A VISION FOR STEEMIT...COOPERATIVE ABUNDANCE
Miller Heiman
I've always liked that Proverb. Certainly it is applicable to any group or organization, and in particular at the moment, to Steemit. Recently I've been inspired by the great enthusiasm and vision of fellow Steemians like @whatsup, and @taskmaster4450 and @teamsteem who are abundantly gung-ho for Steemit. However, I've also been inspired by the activities of those like @wwf and @davemccoy who are lifting and sustaining others. They are examples of Gandhi's quote "Be the change you want to see in the world." And there are so many others that are doing so much to help fellow Steemians and in so doing create a better, stronger Steemit. These people have Vision. And, indeed, "where there is no vision, the people perish." Of course @ned was inspired for bringing us Steemit and we are pleased that he continues to promote it. However, here is a post featuring Dan Larrimer, the co-inspiration/developer of Steemit as he talks about the amazing future of blockchain tech, Steemit, and EOS to students of his alma mater, Virginia Tech. (Gosh the guy is a perfect geek. Can't seem to find an attractive shirt or keep it tucked in). https://steemit.com/eos/@austinhopper/great-explanation-of-blockchain-and-eos-by-the-guy-who-invented-steemit-dan-larimer
We've heard a great deal about those who are "abusing" the Steemit system through... um... inventive upvoting and self-voting, along with all the creative ways to purchase votes and rewards. Remember the old saying, "Where there's a will there's a way"? Well theres another saying that could be applied to those creative souls on Steemit who can sniff out a dollar a mile away: Where there's a dollar, there's a way...to get it. Humans! These folks are still living under the old failed ways of scarcity thinking where greed, grasping, maneuvering, abusing anyone who gets in the way, and abusive use of force through government and other institutions is the norm. Other than leading to war, poverty, environmental disasters and a corruption of the human spirit these old ways work well! It seems apparent to me that if the human species is to survive and thrive we must, we simply must, turn away from these old survival level behaviors and move to a higher level of consciousness.
Most of us are familiar with the old tradition of neighbors helping neighbors raise a barn. This is a good example of Cooperative Abundance. People voluntarily working together to help a neighbor, and by so doing they know when the day comes they can count on their neighbors to help them in turn. What the barn raisers are doing is what many are doing here on Steemit. Helping others and by so doing raise themselves.
Cooperative abundance is so much more... or can be. Certainly those Steemians who are doing what they can to help others succeed are practicing cooperative abundance because they realize it is a good thing... not only are they and those they serve prospering but their behaviors strengthen Steemit as a whole. Their generous service is creating a new paradigm, a new way of relating to each other.
Recently I've posted about the 4 levels of consciousness which will help you understand cooperative abundance. https://steemit.com/psychology/@mistermercury/a-growing-shift-in-consciousness Survival level consciousness is what humans have been stuck in forever. Essentially it's every person for themselves. This level of consciousness is based on fear and scarcity thinking. We see this displayed by fearful persons here on Steemit that must grasp, and take, and manipulate to get more and more and more irregardless of how that affects Steemit or others. This is the same mad behavior we see from dysfunctional corporations, international bankers and what are call the Elite. In the lower level of fear based consciousness fear says there is never enough.
Abundance consciousness is quite different from survival consciousness. The person who is on this level of spiritual maturity radiates a sense of self worth, value and ease, of having something to give to the world and enjoying it. This person is motivated by compassion and loving kindness and experiences a lack of greed and wanting more and more and more. This person has awakened to the abundance of the world and to the abundance of his or her own heart. There is not just an abundance of material things but an abundance of love and what we might call spirit. He or she has a presence of peace and wholeness and freedom from the bonds of slavery to others and to fear.
Now if you are like me you've got a ways to go to actualize this ideal, however, Steemit offers one of the very best platforms on the planet to practice, and through practice and walking our spiritual paths I think one day we'll get there. Why should we be motivated to do so? Because there will no longer be war in our own hearts, there will no longer be scarcity thinking or fear of not enough. There will be the joy of joining with those who have learned to be self-responsible and proactive in creating a new world, a new reality. And this can all be done here on Steemit.
I believe @ned and Dan and @whatsup and @taskmaster4450 and so many others when they say blockchain technology will sweep across the earth. This may literally be the unexpected means of breaking the bonds of slavery placed upon all humanity by corrupt, controlling governments and banking systems. Blockchain tech offers the practical means of uniting humanity in a new era of cooperative abundance. But only if we want it to be so.
A few days ago @kevinwong posted a great article regarding the current abuses of voting on Steemit. Here: https://steemit.com/steem/@kevinwong/time-to-wake-up-and-fix-steem-s-voting-problem Not only is the article excellent but there are some very good comments too. I encourage you to read it. @kevinwong is one of those guys who is sacrificing for Steemit right now instead of falling prey to greed and fear. He has it right. (OK I can't resist: he is not always wong he is usually right). The point is this: it may take time to fix the problems here but it must be done. I firmly believe it is quite dysfunctional to have so many people practicing cooperative abundance while at the same time Steemit is hosting the same absurd fear based behaviors we experience in the world, behaviors that have driven us to Steemit in the first place! And we may just have to live with that for a while, but this behavior has a negative drain upon Steemit and needs to seen in the rearview mirror. Soon.
It seems like the issue is reaching critical mass. I encourage you to listen to a series of interviews of Witnesses coming up on @littlescribe. She will be interviewing, live on Discord, @timcliff this coming Wednesday. Tune in if you can. Here are the details: https://steemit.com/steemstar/@littlescribe/live-show-in-one-hour-eeek
Let's discover who among our Witnesses support some needed changes. It's time.
