Sarah and Fatimeh—the lawyers I/we hired to inform and structure these formalization proceedings, who I think are both very smart and also humanly kind—have suggested to me, in so many words, that it would behoove us in this process, whoso would undertake it, to keep it simple. (They did not add the “stupid” at the end, nor did I feel it was implied.)
My goal is to offload all the technical, administrative, and market-oriented tasks into a social system that can manage, indeed, steward, the cosmic mothership (as the material side of this hybrid egregore) for the long run. Kayla and I cannot keep up the invisible work—dealing with websites, media files, tech support, finances, etc.—which sustains the digital infrastructure of Cosmos, forever. I also believe that that a cooperative structure will be inherently more stable, regenerative, and gratifying for all involved than the current set-up.
Moreover, anyone who is trying to do any truly moving, original, transformative work in the arts is likely going to have to dedicate a lot of time to it, not just squeeze it in as a hobby (though much can be done in the margins as well). The is true in science, engineering, athletics, any field of human activity, included the inner yogas. Too many beautiful humans live as semi-slaves in an economy that is not optimized for our souls’ evolution or delight, but rather feeds on emotional neediness and reactivity in order to fuel extraction and war, maintaining the somnolent status-quo.
Cosmos is about collective (including political, economic, and spiritual) empowerment to enable members to fully pursue their self-actualization and open-ended creative projects within a supportive milieu. The way that we document the the terms of engagement—the language we employ and how we structure our metaphors—is important to set the stage for healthy community and cooperation in the long run, as well as functioning as an artistic statement on its own.
I have not even started publishing my own work yet. Gj still has something like 15 books to go in his Ido Chronicles! Others like @marythaler and @MarcoMasi have work in progress that may find a home in Cosmos. Yet others may wish to teach, heal, learn, conduct integral research, or spend quality time with other intelligent life-forms, likewise practicing the arts of conversation, listening, presence.
It costs money to print books, run events, and host websites. Also, it would be nice to support ourselves (and as many people as we can, as fully as possible) in doing what we love, so that most of our energy can flow into the world we wish to create. How silly, shameful, and yes, STUPID is it that a few billionaires get to live large on the fruits and fumes of industrial civilization, while most people (perfectly good brains & bioenergy sources! if slightly battered) spend most of our waking lives laboring only to keep the suicidal machine running at full capacity.
So, some time ago, I made a strategic decision to opt-out of Moloch and pursue another possibility via a creative seed of inspiration received in sacred vision—lovingly, at times despairingly, tending to it over almost a decade—and still we are just a young seedling, easily trampled. But I want to see this grow—beyond me, way beyond me. How might we keep it simple, yet elegantly accounting for natural complexity, as Jan Zwicky’s lyrical philosophy aspires toward? The whole future of Cosmos depends on how we nurture this seedling today.