Lately several friends and many people have asked me about the "Flower of Abundance" (just one of the names these schemes have; “Looms of Dreams” is another one), and how it relates to the vision of sacred economics. This system whose purpose is to generate monetary abundance has been becoming very popular, in Argentina, Mexico and elsewhere, in different versions (just google it).
First of all I would like to express my heartfelt support for all the people who are participating. Let me clarify: I support the people who participate, NOT the scheme. I do not recommend participating, nor are these systems in any way endorsed by the vision of Sacred Economics. I do hope that everyone participating will be able to achieve their dreams and have valuable human experiences, friendship, bonding and gratitude along the way.
It is my appreciation that many of these groups have a sincere focus of consciousness: among the members of the group there is an internal and collective work of evolving towards the spirit of the gift, with everything it means.
For those who do not know it I would like to briefly describe the practical part of the Flower (or 'Telares', or 'Fractals') of Abundance. With some variations, it is basically the following. First of all, 8 people come in with a monetary gift of $x each, and there is one person (in the 'center' of the flower) who receives $8x as a gift. These 8 people were invited by 4 others, who in turn were invited by 2 others, who in turn were invited by the person in the center of the flower. There are therefore 4 groups of people: at the center one person, then a group of 2 people, followed by a group of 4 and finally a group of 8 people. In total 15 people. After the person in the center receives, each person advances to the next group, creating two new flowers where those in the third group each invite two new members so that the new flower center will again receive $8x, $x from each new member. And so on and so forth.
In short, from a practical point of view you give an amount of $x when you enter, and as the process continues you move forward as a group until you are in the center, and at that point you get 8 times the initial amount you put in. There are some minor variants but this is the main process that occurs. In short, it would seem plausible to generate great abundance on the sole condition that more and more people continue to enter, permanently. (Not really).
Since many people have asked me and continue to ask about it, I decided to write about it. This is actually a precious opportunity for me to express, once again, the very core of sacred economics: YOU CANNOT DISMANTLE THE MASTER'S HOUSE USING THE MASTER'S TOOLS.
I reiterate my sincere intention that all those who trust and wholeheartedly decide to participate in these systems have very good experiences and build beautiful dreams with the abundance they generate for their lives.
There is a very aggressive criticism towards these schemes from the 'establishment', from the conventional world (see google for multiple examples). Obviously the reaction from that world is to look at this system as a scam, where someone is taking advantage of other people's ignorance and naivety. Or simply as a stupidity that 'weak' people choose to believe as they believe in things like Santa Claus.
I shall mention there is a relevant ethical issue about how honest the invitation to participate is. But it is not my place to judge, and I have witnessed women who have participated in a fully ethical manner, even if that is unconceivable for some people.
Without a doubt in my heart, there is no better decision than to believe in the magic of life, and in the possibility of abundance for all. Such is the dream that I dream about with my family, and that I see born every new day with my very own eyes. Also, I have no doubt about the good, honest intentions with which many people have created and participate in these groups. Unfortunately, however, I would like to say that this system presents the same problem as the conventional capitalist system: it is based on unlimited growth, with limited resources. It's based on debt.
Like the conventional economic system, its underlying problem is not that it has bad intentions. It is simply not a problem of intent. As I have argued in other posts (please read post When will we stop the destruction of nature?), even if all businessmen, all politicians, all authorities were honest and well-meaning, the current course of self-destruction of life would not stop. The change that has to happen (and is happening) is much deeper, and has little or nothing to do with human beings "improving" themselves.
It is not a question of using the same means already present only with better goals or better purposes. By using the same engineering mentality, albeit with a high and honest intent, what we end up creating is the same destructive paradigm we already live in. That is why it is so urgent to recreate our ways of thinking, really from nothingness. It is the only way to make room for the birth of a new paradigm. Otherwise nothing new could ever be born.
This system has in itself the problem that it grows so fast that it soon begins to fail, as it becomes more and more difficult for more and more new participants to enter. This means that many people lose their money. Or rather (from the narrative of the gift) they give their share without receiving anything in return. And there is nothing wrong with that if they have chosen it from the depths of their being. There is no gift that is actually lost.
There is, however, a greater problem.
If it were fully successful, let's say even super well accepted by society, it would be an economic activity that generates enormous pressure for economic growth. Because where can all that money come from if it's not from printing more money. And every printout of money is issued as debt. And all debt can only be paid with greater economic growth. And all economic growth comes from transforming our natural, social, cultural and spiritual heritage into commercial activities (for a more detailed understanding see post Introduction to Economia Sagrada).
In short, the global success of these systems is only possible with a greater transformation of the beauty of life, the beauty of nature itself, into the ugliness of progress made of cement and pig poop (see In a rhino, everything).
It is for this last reason that I cannot in my heart recommend anyone to come in and participate. At the same time, though, I really wish them every success. I do not feel 'against' these systems because I feel somehow present in them the spirit of the gift, the desire of the human soul to build a new world of abundance and generosity.
This is almost a worldwide movement.
It is happening for a reason. It is definitely energy in motion, of a feminine kind. And energy in motion always leads somewhere valuable, yet not necessarily what we might expect or anticipate.
I think that the abundance of life already IS, there is no need to desire it. Desiring it often comes with a burden of attachment, even if it is well intentioned.
You cannot dismantle the system using the same tools with which the system was built. One cannot by-pass the capitalist system of greed and accumulation, building an engineering system with improved intentions, using the same brain circuits for it. As much as such a system carries a sincere intention to give, to give and to receive, it has an engineering, a mindset of condition: one gives $x, and then receives $8x. That's just the way it is. A real gift, on the other hand, is free of all conditions. The abundance of life, the generosity of the spirit of life is totally unconditional. A lemon tree will never make a calculation of what it will receive in return for its multiplicity of lemons it gives away. This is not a call to be "better people", generous as lemons. The call is to be what already IS.
How does the Flower of the Abundance of Life look like, not the engineering one, but the one that already IS and has always been? The Flower of Life that is absolutely absent from our civilization, from our economic system, from our culture of separation; and that although it is present in our intentions, it cannot be recreated from our present mentality. The only way to recreate something new is with new means. Not the familiar ones. Where is that space for the new? That new which is at once so old. Where is that space for the unknown?
I think the simple question "how do we generate abundance for our lives?" is part of the problem. It is a question with desire, with expectation. How do we share in the abundance that already is, which comes 'from the divine factory' with the unstoppable spirit of life?
In its engineering design, this scheme is quite a masculine system, based on the linear and logical intelligence typical of the masculine mind (see post The Human Reason). The Flower of Life on the other hand is feminine, mysterious, unconditional, free, elusive because no one can control it, delicate and yet stronger than the ocean.
At the end of this writing, I wonder if what I say could break the noble and sincere hopes of any friend or human being. But the deep feeling of hope, of trust in life, is untouchable, unbreakable. Where there is a flower of abundance, may it truly be a FLOWER OF LIFE. May it flourish, may it have life in fullness, and may it die with honor. Thanks to Life for all the flowers.
I leave you an invitation to the Online Workshop on Integration for these groups.
PS: I invite you to read a recent text, subsequent to this one, also on abundance and which touches on other subjects in this regard, such as the very notion of abundance: "THE AMAZING LABYRINTH OF ABUNDANCE"