A new Community and a whole new way of seeing Value

In the trance of the collective thoughts we look outside for confirmation and for value. It starts at school with having the right toys and clothes. What is hot and what isn’t is what we then know through others. This is clear in the way people often socialize and attach to status. These unconscious patterns that used to be subtle or not so subtle are now even more obvious in the Social Media. We become addicted to being liked and valued by others as a means to have a voice.

If we look deep in our heart, we can know that what is most popular is not our deepest truth. Through the social media, it gets magnified how people measure truth and value. Less than judging a message through facts, they go by popularity. We can see this on a larger scale through the political manipulation of the social media.

The corporate and political world is now blamed for the political manipulation, but I see a deeper reason as well. We can only be vulnerable to manipulation if we judge things according to popularity. If we trust outside confirmation more than our own heart then we are easy to manipulate.

I feel it is time to re-evaluate this value system. It is only based on a few beliefs and filters. The belief in success through conforming and confirmation from others. And the filters about what is attractive and what is not. All of this is not our original idea. It is taught and educated by society.

Please watch this Introductory Video, where I introduce this subject of True Value personally:

From Conditional Love to a community based on True Value

We all want to be accepted, affirmed and loved by others. It is a deep human need to receive this. Conditional love is only to receive this if certain demands are met. This is how children get manipulated to conform. Of course children do need boundaries, but not to suppress their creativity.

The Conditional Love is how we get manipulated to look outside for what’s true, to equate Truth and Value with popularity. We have been led away from our own heart into an illusion of the Ego. This in not primarily a matrix outside of us that we are manipulated by. I’m addressing an unconscious pattern that is playing out on an inner level, that keeps us away from our own heart.

I feel it is important for a new community to come together, a community of people that see True Value. Value is both objective and subjective, but if it’s judged by popularity it is False Value (false value can both be a positive or a negative value we attribute to something only guided by opinions from others). If we value ideas and expression in a new way, it changes everything about the way we relate. Of course, many people have already woken up to this and they care less about popularity. However, I feel that through being more outspoken about this, by creating a community, many more people can wake up to this.

If we consciously expose the illusion of the Value-through-Popularity system, many shifts in perception can happen. We can declare that we Value something because we Love it, not because it’s popular. In this way, we take back the power that we gave away when we needed confirmation from others.

Abundance will come more naturally, and it will be more fairly distributed. True Abundance comes from following our Joy, and not from being popular. Being popular often gives hard-won abundance, that has much of a survival element to it.

This is a poem I posted earlier that seems relevant:

What is truly of Value?

It’s so easy to look out!
What is popular?
I MUST look at that
Because others like it!

Popularity is also money
This Platform exposes our way of thinking
This unconscious process
Can we see it, face it?

Our beliefs in Value ——— Our hearts
They connect and interact
We look outside and inside
For confirmation

Do I need a Positive Projection
To feel good about myself?
Or a negative one
To feel bad?

What is true Value?

Maybe no-one will ever read this post,
Or maybe someone will,
If they are reading it without a projection,
It is worth more than a 1000 people reading it because it’s trending.

Spiritual isn’t always trending
(But sometimes it is)
But it could be an inner trend
A heart connection ♥️

Why not reconsider this word?
Spiritual has been misunderstood
It is about you
About your Heart.

Allow your heart to shine,
Life is beautiful
Get out of your head
Let go of all value-systems.

See things from openness
Here and Now
This is your true expression
Expression of the Heart.

A New Social Paradigm

These are guiding intentions to find a new balance, a new way of social interaction
• Welcoming Success and Abundance equally for ourself and others
• The Spirit of Giving
• Voting integrity Voting for what you love
• Posting integrity Posting from the heart
• Commenting integrity Supporting each other through meaningful comments
• Non-judgment
• Being outspoken about integrity

I made a little Logo that I’m going to use when I vote for a post, a sign of attributing True Value! This is my way of being outspoken, of showing that I don’t have any other reason of voting than because I love it. I think this also honors the one who receives the vote, because they know I don’t do it for curation rewards or followers.

