There is a subject I?ve been wanting to write about for a while now, but it took me some time to finally do so? For the longest time I felt insecure and hesitant about publishing this story, I guess the time wasn?t quite ripe for it yet, or better yet: I wasn?t ready. But today marks a change in this inner process, today is th day to put my pen to paper, share this story with you and reflect on some of the greatest lessons I have learned in my 30 years on this beautiful green/blue planet of ours.
This story starts a bit more than a year ago. It began with a proposal from someone who was, at the time, part of my extended friend group. The proposal involved beautiful concepts like: ?community spirit?, ?shared economy? and eventually, an easy and positive way to make a good chunk of money. At least, it was presented to me as such, but, as I would come to learn along the way, it turned out to be a rather different experience than what was suggested. I, eventually, as the veil of my own ego-driven illusion, naivety and my infantile belief in a truly good world was lifted from my vision, learned that, in this ?easy money making? proposal, there was no such thing as ?community spirit? nor was there truly a ?shared economy?, and I, when it all died a rather violent death, ended up not gaining but losing money. Yet this is no sad story, eventually, despite all the disappointment and harm that was caused, I made it out of this adventure a richer person! No dollars were added to my bank account, but some of the most valuable lessons of my life were added to my name and for that I will forever be grateful to this ?easy money making? venture or what is better known as ?the Loom? and all the people who were involved in it.
You will find more information on this subject by simply enquiring god Google about ?the Loom? or ?Blessings Loom?, as it is also called.
A quick introduction:
?The Loom? or ?Blessing Loom? is a money making venture that has been, digitally, travelling around the world for some time now. To put it short: one is invited, usually by a friend or relative, to join a simple, circular, money making system ? its circular form makes its members believe it is not a pyramid system, but when one would virtually pull up the center of the circle and lift it, one would quickly see the circle evolving into? yes, a pyramid! Entering the system is as simple as paying a small amount of money, which in this case was ?150. All you need to start ?the game? is a Whatsapp account, some patience and ? this is key ? you are asked and expected to invite at least 2 or more of your beloved friends, family and acquaintances. The more people you manage to add to the circle, the quicker the movement of it, and thus, the easier it will be for you to make your chunk of easy money. In front of such minimum ?work? stands a wealthy reward: you?d end up making ?5250. (you can find more about how the money making actually works, by looking through the diagrams and pictures posted below) So, with a small effort and by spreading the ?love? and ?positive vibes? of this circle, you?d end up making a staggering ?5250 profit in no time! For every person to eventually make this kind of money, the ?Loom? needs to always, ad infinitum, keep on growing. 64 new people are needed for every person to gain his or her Loom-boon. Apply some easy mathematics and the truth, flaw and inevitable failure, of this ?blessed? system quickly becomes clear: if one person needs 64 new people to enter the loom to be successful, that means that all those 64 newcomers also need 64 new people to enter for them to make their ?5250, which already brings us to 64*64 = 4.096 people. From here the numbers rapidly skyrocket into the thousands, as: 4.096 * 64 = 262,144 new people and so on and so forth, always calculating *64. ?A huge number of people that could profit from this easy system?, one could think, and that?s the message the ?Loom? likes to spread, but an easy set of calculations helps us to conclude that 64 times more people will eventually get disappointed as every ad infinitum system is bound to fail for there is no way there will ever be enough people to support its growth until the end of time?
I guess this easily makes sense to the majority of you, but at one point in time, it didn?t to me, or at least, I couldn?t see the truth behind all of this. Worse yet: I guess I didn?t want to see it, I chose not to. I was one of those naive creatures who wished to believe in the beauty of this system (as I do with most things). One of those who believed it could bring a lot of good to a lot of people and therefore it was something I really wanted to ?work? for. Ultimately, I believe I was driven ? like many others who were/are part of systems like this ? by my own search for something good, something valuable, a positive circle and alternative to be part of in this too often too mundane and grey world of ours. In my enthusiasm and blind trust, I chose to disregard the threatening and harsh truth of it all, the obvious flaws in the concept?s philosophy, if there ever was such a thing. I did this, by choice (!), first without opening my mind to the true knowledge of the loom?s truth, later on, with growing intelligence of the reality of things, but feeling trapped, feeling responsible for all those I had, by that point, invited to join. I had allowed myself to become the slave of the system I helped to create and sustained. For a while I couldn?t see a way out, I didn?t see how I could do this without disappointing all those I loved, all those who still believed in this system, who had trusted in me and therefore joined. My great desire to please others kept me stuck, had me walking around with the burden of being part of something I no longer believed in. Stronger yet, with time, I started to see the ?Loom? as an unethical addition to this already too unethical world.
