Our Principles

These are the principles and values which shape the culture of our community.

Interdependence

We are happy to depend on others, and have them depend on us.

We need to share resources to achieve our individual and collective aims. This requires a desire and willingness to compromise and go beyond our individual convenience in the service of the health and workability of the broader community and vision. Interdependence is not a concept but a lived practice – materially & emotionally. For example, we support basic income, and use revenue sharing to facilitate co-ownership.

Surplus making

We understand that money is essential to the long-term sustainability and impact of our work at Life Itself.

We want to be materially sustainable and independent (over multiple generations). That requires us to make a surplus. We need community members who are interested in and/or supportive of making money and creating profitable enterprises.

Transformation

We believe that transformation is possible and that this takes training and applied practice.

We engage in ongoing practice and training to develop ourselves, to be well and deal with difficulties that come up. We believe in the possibility of creating a radically better future for individuals and the collective through awakening and the transformation of suffering, and we believe it takes commitment and effort to bring this about.

Coliving

To nourish and sustain a shared culture we need to spend time together. This can mean living together in community hubs and during the Gathering, or spending time together during work sprints.

Coliving brings with it shared practices, fellowship and lived community. It brings direct experience and the practice of interdependence, surplus generation and personal and collective transformation.

The jewel of community, the Sangha, is to be held equal to the Buddha and the Dharma. Indeed the whole of holy life is fulfilled through spiritual friendship.

— The Buddha

Zen & Mindfulness

Our ontology and philosophy are grounded in Zen and mindfulness. Zen is not a philosophy or a religion. Zen tries to free the mind from the slavery of words and the constriction of logic. Zen in its essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one's own being, and it points the way from bondage to freedom. Zen is meditation.

Key ideas: you are not your thoughts, be here now, non-attachment to views, enlightenment/nirvana (is possible), non-self, interbeing. Primacy of being aka primacy of the right brain.

Open-minded rigour

"Open-mindedness" means openness to new approaches and new ideas. You question received wisdom and, most of all, yourself ("Am I sure?"). One of the greatest pitfalls as human beings is that we get attached to our views, we identify with them, and we hold on them for dear life. Freedom and power comes from holding our views lightly.

At the same time open-mindedness does not mean "anything goes" — astrology and astronomy are not equally valid! This open-mindedness is paired with rigour and a respect for expertise. Everything can be questioned — but judiciously. Science and the scientific method are valuable and powerful. The Zen Master knows more than the novice. Furthermore, what an expert knows may not be easily articulated so we also respect intuition and judgment as well as analysis and evidence. Measurement is crucial to performance (as long as it is not confused with the game).

We bring open-minded rigour to our practical, intellectual and spiritual endeavours.

Getting Stuff Done

We ship, we do, we get stuff done.

We’re doers as well as thinkers and meditators. We value hard work, commitment, shipping, and getting sh** done.

It takes dedication and effort to be great, to build something big. We want to create extraordinary enterprises and communities – that can not only co-exist with the existing system on its own terms but can surpass it.

Experimentation and Creativity

We are open to experiment and change.

We don’t have it all worked out. As we explore unknown land we need to embrace uncertainty. We don’t deify innovation and change. We are sensibly conservative – and open-mindedly innovative. We are working things out on an ongoing basis (but we don’t value change for the sake of change).

Integrity

We relate to integrity at Life Itself as "honoring your word". In other words, doing what you said you would do by when you said you would do it. It is a condition of being whole and complete and of maximum workability. When integrity is present, there is a solid foundation for outstanding performance.