Learning at Spirited Work about spirit, money and our material needs

[Anne Stadler]

Bobbi.  I¹d love to answer this at more length and will return to it in ten
days or so.  But am off for a personal retreat for a week tomorrow AM---no
phones, no e-mail, etc.

I have just been putting some of raw material for such a story together, so
I¹ll see what I can share when I come back.  Meanwhile, Peg is right, do
come to Spirited Work!!  She and I will be collecting more stories there in
January, and you¹ll be able to read the BIG STORY BOOK of reflections etc.
and ask all the folks what their experience and learnings are.  Besides its
FUN!!!

Cheers!@ And go for it!  Blessings, Anne
> 
> From: "Peggy Holman" <peggy at opencirclecompany.com>
> Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2003 13:12:50 -0800
> To: "Open Space Listserv" <oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu>
> Cc: "Anne Stadler" <annestad at nwlink.com>
> Subject: Fw:      Re: Learning at Spirited Work about spirit,
> money and our material needs
> 

> Bobbi,
>  
> 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 <mailto:bobbi at concinnity.net>
> To: OSLIST at 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
> bobbi at concinnity.net
> 
>  
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Peggy
>> Holman
>> Sent: Friday, January 10, 2003 1:37 PM
>> To: OSLIST at 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 <http://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 <http://www.opencirclecompany.com>
>>  
> 


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