Author Archives: Ngoc Luzardo

About Ngoc Luzardo

My given spiritual name is "The Illuminator" meaning one who helps enlighten others to understand and see through the illusions of this world and of one's self. My Vietnamese birth name "Ngoc" means "diamond" or "precious stone" and my Venezuelan married name "Luzardo" means "ardent light" so "diamond with ardent light" is my official human name. You can learn more about me and what I do at: http://www.ardentlight.com

The Most Successful Mind-Control Program in Human History

mindcontrolThe biggest mind-control programming in human history is so successful that most cannot detect it or even realize that it is a destructive program in their psyche. Instead, they actually think it is a necessary part of life and is actually beneficial. Most think that it helps ensure fairness, creating an incentive for people to work and be productive and that without it chaos and laziness will ensue. However, this mind-control system has created nothing but the opposite: unfairness (inequality), incentive for people to cheat in their work hours and be non-productive, and has created chaos in all aspects of life such as environmental destruction and pollution, animal torture and exploitation, genocides, and war (just to name a few). The most successful mind-control program in human history is the monetary system. It started out as barter or trade about 10,000 years ago and then evolved into a coin-based system about 3,000 years ago and eventually to the coin and paper-based system we know of today. Though most think of mind-control as mostly being repetitively exposed to subliminal cues or information over and over again, mind-control programs can also achieve its objectives through repeated exposure to certain behaviors which imprints certain concepts in people’s minds and ultimately affecting their behavior.

Program #1: The Concept of Ownership, the Opposite of Sharing

Mine-OwnershipIf you think about it, everything we have comes from Mother Earth (possessions, materials, even synthetic materials were created by altering natural ones) and therefore was once FREE until about 10,000 years ago when someone introduced the concept of ownership into the human psyche. In order to barter or trade, we needed to have a concept of ownership (“I own this” or “This is mine, not yours”), something that we did not have before barter. Before barter came into existence, no one “owned” anything (everything on Earth belonged to everyone) and so therefore we shared things FREEly and helped each other FREEly because it was clear that everything we have was given to us FREEy by Mother Earth so it was logical to continue this FREE sharing of goods and services with each other. To share is to give FREEly something or partake jointly in something which is the opposite of the concept of ownership which is more concerned about making sure everyone knows who this belongs to (“it is mine, not yours” hoarding mentality).

Interestingly, the sharing way of life is still remembered by some in Costa Rica according to Chema Medina of Casa Tordesillas:

In the old days…30 years ago in Costa Rica, 50 years ago in Spain or 60 years ago in Morrocco…there was a spirit in the crafts and good one produced, it was called “vocation”. It was a period of “Ora et Lobora” and people trusted “today for you and tomorrow for me”. Those days where so ingrained in the soul of people, there where no questions, just answers…

mine-yours-oursI have personally spoken to Ticos (locals in Costa Rica) who tell me pretty much the same thing (though not as poetically as Chema) about their parents or grandparents living this way. They tell me life was a lot less stressful and more simple, abundant, healthier and safer. Families actually stayed together and they also spent more quality time with their neighbors. There was actually a sense of community as if their neighbors were family, too. The “spiritual” quality of the goods that were produced were due to each person having a vocation which is defined as a strong feeling of suitability or “calling” (i.e., talent, gift, life mission or purpose) for a particular career or occupation. Ora et Lobora is Latin for “pray and work” which comes from the monastic practice in Christian Mysticism of combining meditation and work to bring an elevated spiritual quality to the experience and a very high quality to the finished product of the work. There was a trust in each other to take care of each other whenever someone needed something. Therefore the sharing was usually an unconditional one-way at a time giving, not the conditional giving of the two-way immediate exchange like in barter or the monetary system. The sharing was a true gift economy with no strings attached. There was a lot more joy and peace in giving and receiving this way because it was truly FREE and from the heart. See this one-minute video to learn more about how life was like in a moneyless society.

