MessageBobbi, What a great question! How about coming to Spirited Work as a starting point? It will give you a chance to see what it looks like in action and pursue the question with people who are living in it. Our next session is coming up -- Jan. 23-27.
In addition, I've copied Anne Stadler, who wrote the story I sent. She's done a great deal of reflection on this subject and I suspect has something already written on the subject. Peggy ----- Original Message ----- From: Bobbi Bilnoski To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Sent: Friday, January 10, 2003 12:23 PM Subject: Re: Learning at Spirited Work about spirit, money and our material needs Where can I find good instructions on forming an OST learning community? Bobbi Bilnoski Concinnity Network 214-293-8696 cell bo...@concinnity.net -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] On Behalf Of Peggy Holman Sent: Friday, January 10, 2003 1:37 PM To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: Learning at Spirited Work about spirit, money and our material needs From time to time, I've mentioned Spirited Work. It is an Open Space learning community, about to enter its fifth year of meeting four times a year in OS using Angeles Arrien's archetypes as a learning lens. (More info is at www.spiritedwork.org.) Anne Stadler just wrote a delicious piece on an amazing story about our relationship to money. In the past year, we've moved from a debt of $5,000 to available funds of $7,000 (a $12,000 swing) through following a feeling of abundance and following what has heart and meaning. To me, it has been a fabulous example of learning to collecitvely live in open space. Thought you might enjoy her story. Peggy P.S. If you're interested in buying a copy of Spirited Food, the cookbook Anne mentions in the story, let me know. CREATING KNOWLEDGE AT SPIRITED WORK OUR STORY ABOUT SPIRIT, MONEY AND OUR MATERIAL NEEDS By, Anne Stadler The four Founding SW Convenors started with a commitment to "Sharing Costs" AND "transparency" as the basis of how we would care for the material level of Spirited Work. Initially, Vivienne handled this aspect of our common life. As far as I can tell, Vivienne operated on an implicit assumption of "enough". That is, she assumed that if she articulated a sliding scale of costs, and everyone were honest about what they could pay, it would all come out even. So that's what we did. BUT, Whidbey Institute didn't know how much it cost to run the place, AND the sliding scale she established didn't communicate the actual costs. So, the first two years we were very hit or miss in meeting our costs-and it was never very clear whether we did do so, or not. For instance, in 2000, we thought we had given Whidbey Institute enough money to pay for our share of costs, then later on we learned we did not-so we took up a collection at the end of the year to make up the difference-then later it seemed that this figure had been wrong as well and we still owed money. In any case, the whole issue of sharing the costs of our material welfare became a s! ource of anxiety and confusion-indicating this was a grand opportunity for new learning!! Quite a bit of energy gathered around this: positive and negative. Marketplace offerings reflected this focal point of interest in the community. We began to talk about the Radiant Bank. We began to focus on abundance-rather than lack, as a result of noticing the world around us and the lessons of the natural world. We began to pay increasing attention to what sustainability means: that you had to address the material level as well as the emotional and spiritual levels to do spirited work in the world. People were stepping forward in the Marketplace, offering a variety of topics which indicated their interest in helping with the material aspect of our life as a community. So we Convenors realized that people wanted to steward the material level of our community in a more thoughtful and efficient way. We named that function "stewarding", and invited those who cared about stewarding to do so. Initially the Stewards group focused on the material level of our welfare. Leadership came forward, and interested stewards evolved a workable approach to realizing our commitment to sharing costs and creating abundance as the basis for how we share the material support of SW. (This was the result of many conversations between MaryElla Keblusek, Walt Blackford and responsible Whidbey Institute folks, as well as numerous marketplace offerings and conversations on Catalyst.) As a result, we sorted out the real costs, started a Community Fund to realize our intention to support all who were attracted to Spirited Work, and we decided on a course of transparent communication so that the whole community of Spirited Work was aware of the details of our material life. Here is what we did: We started the year with a debt of $5,000 to BigMindMedia. This debt resulted from the fact we'd had an agreement for the year 2001 to pay BigMindMedia $5,000 for its services in maintaining our web environment BUT we forgot to actually figure that into our costs or to pay them. So, starting 2002, we had this debt to BigMind, we had a commitment to create a Community Fund so we could realize our SW Community Agreement intention to "create the abundance necessary for all who are attracted to Spirited Work to be able to participate" AND we had to each pay our share of the total cost of being together at Spirited Work. The morning of the first Friday of our first gathering in January 2002, we put a large copper bowl in the middle of our circle. In that bowl, we put information about all these costs. AND we made it clear that as a community, this was our shared material obligation. In welcoming people and articulating our intention for the year, I spoke about this bowl, why it was in the