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What does Tribe Steem Up Mean to Me?

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_{Thank you to @ELAmental who suggested this question and to @trucklife-family for organizing each biweekly question.}

Obviously when I was invited into this group on Steemit I felt a lot of joy & gratitude! This is foremost what it means to me. Tribesteemup is an abundance generator thanks to @Jamesc who delegated a huge stake to give daily upvotes to the members and due to the generous vision of @kennyskitchen -- this is rare, but I hope inspiring!, amidst conversations of greedy insiders and bid bots which mirror the actions of our larger culture-- a dog eat dog world, make sure you get yours!-- which we've all been programmed within to varying degrees. The work is to step outside of that and see what alternative visions we can create- that's what we're about!

But @tribesteemup is more than this, as its core mission seeks to amplify (through visibility) and boost (through monetary reward) voices which are emblematic of a different possibility than the greedy, "get yours" exploitive, unconscious model. What are these themes that we speak on and write about?

| Anarchy | Non-Violence | Philosophy | Veganism | Mindfulness |
| Community Empowerment | Love | Original Music | Esotericism |
| Healthy Recipes | Psychedelics | Truth | Permaculture |

Furthermore @hungryhustle created this incredible infographic to describe the 8 Pillars that Kenny drafted for the group:

TSU infographic

Very cool, important stuff!

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Unpack

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So let's unpack it a bit, what are we really about? What's going on here?

What's cool about this community is that each of us in it has different things to say concerning these themes. We are a group of open minded humans exploring these subjects through our lives and words, not an echo-chamber of black and white thinking. Let's have a dialogue!

If you rolled your eyes when you read these terms or think you can fit us into a box, I challenge you to read a few articles written by other community members and make a thoughtful comment on their pages-- and please do it on ours!

We promote dialogue and conversation. This is aptly demonstrated in an occurrence which happened over the last few days within the group!

We are living in tense times and I believe it's in the explorations of these challenging social happenings that we shed light, not in the dichotomous, caricaturized, generalized or us vs them mentalities that are so rampant and lead to shut-down conversations. We write a lot about the positives at TSU and seek to shed light, but we also dig in to that which needs digging in our culture.

By centering the humanness of us all and that we're all in it together, through mutual respect and nuanced dialogue, I believe we can turn things around on this Earth Ship hurdling through space.

But here's the thing, these conversations are inherently uncomfortable and oh-so-person specific and nuanced. Many shy away from them because it's not a good use of their time, disagreeing is difficult, people resort easily to childish name calling, and essentially (I believe) because we don't grow up learning how to talk with people we disagree with in specific ways about specific things using peaceful methods.

Even if you live in a progressive community, the tools of the dominant culture are still within you and come out in dialogue. The only way out is through and I believe this can be achieved through good dialogue and writing- of all things!!

So on this morning THAT is what @tribesteemup means to me. Check out the abundance of TSU articles for explorations & conversations on the themes listed above.

And feel free to respectfully voice your opinion in the comment section if you disagree. This is about learning together cuz we're all here together and it is through the conscious shedding of light that I believe we can make this world a better place. Thank you!

And for anyone wondering how they can join @tribesteemup, the group is currently closed until the price of Steem goes up again (and it's by invitation only.) However, @earthtribe was recently created and will support members who write on similar themes!