The first two points on my list are already emerging in the Steem community. It is beautiful to see how people encourage each other to have success. And there is a beautiful spirit of giving in the community, of supporting newcomers. These two developments show that the community is already making great progress. But I want to use the opportunity to grow even further.

We can find Integrity from a place of Non-judgment. When I vote for something out of true value and use the picture I am outspoken but not to judge others. Everyone is on their own path, and every path is unique. They might be making an income from their posts, they might have a need to vote for the rewards. Then they might not be ready to vote just because they love something, and that is perfect too.

True Integrity is not about judging others, or try to change them. But we can be outspoken about our own intentions. If I am outspoken about voting for some someone because I love it, I create the opportunity for others to evaluate their voting integrity. Instead of judging, I create a space for reflection.

Steem as a Practice Space

The Integrity and Non-Judgment are intentions that we can use in our off-line life as well. Steem can be like a practicing space to find this new way of interaction. In this space, we welcome success without judging ourself or others. Maybe we got our success in a way that wasn’t from the heart. Great, everything is an opportunity! Welcome the success without looking back.

Now we can use our success as a platform from which we can explore integrity. We can start express from the heart instead of from the need for outside confirmation. We can let go of the need to be popular, step by step. And we can start to find a new way of Valuing, a new definition of Success. To me, being in the heart is the greatest success.

Posting and Commenting Integrity

The same goes for posting and commenting. We welcome success, also for ourself. To make a lot of dollars from a post is fabulous. Now we can also use that success to connect to our heart, and to redefine success.

In the older social paradigm, we followed a protocol to have success. The protocol is to express ourself in a way that we know others like, so we get popular. In this way, we disconnected from our heart either out of necessity or out of ignorance.

Even people who make a lot of money from their posts by a protocol come to a point where they’ve got enough. Maybe they even get tired of following a protocol. Then they get to a place where they start looking for newness.

Posting integrity is to follow our heart when we express ourself. This is not about being dogmatic, or judging ourself for every time we looked for outside confirmation. Rather, it is about exploring something new, something that we might not have tried for some time. This is to post about our true feelings, our dreams, without applying any protocols or filters.

Expanding our Consciousness

What we are exploring is to truly be ourself, even in a space where people are looking outside of themselves a lot. Both on Steem and in the off-line world we can find spaces like that. Then we can become more aware of our unconscious patterns. When we meet someone, do we immediately check how much they earn and what their reputation is? Or do we just receive their message?

When we become more aware of unconscious patterns and also question them, we Expand our consciousness. This is the first step of The Basic Rhythm of Verbal Dancing. When those parts of us that were in the shadows become illuminated, our consciousness Expands. We become more open to new possibilities.

The Basic Rhythm of Verbal Dancing is an approach I use to describe our Spiritual and Creative process. It synthesizes a lot of different other approaches, and simplifies them.

Breathing & Feeling

The Second Step of the Basic Rhythm of Verbal Dancing is Breathing. We use our breath to go inward and to bring our attention to our feelings. In this process, we go from tightness to relaxation, from an overly intense focus towards a natural focus. We go from a closed fist to an open hand, from being in the way of the process to getting out of our own way, from stagnation to flow.

In the breathing process, we might start to feel our urges to strive for popularity and to get confirmation. We might start to see a deep feeling of lack, of being unloved. This process doesn’t always need to go this deep, but sometimes it can do. If we are willing to let go of the instant gratification that we sometimes get offered, spontaneous healing can occur in this process.

Landing: a new Expression

In the last step, Landing, we get connect to our Creative Expression. This might be through writing, speaking, singing, dancing, kindness, technological innovation or in another way. (There are infinite ways) When we are not limited by needing something from others, a wonderful new expression starts to emerge! We see an expression that is fresh, true and authentic.

Love and Light,

Michiel Kroon

PS: thanks @axios for inspiring me to make the little video above, to go along with this post.