“There Were No Questions, Just Answers”

Life in a monetary system

Life in a monetary system

So much is conveyed in this one phrase I thought it would be appropriate to have its own section to explain. When we lived naturally sharing everything that was given to us FREEly, we not only had all our physical needs met (e.g., food, shelter, water, clothing, etc.) but we also had our emotional and spiritual needs met because the FREE sharing brought everyone so much closer together in the spirit of love, trust, friendship, goodwill, and camaraderie. Since all our needs were met, we really had no questions about anything as everything already made sense. There was nothing “sense-less” about it so therefore no questions. We had nothing but answers in the sense that all the solutions were already in place and working beautifully and harmoniously. There were no problems so there was nothing to seek or ask. Compared that to today’s monetary system which is the cause of all man-made problems (if you spend the time and do the cause-and-effect thought experiment, you can trace ALL man-made problems back to the monetary system–see Our ‘Fall’ From Grace & Our Return to Eden to learn more). Problems cause us to ask questions in search of a solution and boy does the monetary system have many “solutions” for us in the form of gazillion of products and services that never quite solve the problem of disconnection, mistrust, stress, unhappiness, loneliness, materialism, insecurity, powerlessness, and low self-worth. Without problems, the monetary system cannot survive. The way the beast of the monetary system is fed is by selling you “solutions” to keep the consumerism alive or the whole monetary-based economy would collapse. In a monetary system, problems as basic as “what am I  going to eat?” and “where am I going to sleep?” and “how much am I worth?” can keep people slaving away for money on the hamster wheel and even make them go against their own values just for the sake of money (e.g., prostitution, porn acting, human organ trafficking, killing others in war operations, etc.).

Program #2: Conditional Giving, the Opposite of Trust & Unconditional Love

no-trust-no-usAs stated in The Path to Total FREEdom for ALL blog article, barter and monetary systems train us to give only conditionally (i.e., to only give when we receive something in return). Conditional giving implies a lack of trust in the other person’s ability to give to you so you must only give when the other person gives you what you want in return. How can we work together in harmony and synergistically if we don’t trust each other anymore? Without trust as a foundation in any relationship, it will eventually lead to conflict and fall apart which is what we are seeing a lot of in today’s monetary-based system. The monetary system has programmed us to believe that buying and selling (or conditional giving) is Love instead of FREEly giving and receiving. True Love is Unconditional Love and we are really meant to be the expression of Unconditional Love (or Total FREEdom) on this planet so the monetary system has successfully programmed us to be the opposite of who we really are. If we cannot be who we really are, we will be unhappy for the rest of our lives and as we learned earlier in this article, the monetary system beast thrives or feeds on our unhappiness.

Program #3: Money = Power & Self-Worth, the Opposite of Kindness = Power & Self-Worth

money-power-respectBecause money can give you access to every product or service imaginable, it literally gives the owner of the money tremendous power and an external measure of self-worth (versus the internal measure of self-worth in the moneyless society). Because power and self-worth has now been transferred from the quality of relationships between family and friends to a piece of paper (an inanimate object), the effects of its power can only be inanimate (without Life, cold, heartless and dead). Before when there was no money, power lied only within the individual (a person who is alive and with a heart). In the moneyless world, people were forced to obtain power by how well they treated others. The nicer they were to people, the more power (i.e., cooperation, respect, trust and love) they received from them. This is why in the monetary system, the more money a person accumulates, the more cold-hearted (less kind) and stingy (less generous in proportion to their wealth) they become because there is no longer any incentive to be nice to others since they can buy everything they want, including the souls of other human beings (Piff, 2013).

Program #4: Separation & Egotism, Opposite of Community & Oneness

ego-soulBefore barter or money was introduced, we lived in self-governing tribal communities of extended families that also cooperated and shared within a network of tribes to get all of their needs met. Money eventually replaced the need to live and cooperate with each other in a tribe or community. It encourages separation and egotism since with money you can do many things on your own by buying your way through life. All you have to do is pay someone to do something for you (or buy something already made) instead of building and maintaining good relationships with people to get what you need. With money, you can pay for sex whenever you want without the hassle of maintaining a good relationship and make people do things they normally would not want to do if it wasn’t for money (e.g., go to war on your behalf, kill others, spy on others, torture others, steal from others, etc.). As a result of the monetary system, we slowly lost our ability to be nice to each other and build deep and life-long bonds with each other since relationships no longer was the key to getting what you need. In addition, jobs or business opportunities were usually not all in the same location so extended family members were forced to live separately and thus was born the nuclear family and loneliness, depression and stress skyrocketed as a result since they no longer had the social support. For example, if they needed childcare, babysitting, or emotional support, they usually have to pay a stranger (i.e., a non-family member) to do it for them since their relatives now live farther away.

