Giver Culture

Love.  It is a word that stands alone.  It has been the subject of much pleasure and strife in human history. We give great credence to this word.  It fulfils us, inspires us, and takes us to new heights and depths.  It renders us helpless, yet frees us to soar upon the heavens.

What is this stuff called love?  Is it simply an illusion or an actual force of nature?  Is it both, neither, nor?

With human beings, love is a messy affair.  You can say whatever you wish about the human realm of love, but it is often a complex mess of emotions and feelings that make it hard to decipher.  One of my good friends, a fairly rational thinker, feels that love is simply biology.  What humans call love, he states, is simply a wash of hormones and neurotransmitters released by the brain, evolved for the purpose of passing along our genes.  Although I can follow his reasoning, for it is hard to find fault with it, yet it doesn’t ring true to me. It never seemed like the complete answer.

Once I looked deeply into some of the fundamental roots of the joys and difficulties of relationships I realized that my friend was only partially correct. Although he thought he had ‘love’ all figured out, he hadn’t truly reached the heart of the matter.

Human beings are undoubtedly one of the most complex species that have ever evolved on this planet.  We evolved our emotions the same way as our mammalian cousins.  We evolved such feelings simply so we would, simply, connect.

If one examines the world of love and relationships purely rationally, one can see that they do not quite make sense.  Human beings, with our ability to rationalize, must see the illogic even more clearly than our animal brethren.  It seems that love is such a complex and powerful mess of emotions for human beings simply for the fact that we need to overpower our strong rationalities in order to connect at all.

It dawned on me that love is simply ‘connection’.  Love is the ability to connect.  Absolute love is a completely open connection.  When you love something such as a person, or the joys of painting, or sailing, or eating chocolate, you are connecting with it.  The stronger the connection, the stronger the love is.  ‘Loving people’ are people who are simply open to connections.

Under this line of reasoning, the opposite of love, of connection, is repulsion.  Repulsion is what we experience as fear.  Fear drives us away from things, where love attracts. In the centre, between love and fear is simply ‘disconnection’.  Disconnection means nothing; there is neither love nor fear.

This insight certainly seems interesting.  What made me even more curious about this line of reasoning was that it took me to something else that I have been thinking about for quite some time—that trinary logic might provide some insights to some of the mysteries of our universe.

With computers we have a binary system of fundamental building blocks—the ‘O’ and the ‘1’.  With these two components we can build an infinite variety of hardware and software, all of which rests on this binary foundation.

With atomic forces we tend to see three behaviours—Attraction, Repulsion, Neutrality.  The interplay of these forces create the molecular world that we experience on a daily basis.  Whether the entire universal building blocks, whether quarks or strings or something else not yet discovered, are also governed by three types of behaviour is not yet certain, but perhaps it is something that might end up being true—universe being a trinary system.

This trinary idea made me think of Taoism.  With Taoism the universe separated into two fundamental forces, the dark Yin force and the light Yang force.  According to Taoism the interplay between these forces created all that was in the universe.  Although, according to Taoism, there was another ‘something’ or ‘nothing’ that these yin and yang forces originally derived from.  The balancing that Taoists attempt to achieve is hoped to bring a closer to this ultimate universal essence.  This original nothing-essence seemed to me as the third state that I had been thinking about with my thoughts on love and fear.  Disconnection, which is neither love or fear, lies somewhere as the potential to be either.

-1—0—1

Fear—Disconnect—Love

Repulsion—Neutrality—Connection

Now one of the more interesting things about connection is that it unites and creates diversity and complexity.  Single-celled life forms connected billions of years ago to allow multi-cellular creatures to exist.  One day, the connections that we are laying, in this information age, may allow the human species, and maybe even all Earth-based life, to connect in ways that would be as revolutionary as the rise of multi-cellular organisms.  The more we connect the greater we become.  Perhaps this is a fundamental mathematical truism stemming from the very trinary nature of our universe itself.  Perhaps our biological mess of emotions is simply an echo of this primary law of the universe.

Now this same friend once lived in a Taoist temple for a couple of years as a teenager.  He used to believe, and perhaps still does, that when Buddhists masters seek enlightenment they are pointlessly shooting their energies into a black hole, turning their life force into nothingness.

On a motorcycle ride home, after sitting in a beautiful banyan tree in my neighbourhood today, I was reminded of my friend’s statement, made over a decade ago.  It just popped in my mind.  Curious to know why this particular statement had so suddenly appeared in my mind, I examined it and suddenly I received an insight.  I felt that even if this is what Buddhist masters were actually doing when achieving nirvana they might be doing exactly what they should.

