Reflections

How To Model What Is Right

Why I'm moving towards freedom-respecting systems - and where you can get involved.

The title of this piece comes from the last line of a poem I shared a few months ago, Say No And Smile. It captures a theme I have been thinking about a lot lately. That is: “what does me doing right by myself and what I know look like?”

I was deeply inspired by Conscientious Currency and her podcast with Doc Malik Honest Health to consider more in-depth about where I am feeding digital control systems with my complacency.

I realise I’ve been compromising my integrity regarding my stances on personal sovereignty by continuing to support various services, methods and means of doing things, while knowing that there are alternatives and solutions out there. The narrative I’ve been telling myself is that “Most people just aren’t ready to move to a more sovereignty-respecting system”. That itself links in with another belief system of “I won’t survive if I don’t capitulate to all their ways and patterns of doing things”. I see now that these are purely fear narratives. The people who truly want to support my work will find a way to do so that works with my needs as well as theirs. Plus, if I am not modelling how I can show up in the world without capitulating to certain control systems, then I am actually sabotaging myself, my entire message, and all my attempts to promote that through my work. I do not encourage self-emancipation if I am not emancipating myself from these systems and ways of operating.

I know I can do better, even if it means alienating those who refuse to operate in ways outside of the various control structures that exist. As someone who uses digital technology to both reach people and receive financial reciprocity for my work, every decision I could make will require a “sacrifice” to some degree, whether it means I cannot reach certain people or provide as much “convenience” for others. The conclusion I came to when considering this is that the disadvantages from fuelling the digital control grid system now rearing is head is a far worse outcome than allowing people to find and support my work in “conventional” ways. And, right now, there are some straightforward steps I can take to begin that re-orientation with the digital world.

Here’s what I’m planning:

Your Weekly Piece

Firstly, let’s talk about Substack - the tool I use to both send out my poems as emails and have my archive of past poems available for the world to see. The following article by the excellent Michael Ginsburg highlights very well how Substack is falling into the patterns of all the other co-opted social media platforms, including shadowbanning, taking down certain content, moving towards a more centralised, walled-garden model, digital ID incorporation and so forth.

This has been further compounded by Substack’s response to the UK’s Online Safety Bill, which has neutered both my ability to bring new pieces to people, receive important pieces of writing from others, and my enjoyment of the platform in general.

Michael points to a viable solution that is more privacy-oriented, less influenced by external agendas, and that is actually more flexible for my needs: Ghost. I’d heard of Ghost before, but avoided using it as I didn’t think it had the discoverability tools or online shopping tools for my books that I needed. I have just discovered that both of these are no longer the case. With a move to Ghost, I’d also be able to combine my current website into it, keeping all my offerings in one, easy-to-navigate place.

The best part is: you as a reader have to do absolutely nothing in order to keep reading my works. As long as you are subscribed now, once the migration happens, you’ll keep receiving emails as usual - and anyone who currently reads through the Substack app should still have emails sent to them too.

Subscribe now

While it’s not too complicated technically to set up a Ghost account, it’s not free. To help cover the cost of migration and web hosting, please consider purchasing my latest book, Go Forth, Butterfly! and, if you feel inclined, adding a tip at the checkout. This really helps me out, and will also help me adequately support other writers using poetry to elevate others, which I’ll touch on later.

Go Forth, Butterfly!

With this, I would move my entire archive over to Ghost, then clear out the available articles on here. I will likely still keep a Substack account open (at least initially) and take advantage of its Notes feature, similar to what Michael Ginsburg seems to be doing, to drive people from Substack to the new Ghost site. However, my existing archive will be cleared out. I may also keep it for things like writing guest posts for other people, but I won’t be keeping my own newsletter under my own name there.