Program #5: Materialism, Opposite of Spirituality

best-things-in-life-arent-thingsThe monetary system would collapse if people stopped buying things. What keeps it alive is consumerism and to constantly have something to sell to make money so a gazillion different types of unnecessary products were created so that consumers would always have something to buy. To obtain the materials for all these products, Mother Earth is raped and pillaged. To make sure consumers would buy them, the products are marketed with cool, unique, or fashionable features or improvements over previous models and were associated with status or popularity. As a result, people living in the monetary system own much more stuff than they know what to do with–so much that they often feel stressed and overwhelmed (i.e., “possessed” by their possessions) just trying to maintain, manage, protect, and organize all their stuff. Now material possessions is the source of happiness instead of deep and meaningful relationships with others.

The monetary system also encourages products to be made cheaply and to have a limited lifespan (called “planned obsolescence” in the industry) so that the consumer will be forced to buy a new one or pay to get it serviced when it breaks down. Disposable products (e.g., toilet paper, paper napkins, paper towels, paper tissue, etc.) became the standard since it was the perfect model for consumerism. As a result, the monetary system created the phenomenon of trash and toxic chemicals that do not decompose. Synthetic toxic chemicals (including pharmaceuticals) were created and used to extend the shelf-life of products since natural materials decompose over time. In addition, something made out of synthetic materials was easier to patent, harder to replicate by competitors, and made a product look like something brand new. Landfills and our oceans and lakes have become toxic trash dumping grounds polluting our water and killing ecosystems. Before the monetary system, trash did not exist because everything was made from natural materials which naturally decompose and become rich compost or fertilizer. There was no monetary incentive to make something out of synthetic toxic chemicals that are harmful to oneself or the environment (especially when a natural renewable material such as hemp can meet our needs much better than any toxic or non-renewable material). Without the pressure of money, we always and naturally did the right thing.

Program #6: “Money Makes the World Go Round” or Money is God, Opposite of Love is God

Since money gives you access to everything you can possibly imagine, it seems like it is what “makes the world go round” or what keeps life going on Earth when the truth is that the exact opposite is happening. Money is actually killing Life on Earth, stopping the world from going around, and is actually removing God from this world.

At the moment our economy is all about moving money around, nothing to do with actually giving us what we need…The only constraint to producing the goods that we need should be what is physically possible and not what is affordable. ~ Moneyless World

you-cannot-serve-god-moneyWhen you really look at the concept of money it makes no sense at all. Why does a piece of paper have such power and value when what we really need are the goods and services themselves? Why do we think that the only way to get someone to work or make something for us is if we offer them money? We are each born with certain talents, gifts or passions with which we would love to be able to express and provide to the world freely (without any constraints). We also enjoy working together to build something useful or worthwhile. We also enjoy giving each other gifts so why not enjoy giving each other gifts every day of our lives? Can you see how money is not only completely useless but has completely corrupted and made backwards our natural way of being? Instead of “money” making the world go round, it is actually Love that makes the world go round. It always has and always will. We just need to remove the monetary system so that Love can take its rightful place as God. Many people willingly and FREEly work for Love, not money (e.g., hobbies). Love is what will give us the power to heal and move mountains.