A master, being aware of subtleties that we cannot ordinarily comprehend, is quite aware of anything that causes fear.  Fear cannot exist at this state if the master wishes to progress.  Now what could be the absolute, most frightening concept that is known to exist in the universe?  Entering a place where no escape exists, where time and space are meaningless, a prison cut entirely off from the rest of the universe—a black hole.

A black hole is known to cosmologists as a singularity.  All laws of physics break down inside this singularity.  The only other singularity that has ever existed in the known universe, besides a black hole, is the universe just before the Big Bang itself.

The Big Bang.  It was essentially a black hole just before the universe began.  Now this singularity is the source of everything, of all life, of all death.  If these Buddhist masters were actually shooting themselves into such singularities, the eventual outcome would be the same.  Certainly, they would be cut off from this universe, yet they would eventually be part of a singularity that would eventually become its own source of everything in its own universe.

So by facing this ultimate fear, it results in the ultimate love: the creation of all.  And this practice, of hunting down and conquering fears, ends up balancing things out to allow the greatest expression of love of all—pure creation.

Giving the great peace that is ‘nothing’ to your fear as you face it, causes it to die, which then gives birth to love.

Give your negativities the gift of peace. Then love that peace.  It is the source of creation & the greatest love of all.

The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.

-Albert Einstein-

There is Truth and there is Beauty.  Some may chose one over the other.  Few are those who find the delectable discovery that when Truth and Beauty are combined it forms a symphony that approaches divinity not only in its depth of creative power, but also its scope of infinite possibilities.  Today I saw but a glimpse of that rare beauty that such a combination can bring.

Since I was in my early twenties I have had a number of experiences that have shaken me to my core.  At first, these experiences came slowly.  Recently the frequency of these experiences has seemed to accelerate—almost exponentially.   Each experience has had its own indistinguishable nature.  No two experiences were alike.  Some were like being shot out of a cannon; some took days or weeks to conclude.  Some were composed of one big experience.  Others took a string of fairly large incidences.  Today I had a number of small insights, coincidences and experiences that all centred around one central theme.  This theme was about the nature of Faith.

The very idea of faith has been one in which I have had trouble with for quite a long time.  Previously I never saw it as necessary.  I felt that looking at the underlying truth of any matter was much more important than having faith in something unsubstantiated. It seemed foolish, I thought, to put blind trust in something that had no facts or reason behind it.  Yet I always felt that “a leap of faith” is what drives evolution, and the discovery of the unknown.  The two ideas seemed irreconcilable.

Today, for the first time in my life, the two ideas were not irreconcilable any longer.  I now seem to have a perspective that not only allows for a “leap of faith” but also gives it the wings to soar.

All one needs do, I found, was to allow for the possibility—to entertain any possibility.  One does not need to take this possibility too seriously, yet one needs to open the gates of their imagination just a smidgen to allow that possibility to exist.  For when that is done, the human mind will eventually start to figure out how that might be possible, and when there are a few human minds at work on such a possibility, then success is even more likely.

Jesus spoke of having only the faith the size of a mustard seed as being enough to move a mountain.  What I believe he meant by this, was that if you allowed just the seed of a possibility—a tiny amount of faith to acknowledge that a mountain might be moved—then one would naturally find a way for that mountain to be moved.  If we open our eyes we can see this in the modern era.  We have many marvellous technologies now that were not even conceivable for the vast majority of the time we have, as a species, been here on Earth.  These advances all required a smidgen of faith to start, as well as being backed by the foundations of truth.  And the greater beauty was that these discoveries inspired others to build and discover more and more.  Now, in today’s world, moving a mountain not an impossible task for human beings to accomplish—for we have the knowledge and vision to accomplish such a task.

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine who has been on a spiritual journey of discovery, came down from the mountains of Taiwan. He and his wife gave up everything, including money, to put trust in existence.  The timing of his visit was absolutely perfect.  He contacted me just as I was looking to contact him.

When he came, he had some outrageous spiritual theories.  Some of which I had heard before he went into the mountains.  They seemed irrational and absolutely crazed in some aspects.  They completely made no sense especially in view of modern scientific knowledge.  When he came he asked me to have faith in him, simply as a friend.  I opened myself to the possibilities that my friend’s theories were true.  I did not believe completely that they were, but I instead imagined, as if, they were true.

