my life doesn't have money involved at all, it's maybe 20-25% where it is "one step removed" as you mentioned. Events I do direct energy exchange to attend, nobody is paying anything. When I'm in the states, most of the food I eat & prepare is either home-grown or from dumpster-diving (once again nobody is paying anything). The times that money is one step removed is still often in only a secondary way. When I'm hitch-hiking, it's true that the other person pays for their car, and their gas, etc... but they would be spending the exact same amount of money whether I was involved or not.
My focus is not on not using money, it's on only using it when means of direct exchange are not available, instead of making it the go-to solution. A very important thing to me, and one of the key topics Erika & I discussed, is the understanding that quid-pro-quo isn't necessary. All of the energy you give, comes back to you, every time. It doesn't need to come back from the person you gave to, that is an artificial limitation, a form of tunnel vision that causes people to miss opportunities and not see their abundance. I don't need to be paid for cooking for hundreds of people at an event; simply being of service is a gift in and of itself, and all of that energy I have given will come anyway
It appears that we may be running from money but money is neutral. It's a tool. Much like our bodies that allows us access to certain experiences. Not THE way, just a way. Money is not sick. We are sick. So instead of running from money, it seems that if we are going to run from anything, it should be from our own imaginations about who we are. Not money.
Partially, I agree with you, but there are very different things being talked about here. Money is something with inherent value, like a silver/gold coin, a crystal, a bag of cacao, which is used as a medium of exchange. Currency is 'a system of money used in a particular country', in the current world mostly fiat currency, meaning without value, simply a representation. That doesn't necessarily mean that currency is a bad thing, but since all it does is attempt to represent our time & energy in an impersonal way, I find it much more fulfilling to simply exchange that time & energy directly.
Thanks for your feedback, and I'm always happy for new opportunities to discuss these things. I do have to admit I find it can be a bit trying when someone doesn't watch/listen/read a whole piece, and then gives a response which often would have been resolved by finishing the content. This is something I've been guilty of before, and as I work to make sure I don't do it anymore, it is harder and harder to ignore when others do it.
"Lack of money is the root of all evil."
(George Bernard Shaw)
I'm extremely grateful to Kenny, for sharing radical trust. And to Monica, for being engaged enough to respond. Both of you, in unique and powerful ways, make Next Level knowledge more accessible. All further thoughts about this are very welcomed in the comments section below.