Too Great An Opportunity

For the last three years I have spent my time divorcing myself from the systems of control and domination that are at the core of our culture, our society and its institutions. This was, in large part, an effort to create a just society in the only way that seemed possible to me: non-participation in those systems, wherever they touched.

But to a larger, and much less understood degree, it was about learning to not participate with something even more insidious inside of myself: the beliefs, conditioning and habituation that came from the unavoidable influences of these systems and the culture they create.

For me, this meant not only disassociating from those systems, but anything that had the imprint of their purpose on them -- organizational hierarchies, collective identities, personal identities, obligatory work, contracts in general and much more. In my search for liberation I became entirely divorced from the rest of the world in any material or ideological sense.

Now I have come to a place of rest, a place of confidence in the self-perpatuating nature of my search for truth. I trust myself to choose well and to learn quickly and effectively from actions that arise from those old programs.

And now I am ready to join the world again, to give from my gifts of organizational strategy, empathic networking and inspiring use of language.

As soon as I accepted this, an opportunity arose to work with some amazing people; cutting edge social theorists and radical artisans of culture.

This November 8th, there is a conference I have been invited to play a part in coordinating, with authors Adebayo Akomolafe, Charles Eisenstein and others, as the launch of the International Alliance for Localization. To be on the ground floor of this work would be such an amazing honor and I feel the beginning of the expression of gifts I have long been waiting to exercise.

I feel called to this work -- it feels like an alignment beyond anything I could have personally orchestrated. Unfortunately, due to the life I have chosen to live over the last several years, I do not have the resources to attend.

So I am asking you, my friends and companions, to assist me in purchasing a plane ticket, round trip, to New York City to attend this conference. I have considered hitchhiking, but the season is late; it is cold, wet and I am exhausted still from my recent travels.

The nature of this page is such that if I do not receive the necessary $500 ($350 for airfare, $150 for food and miscellaneous expenses), all donations will be returned.

If you feel called, I would be grateful and greatly honored by your assistance in this endeavor.

I am ready to give my gift to the world, a gift long in the waiting. I may never be able to pay you back personally, but I know that my work will pave the way for something beautiful in the world.

Thank you for taking the time to read and consider my request.

I love you all <3

-Eric Chisler

(For more about the organization check out the website for the IAL: http://www.localfutures.org/global-to-local/international-alliance-for-localization/the-international-alliance-for-localization )