I never completely came to agreement with my friend in the end, although we spend days talking as if the foundation of his theories were factual.  We built upon these theories, expanding it with our ideas and imaginative speculations.  In the end they allowed me to make some spiritual discoveries that I have been testing, with great success, since his visit ended.  My theories are different than his.  Yet I would possibly never have come to such conclusions if I had not opened my mind to what he believed.  I took a leap of faith, and since I never abandoned what I felt to be true, I not only survived any potential crash, but have also soared.

If our perspective is founded on a layer of truth, at least as close to the truth as we currently know, this can provide us with a secure foundation.  Yet, if we layer our perspective, with beauty provided by our imaginations, we can add an extra layer of colour and texture to nature without losing site of what is real.  This frees our imaginations to find solutions to problems that are currently impossible, and with time, awareness, patience and cooperation we might eventually discover ways to make the impossible truly possible.

By mixing truth with beauty we can create and discover more, for it gives us greater motivation to create and discover.  Books, films, art are often more powerful when they mix truth with beauty.  Discoveries are more compelling when they not only give us the facts of how and why certain processes in nature happen, but also give us the possibilities of where these discoveries might lead us.

The culmination of my day ended up with me, by sheer coincidence, watching a movie that was about the power of faith.  An army of extremely talented and creative people created this beautiful film.  Its central theme was faith, which had strangely also been the central theme of my day.  This movie was woven in a most delightful way that mixed realism and fantasy in the visuals, the message, the characters and the plot.

This day and this movie gave power to this idea that all we need is simply a tiny amount of faith—just enough faith to imagine possibilities. By doing so we can, through our imaginations, add beauty to our perspective without abandoning our foundations of truth.

In the last week a string of remarkable circumstances provided me with a number of amazing perspectives that led to the realization through direct experience that a great Peace lies within us.

This is a type of Peace that is deep within all of us, it is the true source of true creativity, love and bliss.

No one is responsible for this Peace.  Only we are.  It is our responsibility.  It is our birthright.  All we need to do is to access it.  And this Peace lies within each one of us.

To reach this Peace, all we need to do is be one with the Now.  Be here.  Feel yourself.  Feel your emotions, your aches and pains, watch the illusion of time dissolve as only the Now is present.

The deeper you come to this realization that all is in the Now, a great Peace will fulfil you.  Start spinning the illusion of past and future and the Peace will dissipate.

It is our greatest freedom, to access this great Peace through the Now.

Human beings tend to compare.  They compare each other to those around them.  Years ago, a friend of mine and I went on a walk to the park at twilight.  On the way back our conversation shifted to how people compare themselves to others.  About how people comparatively judge themselves and those around them, positively or negatively.  She cited a study in which people, who watch media featuring able and attractive actors, will rate their partners lower, after recently viewing the media.

This made me think.  Of course we all do this.  I do this, and so do most people.  In fact, much of my unhappiness is usually linked to judging myself too harshly. Often, the root of that judgement is based on how I compare myself with others.  I thought, what is a more holistic, and truer type of perspective that could transcend such a viewpoint.

I realized that we could all look at ourselves as unique, and offering a unique perspective on the universe.  That we could focus on this aspect of ourselves, instead of looking at how we compare to others.

If, by looking at ourselves and others as unique, creative individuals, we can see each person’s value and beauty.  Life is never truly the same twice.  Life tends to favour uniqueness, especially the more complex it becomes.  Human beings are some of the most complex forms of life that we know of.  We are one of the only species that can truly be creative.

Each person looks at the universe in a creative way, in their own personalized perspective.  Even if this perspective is not shared, it is an act of creation.  It is infused with its own meanings, symbolism and value.

Each day, each one of us is taking in input from our five senses, interpreting the input in our own way, and creating our own perspective of that matter.  The only problem is that few of us ever notice that we are constructing complex and fantastic perspectives, since we are so focused on how we are comparing to others.  If we could see how unique each one of us were, and celebrate our uniqueness, and others, we would find a much healthier way to view our place in the world, without needing to constantly compare ourselves to others.

For, at the very least, we are creators of unique perspectives, artists interpreting and creating the world every moment.

Knots have always held a fascination for me.  I have always marvelled at the way that knots almost magically form in a tangled string over time. I have often contemplated that perhaps this is how life formed. Amino acid strands combined with chemical bonds and quantum uncertainties may have “tangled” molecules together forming even more complex proteins that eventually led to life.  Perhaps by studying knots, their types, and how they can naturally form on their own, we may discover many secrets about the origins of life.

