“Each experience of love nudges us toward the Story of Interbeing, because it only fits into that story and defies the logic of Separation.”

“I am saying that there is a time to do, and a time not to do, and that when we are slave to the habit of doing we are unable to distinguish between them.”

“I once read a news story about a train wreck in Peru. The travelers and tourists were stranded in the mountainous area in winter, without food or heat. Many might have died that night, if it weren’t for the local villagers who came with food and blankets to keep them warm. These were poor villagers, and they were giving their only blankets.

I remember when I read that story how petty my own insecurity seemed, how tight my heart, and how tiny my generosity. I felt a kind of opening. If those indigent villagers can give their last blankets, then surely I needn’t be so concerned about my financial future. I can give. It will be okay.

One way to interpret this story is to conclude that obviously, those seemingly indigent villagers are much wealthier than I am. Let’s try a new definition of wealth: “the ease and freedom to be generous”. Perhaps these villagers have what we, in pursuit of money and its illusory security, are seeking to attain. For one thing, they are in community, and know that they will be taken care of by those around them. That is not so true in a money economy like ours. Second, they have a deep connection to the land and a sense of belonging. Through their relationships, they know who they are. That is a kind of wealth that no amount of money can replace. We moderns, the disconnected, have a lot of rebuilding to do. People like those villagers, and anyone living from interbeing, remind us of our potential wealth and the ground truth of interbeing. Their generosity enriches us merely through witnessing it.”

― Charles Eisenstein, The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible

I truly believe that becoming part of the Vancouver Island dollar (vi$) can help those involved realize and further some of the excellent initiatives participants of The Living the New Economy conference heard about just recently. See my previous couple of posts about that. Michael Linton, Ernie Yacub and Jason Guille will be hosting more introductory sessions on the vi$ soon. Watch this space for further details on that.

One final thing: As I said previously, we really need Victoria businesses to join in and support this local currency launch. So, if you have a local business, or know one whose values seem to gel with what you are reading here, please get in touch with me so that our team can invite them to a meeting and/or  one of us can meet with a representative personally to answer questions.