Satconomy

“I see you are a worker. You are not a fanatic. You will change whenever you find yourself in the wrong. There is no harm as long as you are not fanatical. Whether you are in the right or I am in the right, results will prove. Then I may go your way or you may come my way; or both of us may go a third way. So go ahead with your work. I will help you, though your method is against mine.” [An Atheist with Gandhi by Gora]

The above was taken from an exchange between Gandhi and the quoted book’s author, which had sought advise from the Mahatma. If the reader doubts that people could effectively work together despite having fundamental differences, I would recommend reading the short book by Gora. No one denies the idealism of these men, and yet what really stands out in their discussions is the importance of having concrete results to back theories. 

Through Gora’s endearing recollection of his time with Gandhi, I could imagine myself receiving advise directly from eminent practical idealists. More than once, I have used the following curt advise to pull myself above recurring doubts: ”Go and work. Work solves your difficulties.” On the other hand, when I feel getting carried away by words and flights of ideas, I find this quote brings me back on solid ground: “You are too theoretical. I am not so intellectual. Go to professors and discuss.”

Immediate relevance and clarity of insight more than makes up for the lack of eloquence in the preceding advise.

I don’t know how and when the idea of independent currency brands and issuers would become widely adopted, but a word of caution to the early adopters:

“As long as you derive inner help and comfort from anything, you should keep it. If you were to give it up in a mood of self-sacrifice or out of a stern sense of duty, you would continue to want it back, and that unsatisfied want would make trouble for you. Only give up a thing when you want some other condition so much that the thing no longer has any attraction for you, or when it seems to interfere with that which is more greatly desired.” (Richard B. Gregg recounting M.K. Gandhi’s advice, in the book The Value of Voluntary Simplicity, online copy here.)

If a person’s current line of work allows him or her to achieve peace of mind, as far as being able to provide for family and to contribute to society without personal moral or ethical objections, then the wages from that work does not have to be given up in order to try out a satconomy implementation.

As for myself, I think of this effort as somewhat of a personal hobby/duty. If and when the time comes that I lose interest in the salary that I earn as a technical writer, or if I conclude that my contract work is an obstacle to the effective demonstration of a satconomy framework system, then only at that point would I have to give up earning ‘regular money’. I will be content to be able to simply cultivate a currency brand (tyaga.org) at this point, just like any start-up entepreneur who hopes to eventually gain brand recognition. However, unlike an enterpreneur who looks forward to a big payday at an IPO, my goal is conceptually simpler but perhaps much harder to implement: influence the market to sustainably support what my entity’s currency brand represents.