In my struggle to gain an understanding of superstring theory, I have also mused about knots.  Superstring theory claims that particles may be the vibrations of tiny multidimensional strings.  Topology studies, which often ponder the shapes of multidimensional objects, state that knots aren’t always possible in every dimension.  Knots can exist in the third dimension, for example, but aren’t possible in a second, or fourth spacial dimension.  Perhaps at the 9th or 10th dimensions, that superstring theory is currently claiming exists, there are many other kinds of knots that are impossible for us to visualize. Superstring knots?  Perhaps unravelling such mysteries could lead to a deeper understanding of our universe.

Recently, I have discovered another type of knot.  A psychological knot that is the root cause for some of the behaviours that we are not usually aware of.  It takes an extremely contemplative and honest self-assessment to see these knots, and the best way to unravel them.  When the threads are followed, their hidden trails can lead deep into the psyche, with surprising results revealed.

For instance, years-ago, I caught myself telling a white lie to a colleague.  I wasn’t even sure, at first, why I made this lie.  I even watched myself make the lie and marvelled at the fact that I did so.  I immediately went outside for a walk, to try and understand the reason why I had made this seemingly innocent falsehood.  Sitting outside, under the trees and the sun, I followed the thread and discovered that I was actually trying to manipulate another person through the grapevine of gossip.  I wanted a certain coworker to feel a certain way about me and I was trying to spread information in an indirect way. I wanted to manipulate feelings for how my ego had been bruised before.  It was a very subtle type of revenge.  All of this, and all of these feelings were formerly below the surface.  I didn’t even formally know they existed before.

It made me realize how certain actions and dreams that I had in the past were also related, even if I previously thought my actions were benign. All of these thoughts, dreams and feelings were laying there, tangled below the surface of my consciousness, like a giant knot.  Seeing the knot for what it was, allowed me to work on it, to start unravelling it.  Keeping the heart, soul, and mind free of such knots takes great honesty and insight.

Ultimately the knot untangles, unties and untethers the self: leading to a truer and greater freedom.

One of the most difficult questions, with any social movement, is the question, ‘How to begin?’ It is hard enough to be able to step far enough outside of the box to see what is amiss with modern consumer society, harder yet to visualize what could be done to set it right. To be able to put together a plan to create a new way of living, when human beings have only discovered two other lifestyles (Takers & Leavers) in the hundreds of thousands of years we have existed here on Earth, is a daunting task. Yet, this is what this article will attempt to address: a practical solution to start coalescing the Giver Culture into something much more tangible than its current form.

One basic premise of this article is the claim that the beginnings of the Giver Culture already exist. Yet these beginnings currently exist only in a proto-cultural state. To spot such individuals and groups, one needs only to determine the core values of the Giver Culture. The Giver Culture is a culture of people that highly value creation, discovery and the sharing of their knowledge and creations with others. Where can we find such groups and individuals? In actuality such people are becoming more prolific, and finding them, due to the increasing interconnectedness of society, is becoming easier. Many of these proto-Giver groups have a marked presence on the Internet, and have made significant contributions to society.

One of the most colorful examples lies in a radical expression of creative culture, The Burning Man Festival. This eight day long festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada asks all members to become active participants, exploring the limits of their creativity and sharing everything, from food to art, freely with others. Gifting is one of the core guiding principles of the festival, and is encouraged to be completely unconditional. Another core principle is creative cooperation, supporting any type of expression that brings about creativity in a free communal setting. The participants of this event often suffer culture shock when returning back to regular society after such an event and find ways to connect with other Burning Man participants when they return home. This shared culture, even though it lasts for only eight days in a year in one specific spot on Earth, is close to holding many of the same fundamental values of the Giver Culture. Although there are only thousands of participants, it is a growing phenomenon, and many other festivals have arisen, worldwide, to capture some of its spirit. These participants are experiencing a proto-Giver lifestyle.