I would make one suggestion to the powers that be, though I understand the odds of them reading this are slim. Suggestion: let's find a way that our ocean full of spamming redfish have a platform within Steemit to spam away and perhaps even make a bit of income from it. Once a spammer wishes to advance to producing better content they then can do so. Just a thought. These folks are not bad people, they just may not have the ability or capacity to create better content. Perhaps there is a way to serve them here.
Well, that's all folks. Thanks for reading. I do appreciate it. Two pics are from pixabay.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: This is written after receiving several comments you'll read below that are enlightening to me. Which I really appreciate. I am open to learning and understanding. I try to seek first to understand. Perhaps I've been too harsh. However, Steemit remains a wonderful opportunity to be our best selves. Many blessings.
An interesting and thoughtful piece, I enjoy your perspective and point of view even in some places I don't fully agree.
I think many people point at arbitrary things and think they are a problem. For instance, self-voting. I self vote and double down with the bots, so I must be a selfish bad actor, right?
However, I also read, engage, manually curate and buy votes for others. Hmm, not so easy to categorize me now, is it?
When I know I am going to be inactive, I also sell some votes.
I know I am going on and on, but most of the fights/topics are invalid. Anything/Anyone can be good or bad.
One can not rape the reward pool. We all allocate exactly what we have invested, no more and no less.
We all have tools, flags, votes, witness votes and our voices to shape the community. Some people choose to sell, rent and buy other people's stake. Whether or not people appreciate those freedoms does not change it.
I am ready to be silent on the topics now, because this place will always be filled with new users and those who want to come in and tell others what they "have" to do with their stake.
To be fair, I did it too. I got frustrated for a while and bitched and then I just decided to show up and keep trying.
As you stated we all have different views and perspectives, but I don't think we have any unsustainable problems that need to be addressed. We have challenges that can be addressed or not, either way, some here are going to win and some will quit before they have a chance.
Again, I really enjoyed the piece and your thoughtful perspective.
Thanks for taking the time to help me understand things better. I do appreciate it. And by no means do I consider you a bad guy at all. I do suppose that some cross the line however and abuse the system. My personal motto is to : seek first to understand. I've got a ways to go on that one it appears.
Again, thanks for you input. Blessings.
I hope I didn't come across as sharp. I'm a bit frustrated with somethings that have nothing to do with you. I have really enjoyed your content. :) Mine is just another point of view.
Clean is better than jagged cuts❤️ Hahaha
I like that point of view, I do consider that everyone has a reason for what they do, and I have noticed a wave of posts telling everyone how they should run their accounts, it simply does not work, we all have to do what we have to do, regardless of reasons why, as it is getting boring "having" to explain yourself to others, when you are not obliged to do so. Have a superb week.
I don’t self vote, I gave that to my minnow friends. I do sell votes which the profits go to buy votes, and my votes go to minnow who really need help. Most of the people on Steemit do not post quality content for many reasons. Those who do post quality content are lost in the sea of those who are here because they have been told Steemit is like Facebook, we will reward you for post about your life, memes, and pretty pictures of flowers.
I don’t join groups because I have seen the founders of the groups greow rich in rewards while the group of individuals disappears in the founders shadow. The bidbots gave me independence from whales circle jerks and the profit I make grows my SP my 100% vote grows in power for some minnows who need to eat, they literal depend on a couple of dollars a week for food.
I don’t vote on quality content very often, I vote on promising minnows that need encouragement or money for food... your article is quality content and a thoughtful piece...
If we can solve Steemit’s problem we can solve what is happening in our world. This is a business not a non profit, the big investors want a return on their money. I don’t think the social platform is their focus, it’s the blockchain and it’s ability to make thousands of transactions quickly with very little energy...
Well you and @whatsup are opening my eyes. I feel rather...chagrined, or corrected. But that is OK. I agree with your strategy. And I also appreciate the heads up regarding whales groups and getting lost in the shadows. I also like how you support others. I know you have done that and are doing it for me. Which I really appreciate. i hope I , one day, can do the same for others. Many blessings.
I love Steemit and I hope to can support the dolphins and minnows, we will be able to make the social media platform sustainable🙏
Strange, but it's only been the last couple of days that I've come to understand how there is a core group of people like you who are really giving much and sustaining the momentum of Steemit. It is an interesting phenomenon. I am doing what I can too by helping newbies go in the right direction and by commenting and upvoting those who are really trying to get traction. It's a fascinating thing to become aware of. Blessings.
Will be curious what the witnesses have to say. That is if she posts it on here. Not all of us use Discord nor plan on it.
I sometimes don't think things are black and white on here. I am not a fan of the vote bots, but not for the reason most are not. I know many good people who are using them, and I like them and find their posts well thought out. I would have to say that it is mostly the bot owners themselves I see as being short sighted, and those delegating to them.
As for posting great content, I started off here and by misunderstanding the platform posted material that could have earned me thousands in self publishing and no one cared. Which was their right, as many who may have been interested probably were unaware I even posted it. But it did show me that this is not the platform to share such things.
This is a superb post, I read it yesterday though did not have time to comment, as there are so many fantastic posts like this, I simply do not have the time to comment on them all, I did come back to do it today though, top class my friend, keep on doing what you do, have a great week.
I appreciate your uplifting comment. It seems that we travel in the same circles. You are often commenting on other's posts that I read... and always, it seems, you have something constructive and uplifting to say. Blessings.
Indeed we do my friend, stay awesome, stay you.
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