middle of our circle, and of the principles which guide our approach to money and our material needs. I invited people to contribute to the whole of our material welfare-as they found this had heart and meaning for them. We also supplied detailed written information about how the shared costs were arrived at, what they supported, etc. MaryElla also spoke, and offered a marketplace session as well as her personal availablity to anyone who really cared about these issues. Questions about money and our material needs came up in the closing circle, and we again realized the importance of continually reiterating how we care for those needs. We have made all our decision-making and communication transparent on Catalyst, and we have done the same each seasonal gathering in writing and in speaking. At first, a group of Stewards volunteered to take responsibility for the Community Fund and for raising money to support that Fund and paying off our debts. Joan McNeary, Sue MacNab, Michael Dobbie, Jo Shelver were all part of this initial group. They met several times and came up with a variety of ideas for raising money-a one of which was to have a big auction in the fall. Membership in that task group fluctuated during the year, but those who stayed with it evolved a very practical, inviting method of paying attention to our money needs. Over the course of the year, what started as a Silent Auction to "practice" for the REAL BIG Auction in the fall, became a regular low-maintenance occasion for recycling our "extra" valuables, offering our services, and buying them from each other in a Silent Auction which took place each seasonal weekend. The Silent Auction raises about $2,000 each season for the Community Fund. My favorite story about the Silent Auction is that at the first one, Fritz Hull bought an item for himself. He forgot to pick it up. At the second Auction, it came back out again, and Vivienne bought it for Fritz and gave it to him! Without knowing he'd bought it earlier! Our efforts to help the whole materially also bring wonderful personal connections between Spirited Work seasonal gatherings: eg. Gabriel buys Yoga lessons from Candi, and sees her and other Spirited Workers in town; Jerilyn, Anne and Dave, Paul, Joy M. and Sue McNab offer a Pistolet dinner, and a SW consortium buys it! --and spends the evening together eating up a storm. So one take-home lesson from this is experience is do what is FUN, EASY, and brings JOY when you focus on creating material abundance Another initiative happened: Noticing our delight in eating and creating sustainable approaches to food and abundance, Anne and Dave Stadler, Steve Silha, Nancy Bond and Jo Shelver invited everyone to help create a Spirited Food cookbook to raise money for the Community Fund. They were joined by Leslye Wood (who turned out to be the REAL honcho behind getting the book done!), Ann Amberg and Katie French. Anne and Dave, Steve Silha, and Sue McNab choose to front the money for the cookbook, and are being paid back as the cookbook sells. There seemed to be a deep creative stream which supported the book all the way along. Nancy Bond had to drop out. So we asked for help and Ann Amberg and Katie French showed up to help on the graphic design. To begin with, Anne Stadler thought she and Dave could front the entire amount of $$. But in the fall when we were ready to print, she and Dave had unexpected family expenses which meant they couldn't afford to front all the costs. So, she called Steve and Sue McNab to ask for help, and they were able to give it. We were also delayed getting the book together, and when Anne was called away to deal with a family emergency, the book needed to be taken to the printers and final production work was needed. Again, Anne asked for help. Leslye had an opening in her busy professional schedule, so she stepped in and took over the entire production process. The book came out in time for the November gathering of Spirited Work in time for sale as Christmas gifts, and is st! arting to earn money. The whole thing feels like SUCH a lesson in how staying aligned with abundance. . What we have learned: By being true to our Intentions, we are creating abundance and sharing the wealth as well as the costs. The year 2002, we ended up with a surplus of money which we are sharing with the Whidbey Institute, giving as a turnkey grant to Peter Donaldson for SalmonPeople development, buying a gift for the Sanctuary, and starting the year with a bank account for the Community Fund. We also have actualized the Radiant Bank concept of individuals "lending" money and resources to help deserving projects happen, which will then be paid back as the projects earn. AND we have initiated a formal Resource Bank of people who are offering their services through Spirited Work at the Whidbey Institute, and donating part of the funds they receive back to SW at the Whidbey Institute. We also learned that clear intention applied in making practical decisions all the way along drives manifestation. To take practical action, you follow what has heart and meaning, measure what you are doing against the intention you declared, and ask for what you need, when you need it. When glitches or unexpected events happen, you keep the space open for emergence: notice what is happening, listen for Guidance, and welcome places of anxiety and static as evidence of the opening for new learning. LET'S CREATE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THIS ALL IMPORTANT SUBJECT: Please ADD your part of the story! What is your "aha" experience re. money and creating abundance in SW? Please tell your story, and reflect on what it means in general- AND ADD TO THIS NARRATIVE!. _______________________________ Peggy Holman The Open Circle Company 15347 SE 49th Place Bellevue, WA 98006 425.746.6274 www.opencirclecompany.com