Program #7: Competition, Opposite of Cooperation

competitionTo earn money we must compete against each other for jobs or customers to insure that we get the job or customer and not others. When ideal jobs or customers are scarce (and they almost always are), the competition can make people lie, embellish (exaggerate), or cheat in order to get the more desirable job or customer. Competition does not reward honesty and fairness. Instead, it encourages dishonesty and an “us against them” mentality. Someone wins and another always loses in a competition, no win-win situations like in cooperation, only win-lose. Though the monetary system is touted as a way to bring out the best products, services and innovation through free market competition, all we have seen in reality are cheap, mediocre products and services marketed very well (i.e., well-constructed lies that sell) that dominate the market and drive small family-owned operations out of business. Even advanced innovative technologies are suppressed for the sake of protecting the profits of multi-national corporations.

Program #8: Scarcity, Opposite of Abundance

money-scarcityThe monetary system is also dependent on scarcity to thrive because the less there is of something, the higher its monetary value or price. A prime example of this is the oil industry in which oil prices are manipulated by simply restricting oil production. Many other industries use this technique, too. Also, producing limited amounts of a product to sell at higher prices also allows you to introduce and sell new products to keep consumers buying. After a certain period of time, these limited edition products become “antiques” or rare collectibles and can then be sold once again based on their scarcity but now at a much higher price than when it was first sold or introduced. The monetary system naturally creates scarcity by limiting access to products and services to only those who can afford the price tag. Since jobs or business opportunities are not always equally available to everyone, the chances that someone will experience scarcity is extremely high. Before the monetary system, everyone had equal opportunity to obtain products and services they needed simply by being a good and kind person in a tribal community. That was the only qualification to obtain access to products and services and therefore created a sense of abundance with the easy, natural, and harmonious way to get all their needs met.

Program #9: Stress, Opposite of Peace

money-stress-curve-300x225Have you met anyone who does not feel stressed living in the monetary system? The monetary system causes stress by putting a price tag on the very things you need for survival: food, water, clothing, and shelter. When the things you need for survival are no longer free, you will naturally feel stressed because you constantly have to worry about making enough money to survive. Who ever decided that these basic human needs needed to be purchased? So if you don’t have money you will just die and unfortunately, this is what is happening in many parts of the world. Money dictates whether you shall live or die, a very stressful situation indeed. Even if you have lots of money, you will still feel stressed trying to “keep up with the Joneses,” an idiom in many parts of the English-speaking world referring to the comparison to one’s neighbor as a benchmark for social class or the accumulation of material goods. To fail to “keep up with the Joneses” is perceived as demonstrating socio-economic or cultural inferiority. When you are sucked into this rat race, you will feel the stress of trying to keep up or keep on top and maintain your superficial self-worth. Have you ever met or heard of a truly happy and at peace millionaire or billionaire? I have never seen a truly happy person ever do something harmful or say something hurtful to another. Only a person under stress (not a peace within themselves) can do something harmful, make the wrong decisions, or say something hurtful to another. Stress always brings out the worst in people and the monetary system was designed to keep us locked in the stressful, fearful, fight-or-flight, reptilian, lower brain mode.

Program #10: Inauthenticity, Opposite of Authenticity

inauthenticity-masksA couple in Romania (see this video starting at 12:07 and ending at 16:07) decided to turn their bed-and-breakfast and café business into a gift or sharing operation where everyone was welcomed to use for free. In order to do this, they had to cut back on many major expenses they had (live more simply) and learn to become self-sufficient (e.g., grow their own food). As they starting sharing freely, they were deeply touched by the degree of relationships with others that developed as a result of this unconditional giving philosophy. The beautiful lesson learned was to no longer value money anymore, but to value relationships. When money was taken away from the relationship, people started being more authentic around them, readily revealing more personal details about themselves and their lives, no longer afraid of trying to keep a good image or good reputation because there was no “cost” involved. People tend to withhold personal details about themselves in a monetary system in fear of losing their ability to be promoted for a job (or lose their job) or hurt their business reputation, all of which correlate to the potential to lose money. This creates more superficial relationships as if everyone you meet hides behind a mask. This happens for so long that we eventually believe we are the mask.

