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Brighton (Triratna) Timebank
- sparking new ways to help each other in the new economy
(underneath a logo of a Catherine wheel comprised of 3 Jewels, an arrow to the nail that holds the Catherine Wheel.)
What most firmly keeps the Catherine Wheel safely sparking into the world is a firm shared valuing of the values of the Timebank; the word 'Triratna' meaning 'three jewels'.
These values transcend many philiosophies and religions & are expressed in this Brighton (& South Coast) based Timebank as:
('Triangle Illustration' here)
Apex -Compassion
Left base - Learning
Right base - Team-building
1) Compassion (led by the example of the Buddha, who his closest friend described on his passing as "he who is so kind")
2) Learning (informed by the Buddha's teaching, which included a team-based generosity economics)
3) Team-Building (With our development of wisdom and compassion through working together and mutual generosity we become a stronger "Sangha"; setting a collective lead in troubled times, where ego-leading & greed have led to the un-economy.)
The un-economy was described on Radio 4's Sunday programme (27th November 2011) in the following terms:
Unfair
Unstable
Unsustainable
(& making lots of people) Unhappy.
Have you considered shifting your economic activity so that:
1) No more than one third of your economic activity is in the monetary economy?
2) As much as one third of your economic activity is traded through Timebank credits (free from money & yet able to pay for food, rent etc)? With creativity and good connections Timebank credits are even more potent and flexible than monetary credit in obtaining a wide range of the the things that matter.
3) All the rest of your economic activity becomes generosity- the "sharing and gift economy", whereby things flow freely without expectation of reciprocation.
People have the capacity to support each other meet not just their basic needs. A guy called Maslow wrote of our highest needs as our need for 'self-actualisation'. The more we go beyond 'self and other' & see "your needs (as) equal to mine", the healthier our communities become.
For all the benefits granted by late-modern society and competitive, debt-based economics, we can do better still.
If you want something better than what we've had to date, spend time finding out how the creative and socially-just application of timebanking (founded by Edgar Cahn) transcends the limits of money, the limits of barter & the limits of those local exchange schemes that have no brokerage-team to make wonderful things happen with no money.
The Moneyless Man, Mark Boyle, in his book of the same name celebrated with us at Buddhafield festival 2009 what could be done to lift the human spirit and re-connect us outside our monetary relationships.
Now in 2011/2012 the same organisation that founded freelender.org*, is coming of age, renaming itself Freelending & Timebanking CIC and seeking to build a strong team that makes a difference to many. Start by registering your interest via http://brightontimebank.info
(*Celebrated by Forum for the Future -alongside Landshare & Hospitality Club- as ahead of it's time in generating the low carbon economy)
Dear friend,
How are you?
Kind regards
Paul
Thank you to so many people in Hastings & St Leonards; most recently Patrick Glass, for his searing critique of the 6 months work I did here in setting up this 1st Happiness Group in Hastings;
http://actionforhastingshappiness.blogspot.com/p/those-who-have-made-good-week-happen.html
Tel 0780 70 66 202 - if a call will work better for you than an email?
P.S. I hope you have time to arrange a time to pop into the Hastings & SL AfH & Mediation Support Centre for tea & chat this week? Ideal for me would be
Thurs or Fri.
And, cheesy though it sounds, is there anything that I can do to make things (even) better for you?
And do let us (at the Timebank etc) know of your interest in happiness & sharing, if any:
http://stleonardssharing.info
"St Leonards Sharing" Timebank videos & press release at:
http://actionforhastingshappiness.blogspot.com/p/ideas-bubbling-out-of-happiness.html
Monthly updates on Paul's juggling of so much (seriously playful) stuff at: http://additionalinfo.blogspot.com
Thank you for your time reading the whole email and following up what you were moved to do.
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