We are meeting more and more people, couples, families who are interested in a kind of way of life we have chosen: living closer to nature, reducing dependency on money, experiencing community, eating healthy, etc. One of the recurring worries and questions is about money … how to make money in a village life? They are used to being dependent on money to create their life and they know that money is hard to come by in Romanian village life. It is a horrible question because it seems like a dead end and is an energy drain.
We didn’t ask this question, we came here riding on wings of faith riding on currents of surrender. We were gifted by difficult life experiences that taught and trained in the arts of faith and surrender. But that isn’t very practical advice. I don’t believe that hardship is the only way to motivate transition. So I reflected on our life here, where amongst other things money has appeared … a new kind of money, a healthy and sustainable money, and in retrospect I noticed two things.
The first is that we are pursuing our passions. We are no longer trying to make money to pursue our passions. We are bypassing money altogether and going directly where we want to go. In terms of money we may have come here (kind of) empty handed but in terms of passions and skills we came here filled with riches. This wasn’t because of some grand master plan that we can take credit for. This was a continuation of a long and ongoing journey of discovery that ultimately helped us fade out of one existence and fade into another.
However that too is a precious gift and not necessarily available to everyone. Which brings me to my second observation. Instead of asking how to make money I suggest reflecting on another more interesting question: What do I have and can bring with me to contribute to village life? This morning in reading Charles Eisenstein’s Sacred Economics I found this very thought:
“In times of social turmoil, I can’t imagine anything more dangerous than possessing a few hundred ounces of gold. Really the only security is to be found in community: the gratitude, connections, and support of the people around you.
Resisting or postponing the collapse will only make it worse. Finding new ways to grow the economy will only consume what is left of our wealth. Let us stop resisting the revolution in human beingness. If we want to outlast the multiple crises unfolding today, let us not seek to survive them. That is the mind-set of separation; that is resistance, a clinging to a dying past. Instead, let us shift our perspective toward reunion and think in terms of what we can give. What can we each contribute to a more beautiful world? That is our only responsibility and our only security.”
I came here dis-believing in people. I wanted to life on our own, insulated and isolated from people. That was my past experience holding me down. Fortunately, life got the better of me. From shortly after we arrived life keeps bringing us together with people who are like-hearted and like-minded. I now believe that security and sustainability can only achieved through grounded community.
My advice is that if you want to move out to village life in Romania, leave behind your isolated-city-money-survival mentality. Instead focus on what you can bring with you to contribute to village life. That question, at least, has potential for constructive expansion … it may nurture you and shine light on parts of you that have been ignored and in the shadows for too long. Going towards something is better then running from something.