Another thing they realized was that when their bed-and-breakfast and café was a business and people paid for a room, it was common for the people who stayed there to feel like they own the room and therefore were careless and reckless and actually damaged property (room, bed sheets, furniture, bathroom, etc.). In contrast, when they shared it freely, the opposite happened. For example, they gave a person they just met two weeks before they left for a two-month volunteer work in Ireland, the keys to the place to open and close it and allow others to use it freely.  When they came back they were very encouraged to find not only everything in perfect order (nothing broken or stolen), but also a jar full of donations to pay for the electricity used and to maintain the place. They now have a bigger community than they could ever have dreamt of and so many meaningful relationships. People respond to gifts (unconditional giving from the heart), otherwise known as Unconditional Love.

Here is a different example of inauthenticity:

In the current labour market which includes a lack of “jobs”, people’s skills and talents are being completely wasted. Most people do not use their natural talents or skills doing what they are passionate about, which means that others do not benefit from their true talents either. It’s like a black hole with all the potential energy of the entire community being devoured by the central dark energy of money (the black hole) – that everyone has to chase after. We are all in the same rat race and there is an old saying “only a rat can win the rat race.” Do we want to stay in this race? To win what? Bakers are sweeping streets; engineers are driving busses; architects are designing websites; artists are working in grocery stores; it is completely insane how our system blocks the natural flow of people’s talents or the use of our acquired skills. Countless gifted people work in isolation on amazing projects like: natural eco-friendly building materials; enhancing plant growth with sound; alternative or free energy; solar power enhancement; batteries that never die; perpetual motion magnetic motors; ethanol from fast growing legumes; cars that run on water or air or electricity; treatment for all disease; levitation technology; new materials design; quantum computing; communication systems; stem cell treatment that re-grows organs and limbs; transmutation of elements – that may sound like magic to some people; LASER and SASER technology; and so many more amazing minds that should be making a difference in our lives. Through the research that I have done for the past several decades, I have been fortunate to meet many such great minds who allowed me to recognise the possibility we have as a species to create abundance for all, if only we start working together. But for now, these amazing people are being used as slave labour by large corporations, government research institutions and the industrial military complex. Their skills and talents have been hijacked by the corporations and we the people get no benefit at all from their genius. In most cases many of the great inventions are kept locked away, hidden from the global population. This will be reversed as these great minds join the communities of their choice and contribute their talents to the people rather than corporations. And so, our towns will be filled with the greatest minds in science, medicine, energy, education, recycling, engineering, agriculture and more to help implement all the proposed plans.” ~ Michael Tellinger, UBUNTU Contributionism – A Blueprint For Human Prosperity

Program #11: Inequality, Opposite of Equality

income-inequalityA person in Facebook commented that not all people are equal because some have worked harder than others to earn degrees, credentials and gain experience (e.g., to become a surgeon vs. a gardener–see Jane Muggins’ comment at the bottom of this page). Therefore, the reasoning follows that the surgeon should be rewarded more than a gardener in terms of profits (i.e., income inequality). This beliefs comes directly from the monetary system which puts a numerical value on different professions or jobs. This programs us to believe that professions are not all equal and that some will pay more or earn more than others because of the amount of work or education you need to earn (or aptitude you need to have) before you can enter that profession. While this may sound logical on the outside, when examined on the inside it makes several assumptions that are not logical. First of all, if a job or profession is needed by society, then it is important. To say that a janitor or gardener is not as important as a surgeon is not logical because both are needed and vital to society. A janitor, for example, is absolutely critical for a clean environment in which the surgeon can operate. In other words a janitor’s time is equally as important as a surgeon’s time so why should a surgeon get more profits?

doing-what-you-loveThe other assumption that is illogical is that we should reward people with something external such as money instead of having the profession itself be its own reward. For example, if the ability to save a child’s life through surgery is not a good enough reward in itself, then you are in the wrong profession for the wrong reasons. People should be doing professions that are their “calling” or purpose in life. That allows them to fully be who they are and share their talents and “gifts” (meaning FREE) with the world. People who have hobbies always do them for free because they enjoy the work or effort so much. Our profession must be something we would do anyways even if no one paid us for it simply because it is a reward in itself. Intrinsic motivation is always more powerful than extrinsic motivation and produces vastly superior quality of work and productivity which naturally gets the admiration and respect of others which is another natural reward in itself. If no one truely wants to be a janitor, then we have the ability to automate these types of jobs as much as we can and we can start taking more responsibility for our areas of work so that it includes helping to clean up as well. Since the work that we are passionate about will require a clean work environment, we would be more motivated to keep it clean ourselves rather than have someone else do the “dirty” work for us. This will also keep us humble and prevent us from thinking that we are superior to others.

