Goals and Strategies: What Am I Doing To Help Build A Better World?

The Chinese philosopher Wang Yang Ming once said “To know and not do is not to know.” 1500 years prior, James, the brother of Christ, said “Faith without works is dead.”.

 Using the pathology of alcoholism and an abusive relationship, I believe it is imperative that we do something to address our addiction to the dollar and the mental health crisis that addiction feeds on. 

Because we give individual value to the dollar, we give endless value and control to those who create the dollar from nothing. We actively invite the character of the politically motivated, the corrupt, the arrogant, the manipulator, the liars, and the dominating to be manifested in ourselves. An ancient proverb said “You become like what you worship.” Worship means value to the modern man or woman and we are all, to the person, valuing our lives in dollars. We trade our time and energy for dollars. We trade our goods and services for dollars. We are becoming like dollars and those who make them. We are becoming like Robert Menendez, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Henry Kissenger, and thousands of other empty souls like and worse than them….

This is why it’s so important to not just know but do something in a positive direction. 

If you are a Lord of the Rings fan, you’ll recall in the second movie The Two Tower an exchange between Merry and Pippin where Merry thought it was possible to know about the war for middle earth but also not do anything about it. 

Pippin Took:

Maybe Treebeard's right. We don't belong here, Merry. It's too big for us. What can we do in the end? We've got the Shire. Maybe we should go home.

Merry Brandybuck:

The fires of Isengard will spread. And the woods of Tuckborough and Buckland will burn. And all that was once green and good in this world will be gone. There won't be a Shire, Pippin.

What won’t work (in my mind) is simply throwing shade on the US Dollar and the US Government. That, in my mind, would be and has been effective as Prohibition and as safe as just telling the battered wife to leave her husband. In order to be effective, we have to address the root issues. There is soul work to be done here, not just economic or logistical. 

The below list is my starting point for trying to address the soul work at scale:

Goal #1: Gather People Interested in Wholehearted Living

Strategy: In-Person Community Groups

We aren’t going to heal over screens. It’s too easy to hide and not do the work of taking off our masks and practicing wholehearted living. I think meeting in groups of 10 or less and reading a book like The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown and 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson is likely one of the best ways to introduce the concepts of developing a positive self-concept and addressing the conditioning and negative thinking generated from or reinforced by our individual and collective trauma. 

A Heaven Worth Striving For with Jordan Peterson

One goal of these groups is to actively practice awareness, acceptance, intention building, accountability, community, and a gratitude practice. To this end we will open these book clubs by asking everyone how they are feeling (naming an emotion), what their intention is for the week, and giving each other affirmations. The person who gives the affirmation will also be the one who will hold the person accountable for the weekly intention (accountability and community building). We will close by asking everyone what they are grateful for. 

Goal #2: Build Community Individuals and Groups Committed To Wholehearted Living

Strategy: Life Coaching Sessions 

• False Self Awareness / Core-Self Development
• Sensory Awareness Exercises (e.g. mindfulness eating, meditation practices)
• Relationship Coaching (discussing and addressing cultural conditioning) 
• Assertiveness Training (finding your free, truthful, courageous voice)
• Cultivating Play (dance, song, games, and exploring other ways of letting go)

Goal #3: Build a Community of Free Exchange

• The ultimate goal is to build a community of people who know that they have gifts, talents, abilities, and resources and can share and trade them with their community. This is the beginning of a value for value economy that can replace the debt for value economy that we have today.
• My prediction is that this community will likely begin trading in non-monetary goods and services and eventually trade in durable forms of money like silver, gold, and bitcoin. 

Strategy: Website and Word of Mouth

• Create a website that allows people to list their services, gifts, talents, abilities, and resources. People will list what they need and what they have to offer. Communities of trade, knowledge sharing, and hospitality will form, divorced from the political and debt-based monetary system of today. 

If anyone is reading this and has ideas for building this website, send me a message to zachtravismoore@gmail.com

Risks and Resistance:

What to plan for: 

• Resistance from US Government

Since the establishment of the Federal Reserve and the institution of the income tax, the US Government has created an artificial demand for US dollars. The whole point of this demand is to create an environment that people need US Dollars to pay their taxes. This demand in the economy through the threat of the IRS gives the US government the power to print dollars and find willing people in the economy to trade their goods and services (from military equipment to pharmaceuticals) for the debt based dollars. We as a community should realize that the last thing the US government wants is a self-sustaining community that strikes at the heart of this dollar demand. The good news is that there are many voices both past and present I believe will support a free, loving, peaceful community. Our own history is one of breaking away from a government far less onerous than our present system. Regardless, we should expect resistance. 

• An economic hangover

Since 1973, oil has been traded in US dollars. The declining demand and value of the US dollar will likely create a temporary disruption of energy. It will be hard to predict the speed and impact of the fall of Western governments and their corresponding influences over companies domestic and abroad. The optimistic perspective is that the shift to a value based economy will be welcomed by those who can deliver these goods and services. The pessimistic perspective is that there will be a period of upheaval if too many people lack to psychological flexibility to adjust with the times.

How to prepare: 

• Be an Authentic, Loving, Peaceful Community that is Capable of Setting Boundaries and Holding People Accountable to Those Boundaries 

We won’t have worthiness prerequisites. We won’t allow ourselves to think or be told any of the following:

You are worthy of freedom and respect

- If you pay taxes

- If you share your gifts with those you don’t want to

- If you stay quiet

- When you have enough members

- If you move to another location

- If you act like a “good citizen” 

- If you claim a certain religion or philosophy 

Our community will know the falsehood of those prerequisites and reject them outright. We will remind ourselves of the consequences of embracing the negative false self, the wars, the school shootings, the obesity, the terror, the substance abuse, the stress, and the depression. We will remind ourselves that we are worthy just as we are and deserving of freedom and respect. 

The Power of Vulnerability by Brene Brown

• Build a community of articulate members

The most dangerous and powerful person is one who is articulate. Through book reading and the practices of authenticity and assertiveness, our community will be able to tell the truth with clarity and power. Charismatic, brilliant, articulate leaders will be identified among our members and we will encourage their gifts to speak, teach, debate, and lead the community through the economic hangover and government resistance. 

How to Become More Articulate with Jordan Peterson

• Develop local capacity for sustainability 

In addition to leadership, community members will be capable of preparing appropriately for an economic hangover and possible government resistance. We will be able to find incredible and creative resources among us and will see that connection and community will be more valuable than guns and MREs. 

Being Prepared vs Winging It with Jocko Wilink

Be The Person to Make Heaven Out of Hell with Jordan Peterson

• Practice radical acceptance and healthy coping skills

Regardless of our leadership and ability to plan, the chances of societal trauma is high. Some people will refuse to reject their victim mindsets. Some people will refuse to look inward and will instead try to find someone to blame, possibly our community members. There could be threats of wars and a period of incredible instability. In these moments, community members will lean on their gratitude practice, affirmations, and gutsy radical acceptance practice. 

Practicing Radical Acceptance with Tara Brach

Radical Acceptance Meditation with Tara Brach

We will call on the same spirit that caused Victor Frankl to find this insight during his experience in the Nazi concentration camps:

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

These are the basic strategies and risk assessments I can see at the moment. It all starts with a few community clubs. From that point on, we are trusting ourselves to the truth, the grit, love, and creativity that dwells inside true wholehearted living, and the Spirit of Life that compels us to fight for a better world. We will become a community of Ark builders who will be prepared for the coming flood and renewal of our world.