Another recent example of a lifestyle that is very close to the culture of Givers is the hacker culture. With this term, I do not refer to the type of criminal activity that breaks into computer systems to obtain data for nefarious uses, but the type of activity that tinkers, hacks into systems to learn, and creates solutions to problems. (For a more detailed explanation of this culture, please refer to the linked article, How to be a Hacker)
Often hackers are part of what is known as the Open Source Software Movement. Open Source Software is a type of computer software that is given freely to all users, and in addition, users can opt to modify and share any improvements back to the community of programmers. Linux, Java (to an extent), the Python programming language, Open Office, the PHP web programming language, Apache Web Servers and other backbones of the internet/computer industry are all free, open software packages that anyone can view and alter for their own use. Countless hours of difficult programming go into these projects and are given, freely, for the entire world to utilize. Many of these projects could be valued at millions or billions of dollars in terms of how useful they have been for the technology industry in the last decade. Open Software is a gift created by a networked group of individuals, who, in the process of creation, discover unique solutions for many difficult problems, and share their creations and discoveries freely with the world, at no charge. They support each other in their endeavors to learn, and often mentor and teach those with skills below their own, especially since they value any additional manpower they can get on the projects. Many programmers have learned extremely valuable programming practices by working on such projects, since many individuals, who are master programmers in their respective fields, give their knowledge openly and freely. This is practically identical to the values of the Giver Culture. It may not be as visibly exciting as the Burning Man festival, but it strikes much closer to what form the Giver Culture will start to take.

There are plenty of other examples: the scientific community, academia, NGOs, NPOs, charities, web-communities (such as Zaadz), web-sites (expertvillage.com, wikipedia.org, wikibooks.org etc.). These are all examples of groups of people who spend time sharing their knowledge, discovery and creativity with others. Instead of simply consuming, they are creating and sharing, often quite actively. As time passes, it seems that these types of organizations and groups are increasing in numbers. These people are forming a proto-Giver culture. As with many other cultures, it is often easier to interact with people who share a similar culture. People of similar cultures tend to clump together; again this is what seems to be occurring. A festival, such as the Burning Man, tends to attract people, such as scientists, artists, spiritual seekers, computer/hardware hackers, for they are starting to share a common culture—a culture of Giving. It is similar here in the community of Zaadz.

With large groups of likeminded people available, who are steps away from forming a true Giver Culture, what are the steps necessary to truly seed the beginnings of a culture that can help balance the uncontrolled growth of the Consumer/Taker culture? How can this culture be robust enough to survive harsh disasters, manmade or otherwise? I maintain that the simple acknowledgement of such a culture is possible an important step, for it would allow those who are Giver-spirited to identify with a cultural movement and seek others who are similar. Once the knowledge spreads, however, additional steps must be taken to solidify the culture, and to enable the members.

Since the Open Source Software movement is quite similar to the Giver Culture, it can be used as an example to find out what holds such a culture together. This software movement has gathered up a large enough group of likeminded individuals, and has remained stable enough to thrive and to continue enabling its members. Often the nature of working on a project together helps cement social bonds, especially after successful completion. A successfully completed project also serves to advertise to other potential members who may have been previously indecisive fence sitters.
So, following in the example of the Open Source Software movement, some of the key steps needed are as follows: A) Attract likeminded individuals, B) Immediately have these new members work on a project together, C) Repeat (hopefully on a larger scale).

So the first question should be, ‘How to attract proto-Givers?’ One method, is here on the internet, other methods could be by spreading the knowledge, word-of-mouth, or via pamphlet, flyer, booklet or presentation at Giver-like events such as Burning Man, or an Open Source Software project, at a university, at a fund-raising event as well as many others. New ideas and old ideas to spread knowledge could be explored. Newly declared members of the Giver Culture could write their own blog posts, and generate enough of a presence to warrant an entry by wikipedia, and possibly an article by a small magazine or newspaper. Virtual communities, such as Second Life, could also include a Giver Culture presence. There are countless ways to spread the knowledge far enough to attract those who are almost already Givers.

After a sizable number of Givers have been attracted our next question should be, “What kind of project do we have in mind?” I have two example projects in mind that I will share in this article. One is a completely hands-on project which requires a physical presence for all members. The other is a little closer to an Open Source Software project, with a physical presence only required for a few members. Both projects would be good for a burgeoning Giver Culture with only a limited membership roster to start with.