humilitychallengeBy paying certain professions more than others, we are programming ourselves to believe that certain people are more intelligent, worthy, important and superior than others and that is just wrong or immoral. The most dangerous belief is the belief that you are superior to someone else (i.e., the lack of humility). This is the basis of all judgement, discrimination, bigotry (e.g., racism, sexism, ageism, etc.), power plays, murder, genocide, eugenics, and conflict with others. The way to counteract this dangerous, life-destroying belief is to understand that if you experienced the same exact life circumstances and history (including the past lives) of another individual and inherited all their same genetics, you would be exactly like them. We are all a product of our life experiences. Our biological inheritance, environment, culture, parents, people we encounter, and past experiences have all shaped us into who we are today. For this reason, we cannot say we are superior to anyone else. Instead, we can only conclude that we are all equal and are just a product of our different inheritance and environment. The Zeigeist: Moving Forward documentary does a great job explaining and proving this.

These Programs Have Turned Us Into Monsters

greed-stopping-evolutionTo summarize, these programs have turned us into people who hoard things (ownership), who do not trust or love others unconditionally (gives conditionally), who are not kind to each other (I don’t know anyone in the monetary system who has not done an unkind act or said something that was not nice), are inauthentic (wear masks), derive their power and self-worth from money, feel they are superior/inferior to others, and struggle with loneliness, separation, egotism, materialism, scarcity, and stress. The monetary system has successfully turned us into monsters living a Hell on Earth. It is time for us to start questioning the very system we were born into. As I stated in The Hidden Agenda of the Law of Attraction, those who have the most money are the ones who actually print the money (control the banking industry) and money is their ultimate tool of control and power because they can buy or control media, education, information the public receives, corporations, and governments. In other words, they control the “reality” we perceive and experience. Without money, their Control Matrix or false “reality” will collapse.

Why Money Itself Is Not Good or Neutral

things-money-cant-buySome say that money itself is not good or bad and that it is neutral (or just energy) and it just depends on the way we use it. Not all man-made inventions are good and money is one of them no matter what form, setup, rules or regulations you have to enforce it. Putting a price tag on food, water, energy, shelter, and other products or services is not natural because it requires that we “own” things, give conditionally, etc. Putting a price tag on things that we got from Mother Nature for FREE makes no sense especially since we have successfully and most peacefully and abundantly lived without money before. Even if it was “neutral”, why would we want to continue to rape Mother Earth printing paper money and making coins? And why would we want the extra stress of accounting for all this money, saving it, spending it, negotiating over it, investing it, etc. Without money, there would be no such thing as bookkeeping, accounting, taxes, sales, marketing, IRS, stock markets, banks, credit cards, mortgages, debt, etc. Life would be so much simpler and stress-free. The only reason why we had agreed to start bartering and using money was because a small group of people decided they wanted to experience what it is like to own or have full power over other people. To do this they had break the trust and love that was naturally between people in a moneyless society and instill fear and distrust between people and the best way to do this was to create “false-flag” terrorist attacks, the same tactics being used today. A monetary system only makes sense when you do not trust each other and want an artificial way to enforce “fairness” and thus the need for accounting, bookkeeping, etc.