Reciprocating Value

I disabled paid subscriptions a while ago and would not reconsider re-implementing “subscriptions” at the moment. You can read my reasons for doing so below:

Something else I value is being able to offer multiple ways to reciprocate value for my works, such as being able to pay with crypto for my books. I like solutions that don’t lock me in to one payment processor. The challenge is, at this moment in time, there aren’t too many other viable options for collecting card payments, and I still use Stripe to accept card payments for books via my website.

Part of me likes to think that with a combination of crypto and making time to build out real-life networks that operate on reciprocity, a bankless and sovereign life with internet access is possible. Right now, we’re in transition to a point where that’s possible. Even if I feel cryptocurrencies (done right) provide a far better solution for digital transactions, I know that, at this stage in time, digital card payments may well be the only avenue some of my readers have to reciprocating the value of my work. I want to maintain this ramp for now, and I do have costs associated with my work that are currently only payable in fiat. The loss of not helping elevate others through poetry is far greater than the “gains” made from avoiding digital fiat currency.

This is another advantage of moving to Ghost: although only Stripe is supported natively, there are ways of incorporating other payment processors for both one-time purchases and recurring payments - and, I’m also not having a cut taken by a company like Substack should I wish to introduce an offering which necessitates recurring payments.

Again, setting up the hosting to make this possible is not free. A purchase of my book goes a long way.

Go Forth, Butterfly!

Modelling High-Integrity Community

In my mission to inspire others to reach their highest potential through poetry, I’ve come to learn that I cannot be a “lone wolf” in the field. It takes a village to bring profound, heart-centred shifts in how we communicate and collaborate to people. There is a place for me to provide a dedicated vehicle that supports others interested in this work over a longer period of time, that can’t be achieved in a one-time course or session alone.

As such, I’ll be launching the Sovereign Poet Society this summer.

Here’s how it’s relevant to everything else we’ve discussed today: A move to Ghost provides a way for me to integrate the Sovereign Poet Society with my website and writings in a clean way that doesn’t interfere with your experience, and that doesn’t fund more of Substack’s increasingly ridiculous shenanigans. The Society is also a different proposition from the “subscription services” that proliferate on Substack; one that Substack can’t fully support. But it’s an offering I know I need to bring to this world to help others find the words they need to move forward in their lives.

Next week’s poem and my comments will be dedicated to outlining the Sovereign Poet Society, but if you’d like an insight into what to expect (and to take part at a discounted rate!) you can head over to my website now:

Sovereign Poet Society

What The Future Holds

Continuously navigating and re-negotiating my relationship with technology is proving to be a never-ending process. There is a benefit to me being able to connect with you all through these digital digests, and the Sovereign Poet Society represents the extent to which I think the digital realm can be used judiciously - something I’ll explore more next week. As ever, I’ll continue evaluating the digital services I use on a regular basis, seeing if and how I can minimise my reliance on them and focus more on being present in the real world. Some of my reflections going forward will model what that journey is looking like, and I think it may inspire some of my readers to do the same.

Some pathways forward would involve creating significant difficulties for myself and for you to enjoy my work. For example, in a “fiat-free” world beginning tomorrow, I would have to use any crypto I receive to buy prepaid debit cards (or cash-out to an existing one) and then use that to cover the production costs of my books, from printers who only accept fiat.

This is the dance between honouring boundaries and knowing what my skills and capabilities are at any given point in time. In time, I know it will be easier to achieve. Access to the right tools is becoming more widespread, especially on the crypto front with wallets like Stack Wallet or Edge. More and more individuals have some cryptocurrency, which makes it easier to purchase directly from other people where possible, without the need for Digital ID verification or middle-men (e.g. with an exchange like RetoSwap).

Is this a scary thing for me to be on the frontlines of making change? Absolutely. But I have an unwavering faith in the divine. If I choose to show up in the most genuine way I can, even if it may “disadvantage” me in some way or another, fate will still look after me. I hope in doing so that I inspire others to do the same where it makes sense for them in their lives.

The people who need my works will get them, and I know the connections and relationships I build through that will be far stronger and more nourishing for all, precisely because we are connecting outside of control-based systems. All in good time.