I will start with the more physical project; one method of solidifying a community of creative people who thirst after knowledge and discovery is to help build a place where creativity and learning can take place. Gathering up resources to build a center of learning could be a way of bringing together various members of the Giver culture. One idea I have had in mind, is to have various members learn alternative building methods, or to find an existing Giver who already knows an alternative building method (cob, adobe, strawbale etc), and who is willing to teach other Givers for free. Collectively purchase a property, and build a series of structures, as part of a lesson, on the premises. These structures can be used as a center of learning for Givers to meet, teach and learn. Givers can take turn sharing their knowledge with each other on various subjects (electricity, plumbing, carpentry, outdoor survival, pottery, physics, chemistry, Chinese etc). Those who take courses in construction, who may eventually teach or help teach such courses, can expand buildings, as they are needed. Such centers can be valuable places for Giver members to congregate, hold meetings and plan events. These centers can be temples to creativity and learning, holding the community together just as churches and temples hold religions together.

The second project would be a more ambitious project in scope, yet it holds more promise to expand the Giver Culture’s membership and influence. Like the first project, it has a heavy emphasis on education. Yet, unlike the first project, which is geared for Giver members only, this helps the Giver Culture to gain possible revenue, to be used for additional projects, as well as creating new members in countries around the world. This project would be educational software, but not the kind of educational software that we are currently familiar with, but a new, group-oriented software that teaches in an entirely new way. In today’s world, scientific education is increasingly important, yet in some developed countries, such as the United States, scientific studies are on a decline. Ironically, this lack of interest comes at a time when many scientific discoveries are being made, and our models and theories are becoming more accurate and detailed. At the very least, computer software can give people a general overview in the sciences, to rekindle interest, and to stimulate imaginations while simultaneously grounding people in practical knowledge.

With computer animation, we could give an eight year old (or even an eighty year old) an engaging interactive tour of the general basics of scientific knowledge in the span of a half-hour lesson. Starting, for example, at the Big-Bang, the animation could show the user a vision of the universe starting at the very large right down to the very small components of energy and matter. This could widen perspectives and whet appetites for discovering more about science. Too often, elementary scientific texts forget to give the student a wide perspective that allows all of the different faucets of scientific knowledge to make sense. In this design, the software would offer a very general, wide perspective, and proceed to fill in the various details afterwards. After each fifteen to thirty minute lesson, a multiplayer game would be presented, to teach some of the knowledge interactively, in a group setting. This software would not be for individuals, sitting at private terminals at home or in a computer lab. This software would be designed for a classroom setting, using a laptop and a projector ( I am currently creating some prototype lessons and games using this method, interested parties please email me for more details).

This software could start at an elementary level, and slowly work up into high-school and then undergraduate level software. The teacher/instructor would be able to control the software in real time, to realistically gauge the actual situation at hand. The software would not need to be limited to science, but could cover many topics, such as language, mathematics, history and others, eventually including all classes. Instructional videos and animated demonstrations would be followed up by fast, fun mini-games that reviewed the concepts at hand. (Match chemicals with their symbols, catch the correct falling equations, properly create a working electrical circuit to stop the ticking time bomb etc.) This software could measure a student’s progress and would tend to review/test on an individual level automatically tailored to each student.

This software would be sold to schools. Schools that use such software would have advantages over schools that did not, which would create a demand for schools with this software. Since the Giver Culture would collectively own such software, it could be used, internally for members to freely learn any subject we create. Another aspect of this project that could help expand membership, and help create new Givers, is to use such software to help educate people in impoverished areas. A volunteer Giver teacher, given a projector and a laptop, could go into impoverished areas, teaching people whatever useful lessons available. These people could be empowered by software that taught basic science and mathematics. Lessons geared towards survival techniques, health and hygiene and simple economics would also be helpful. Hopefully these people, after lifting themselves out of poverty, would become Givers, instead of new members of the Consumer Culture. Since education tends to lower birthrate, especially when women are educated, this may also help offset population growth rates in poor, developing nations.

Hopefully both projects could be created simultaneously, since any Giver center of learning could highly benefit from such software, and by having a center of learning, teachers could be found to provide the content for the software. Either of these options would help gather various Giver peoples from around the globe. By working on such projects, a greater camaraderie and shared culture would emerge. These projects would increase the visibility and capabilities of the Giver people. Givers would discover and create new artistic visions and scientific knowledge. This would help to empower our people even further, allowing our culture to thrive. Unlike the currently dominating Consumer/Taker culture, we would not be interested in consuming physical goods, but would instead be interested in consuming knowledge, and using such knowledge to make further discoveries, and create more wondrous visions. More projects would arise, and the Giver community would strengthen.

So, how to begin? We have already begun, and if any of you, reading this article, feel that you are, in spirit, a Giver, please let me know and we can find practical solutions to start bringing this culture together.

Our new evolution starts now.