Co-Creating & Living the Dream of Our Future Now

co-creating-our-futureI think more and more people are waking up to all the injustices, corruption and lies in this world. The problem is that they feel helpless against the corrupt governments and corporations who not only have the power of unlimited amount of printable or “electronic” money but with the power of money they can make police men and military men fight against the people. What we need to realize is that it is money that allows them to do all this. No one in their right mind would kill or torture someone for FREE just because some government told them to do so. It also takes a lot of money to pay people to research and conduct mind control programs. Without the power of money, no one (at least in the 99%) would agree to do anything that would harm another. When I realized that I could co-create with others and live the dream of our future now without having to fight the existing corrupt system (and in the process remove their source of power by slowly removing our participation in their monetary system of slavery), our path to Total FREEdom for ALL became clear as day and inevitable. There is no need to fight on their terms (i.e., with money or might). The most powerful thing you can do to solve these problems and all other man-made problems of the world is to get yourself out of the monetary system as fast as you can. Stop supporting it and participating in it. We must starve the monetary beast that is funding all these corrupt governments, corporations and their blood-thirsty initiatives. Start by reducing your consumerism by changing your lifestyle. Find more ways to share more with your family and friends to reduce everyone’s expenses. Join an ecovillage or intentional community. Once these communities become self-sufficient they can start recruiting those in the military and police to join them for FREE so the government will be disarmed and the game would be over. To learn how tribal living can offer true financial FREEdom and reclaim individual sovereignty, see the Tribal Living (Building Community) page. 

Ecovillages verses Hybrid Resource-Based Communities

Ecovillages and hybrid resource-based communities are both intentional communities in that they are a planned residential community (a group of people living close by and coming together intentionally) to achieve a common social, political, religious, or spiritual vision and often follow a more sustainable alternative lifestyle. Both have their pros and cons and both are needed and equally important. It is a matter of personal choice and circumstances which type of community you choose. The following table compares their pros and cons:

Pros Cons
Ecovillages Live in Nature in a more pristine, natural environment away from the pollution of cities. Build your own community or town from scratch. Ability to self-govern and own or generate your own utilities such as water and electricity without government close by watching. Potential for full-self-sufficiency. Emergency scenarios (e.g., man-made extreme weather, false flag terrorists attacks, etc.) are less likely and less dangerous in remote, under-populated areas. Requires a drastic change in lifestyle. Usually more remote location far from family, friends, jobs, and business opportunities. Requires significantly more money and labor up front to invest in land, housing, infrastructure, and to pay for your living expenses until you are self-sufficient. Communities tend to be smaller (100 or less on average) because of these cons but more manageable and intimate. Requires a drastic change in lifestyle.
Hybrid Build community right where you are in the city or town. Close to jobs and business opportunities, family and friends. Start saving money right away by sharing cars, tools, books, housing, services, or products all while keeping your job or business and earning money. Zero start-up costs. Investment in self-sufficiency projects are done when enough money is saved or made by the community. Cities and towns are eventually reforested or more green and clean. Potential to build a large community due to the larger the population of the city or town. Lifestyle changes are not as drastic. Live in more crowded city or town conditions away from Nature and in a more polluted and unnatural environment. Potential for self-governance and full self-sufficiency and owning your own water and generating your own electricity is harder due to government being right there in the city or town. Growing food for the community will require more creative urban permaculture techniques. Emergency scenarios are more likely and more dangerous in a city or town environment (e.g., man-made extreme weather, false flag terrorists attacks, etc.). Lifestyle changes are not as drastic.

Notice that lifestyle changes are listed as both a pro and a con. The reason for this is that making changes to one’s lifestyle can be very painful or difficult. However, switching to a less materialistic and a much simpler lifestyle will starve the monetary system beast faster and give us a much lighter footprint on Mother Earth and her resources. Living in the city or town, will make it harder to do this but it is not impossible. For example, in a city, it is much harder to give up using a car (or public transportation vehicles) because you need it to go to work, shop, or run errands. In a self-contained ecovillage, you could significantly reduce your dependence on vehicles and for those few times that you do need transportation, you can use horses instead.

