Agenda
- Check In
- Review WWWs
- Weekly Events Logistics
- Review Agenda
- Finances
- 8th season sabbath ritual
Check In
- Eric: not that bad for a crazy weekend ... a little tired
- Ben: I slept in until almost 11am this morning ... I'm not sure whether that was a good idea or not
- Brandon: birthday party was really fun ... we're mostly cleaned up from it now ... as usual, we had one person opt-out after the newsletter was sent out yesterday
WWWs from last time
- <s>Ben ... follow your topical community protocol for this week ... ongoing
- Ben ... meditate and keep track of which days ... ongoing
- Ben .. Bonus: Sent out the newsletter</s>
- Brandon ... follow your topical community protocol for this week ... ongoing
- Brandon ... meditate and keep track of which days ... ongoing
- <s>Eric ... follow your topical community protocol for this week ... ongoing
- Eric ... meditate and keep track of which days ... ongoing
- Eric ... start fleshing out Galaxia ... by next call
- Eric ... Extract issues from Commentary on commentary and add to Git ... by next call</s>
WWWs
- Ben ... follow your topical community protocol for this week ... ongoing
- Ben ... meditate and keep track of which days ... ongoing
- Ben ... buy some green food coloring ... by Saturday November 2
- Ben ... test floating my candles ... by next call
- Brandon ... follow your topical community protocol for this week ... ongoing
- Brandon ... meditate and keep track of which days ... ongoing
- Brandon ... create the fossil shakers ... by next week
- Eric ... follow your topical community protocol for this week ... ongoing
- Eric ... meditate and keep track of which days ... ongoing
- Eric ... order some boric acid and test it out ...
Weekly Events Logistics
Service rotation: Eric, Shelley, Brandon, Ben
- October 26 Service: 8:15 am PDT (11:15 EDT) (Brandon)
- October 27 Work-Bee: 1:30 pm PDT (16:30 EDT) (Shelley and Brandon will be running a half marathon) (Ben and Eric will determine time at Service to work around Ben's workshop and Eric's Seeing Nature thing)
- October 27 Seeing Nature Readings and Practices (Ottawa): 13:00 EST
Finances
There are many different possible ways of making decisions about our finances. We've agreed to evolve our methods over time. As of October 2013 we are trying the consensus of a small committee as our method.
- Each tithing member pledges a portion of our "tithe to Life" to the SolSeedMovement
- We offer only that portion we feel good about having decided by the committee
- At first we will be one committee consisting of all tithing members
- Once we grow beyond 6 tithing members we will prune back the finance committee to 3 contributing members.
- Volunteerism with a vote of the tithing members if needed
- The committee requires an appropriately detailed proposal in order to allocate funds
- The committee meets regularly (for now during our workbee calls)
Discussion
- Initial Consensus System
- This includes people who aren't "contributing members" yet because they haven't been tithing for a full year
- Tithing includes just time, just money or both.
- Possible systems for choosing the top committee once we grow to 6 members
- Volunteerism
- Advantages: Informal, easy
- Disadvantages: If there's more (or fewer!) volunteers than slots on the committee, it could lead to conflict
- Democratic elections
- Questions: How often? Are there term limits?
- Advantages: Accountability to the membership
- Disadvantages: Tendency to short-term thinking (especially with term limits), tendency toward "professional" politicians ... those with a will-to-power who spend most of their time electioneering rather than governing
- Randomly selected (e.g., jury duty)
- Questions: How often do we re-select the committee?
- Advantages: No professional politicians
- Disadvantages: People with no interest or skill at managing finances will be chosen sometimes
- Pure hierarchy, e.g. by seniority
- Advantages: Very long-term thinking encouraged
- Disadvantages: No accountability (unless there's an impeachment process)
8th Season Service
Nothing ... still ... Nothing. And then ... <gasp> ... Something! Space! Time! Energy! Matter! Gravity! Galaxies coalesce. In one celestial nursery, Sol is born.
(Light a candle for Sol)
Sol's story has begun .. but it is only the beginning. The story continues with life, starfaring life, Green fire flowering as it spreads across our immense galaxy!
(shakers or tambourines or cymbals are played by children?) (6 or 7 floating candles with powdered boric acid to make a green flame?)
We wonder about the fate of humanity. Will we pass into the fossil record? (shakers or tambourines or cymbals are played by children!) (fossils could be involved somehow, e.g. ammonites in a shaker) Or will we adaptively radiate into an unimaginable diversity of forms?
(Hold up our fingers and wiggle them while crossing our arms in front of us and raising our hands above our heads)
Then will come intergalactic life! Shaping entire star systems. Sailing them across the great gulfs between the galaxies!
(Set one of the candles drifting from one side of a large water-filled container to the other)
Finally, life may come to control the fate of all! Turning dark energy into matter, Freely available to all living creatures.
(Add green food coloring to the water)
Life. Humanity. Living galaxies. The fate of the universe. From something ... Something else!