In the company of angels

I’m amazed at how much people are willing to do when something lights their fires.  Every day I’m more convinced that people have naturally giving hearts, that they will do great work if they’re passionate, engaged, and inspired by their work.

The people working with me are not being paid. I’m not either, of course.  We just see something in what we’re doing.  I can’t speak for what they see, but what I know for sure is something about what we’re building inspires me to contribute time and energy, creativity and knowledge.

When I observe the work my colleagues are doing—and believe me, they are contributing a lot of work—I wonder why some people think money is the sole motivator keeping people working.  “People won’t work unless you pay them,” they say.  Strange, because there is ample evidence (actual research, not conjecture or anecdotes) showing people want to contribute, will gladly do so, and find their own intrinsic motivations for doing so, when they’re contributing to something worthwhile.

Perhaps “People won’t work unless you pay them” comes from living in the existing debt-based economic system.  Perhaps you have been conditioned to believe this axiom because most everyone you observe work in this way.  But millions of work-hours are invested in pursuits every day that generate no income whatsoever for millions and millions of people in your nation.  Why does all that work go wholly unobserved, ignored, unacknowledged?

I’m writing this post because the Copiosis team lost a member this week.  He didn’t pass away.  But his departure was like losing a family member.  Jean-Daniel, like most people in the world, needs to earn a living.  He had been working on his own company for the last several years until acknowledging last week that it wasn’t generating income.  He had been with us for the last year.  His contributions were outstanding, particularly in our IT development, our net benefit formula, and clarifying our axioms.

Several Copiosis team members would gladly contribute more.  But they, like Jean-Daniel, feel the pressure, the compulsion.  One of these people, Andrew, captured this feeling to a T:

Unfortunately, like countles others without other options, I have consented to exist and subsist, and even to try to take my best chances in the current system, lacking viable alternatives. That is the sad victory of the mainstream: to compel people to consent, however begrudgingly, to throw their lots in with the rest, because of a lack of viable alternatives. If you can change that, meaningfully, sustainably, with justice and proven results with Copiosos, you can know you would have me behind you.

I don’t consent to “fighting”, “resisting” or being “against” the mainstream.  Pushing against it only adds to its already formidable momentum.  Instead the wonderful people working with me are designing an alternative to the mainstream.  I believe the wonderful people working with me on this—Anthony, Erica, Ray, Aaron, Scott, Bridget, John, Manny, Dan, and others—can see the potential.  That’s why they volunteer.  At least that’s what I think.  Whatever their reasons, I’m glad they are here.  And I miss those who can’t be.