Testimonies From Members of Hybrid Communities

Since I have already written about ecovillages because our family has already started an ecovillage (see Why Are We Moving to Costa Rica?), I thought I’d focus on hybrid communities in this article. To give you an idea of what it is like in a hybrid community, here are some success stories I found inspiring and will give you an idea of how it can work:

We now have a shoe repair service, hairdresser, fully operational organic garden, massage therapist, dog groomer, computer repairman, handy worker, tutor, community center, tool library, community car and many other services available in our sharing community. So far we used zero dollars to build this community. How is that possible you ask? Listen to what Michael is saying. We can now build the hybrid right now and right were we are, so easy and so fast at same time. ~ Rafi Oneness

Rafi Oneness recruited these people, now he gets FREE hair cuts, food, massages, tutoring, computer repairs, handy man, tool rentals and many other FREE services in his community AND the providers also get these things FREE from the other providers. We recruit to do this everywhere and eventually get rid of money and be FREE. Recruit + Gift/SHARE + Work = RBE/Contributionism/Gift Economy/No Money World ~ Michael E. V. Knight

Everyday is about waking up the people around you. Unless we have people fully aware to the cause and effects of what their everyday lives are, why would anyone want to change? Our concepts will never be told to people. They have to see it for themselves. I have been having great results with this. Everything about my everyday is sharing everything I have. Spreading love and acquiring knowledge. Have just opened my door to someone I barely know. Turn out this young man, can build just about anything we need engine/ generator wise welding and blacksmith. Which is great because my other room mate is working on HHO which is a hydrogen generator. The two of them met and the ideas started flowing. Now our rent is getting cheaper and cheaper, we are looking for a bigger house and we can recruit other like minded individuals and have a garage to start working on things. I have found the most powerful tool out there is to remind people of their internal power, to remind people they are amazing, to remind them of their potential, then to introduce our ideas to change the world. ~ Ken Harvie

Will-Allen

More hybrid success stories can be found at RBE progress reports Facebook group.

Making the Transition to a Resource Based Economy using a Hybrid Money/No Money Lifestyle

One of the reasons we ask members to recruit just 1 new member a month each is so we can find other like minded people living closer to us to do stuff with. Then if 2 single members are each renting a 1 bed apartment with total costs being $800 – $1,000 a month each, they get TOGETHER and rent a 2 bed apartment for say total $1,200 a month, $600 a month each. This is an instant savings of $200 – $400 a month each, use $1 a week for global Hybrid efforts and use the rest for something local. Then keep recruiting to find more people to do the same.

Maybe then 3-4 single members in 1 area get together and rent a 3-4 bed home. Now they work TOGETHER growing food in the yard and inside the home, maybe having less cars (saving thousands of dollars each year per car) and sharing rides, taking turns cooking and cleaning etc. With all their savings they again gift just $1 a week towards global Hybrid efforts and use the rest for something local. When 20 – 40 members are living this way in 10 homes in 1 area they use their savings to buy some land and build eco homes on as the savings allow TOGETHER. Or they use their savings towards buying a small apartment building, renting out half to non members to help pay the bills, again growing food in the yard, basement and in their apartments, sharing cooking and cleaning etc…

While this is going on you start small home businesses TOGETHER. Maybe it’s cleaning, or cutting grass, or washing windows or teaching what you know, or computer repairs, or dog walking, or errand running what ever you can think of to make extra money during this transition phrase.

Once fully up and running a Hybrid Money/No Money Lifestyle is one where members work TOGETHER up to 20 hours each week as needed. Instead of getting “paid” they receive FREE rent, utilities, food, clothes, cell phone, internet access, local transportation, hair cuts/styling and other salon offerings, massages, gym membership, tool rentals, boat rentals, camping gear rentals, play tennis, golf, basketball, volley ball and just about any sport they want to play, classes in anything they want to learn (exercise, yoga, martial arts, cooking, baking, computer, arts, crafts, language and anything else our members know and can teach as part of their 20 hours a week work for the Hybrid group.

While we are living the Hybrid lifestyle we are starving the beast and moving closer to a Resource Based Economy.

It is simple to transition/bridge over to RBE by using a Hybrid Money/No Money system/lifestyle, BUT in order for it to work it requires ALL of us doing things TOGETHER. ~ Michael E. V. KnightBUILD A HYBRID RBE COMMUNITY NOW

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