For a long time I chose (!!) to disregard the ever growing number of people that would inevitably be left disappointed and betrayed by the, ironically called, ?Blessing Loom?. Granted, if I would have stayed in the ?Loom? for only a little while longer, I could have easily made my money and helped my friends and family to do so as well. We could have all walked away with fatter bank accounts and thinner financial worries. We might have never come to know the people who?d eventually get disappointed but, this is guaranteed, they would inevitably come to exist. Those disappointed ones would even grow in number as the ?Loom? would continue to grow and more and more people would end up benefiting from this system (another irony?). So for more money to be made, more money needs to be lost. For some dreams to come alive, others need to be smashed. I guess one man?s trash is truly another man?s treasure? My family, friends and I, who might have eventually benefited from the ?Loom?, might have never come to know the names and disappointed faces of the string of people we would have left behind. They might have remained anonymous to us, forever, but somewhere along the line, somewhere in time, their disheartened hearts, would nevertheless, start to beat and without them, without their anonymous support, the ?Loom? would have never been a ?blessing? to me or my friends and family. The thought of this, of such an injustice, eventually, became too much for me to bear?
This might seem like a no-brainer for many of you and others may think: ?What is she making such a fuss about? It?s obvious what this ?Loom? is about, but just take the risk, try your luck and walk away with the money. Don?t care or worry so much.?. And that?s okay, we?re all entitled to our opinions, provided that we are well informed, and that?s exactly why I?m writing this piece, so that everyone who ever comes across a money venture like this ? or anything similar ? may call upon the instinct and courage to question, get informed and apply perhaps a little bit of cynism, before stepping into anything. When I ended up critizing the ?Loom?, the information I was sharing, wasn?t welcomed by everyone, in fact it turned into a rather ugly battle. I guess people always turn to arms when they see their own, opportunistic, positions threatened. It also came to show the shaky ground the ?Loom? is built upon. If a system cannot handle a minimum amount of criticism, then what kind of a system is this in the first place? If there is no tolerance for freedom of thought, expression and speech, this is not a community, but shows more of the likes of a dictatorship. If true information cannot be shared, because it would threaten the cause or lead the system to collapse, then it only becomes apparent how false it all really was to begin with?
But most of all, I hope this story of mine, may help all of us, to shift our view from an ?I?(ego) way of thinking to a ?we?(ecological/sustainable/spiritual) mentality. To make choices not merely based on personal gain and profit, but on the good for all, today and tomorrow.
So here?s the deal, here are some of the things I learned through and thanks to the ?Blessing Loom?, which eventually, in a rather perverse way, ended up becoming one of the most beautiful blessings in my life. I wrote down five of the most valuable things it taught me, even though there is much more to share?
Lesson one: there is no easy money?
I?m sure we?d all like to find the golden egg the goose has been sitting on, wasting away her leisurely life, but let me break it to you (the truth and the golden egg): there is no golden-money egg. The golden egg does not exist. There is no easy way to make money, or at least: there is no clean and ethical way to make easy money that involves un-clean and un-ethical motivations.
Money is far less glamorous than it presents itself to be, it?s nothing more, nor less, than it always has been and was: a good of trade. You give something, you receive something compensatory in return. Sure enough, it?s not always a fair trade, and this is very unfortunate, but at least one is, most of the time, duly compensated for offered services and efforts. Money is an energy, there are thoughts, feelings, emotions, dreams? attached to it, more than a simple 20 dollar bill could ever reveal to you. That?s exactly why money is so important and quickly turns into such a sensitive subject. When it reaches human hands it becomes more than the mere ?means of trade? it is, it becomes charged with emotion, our emotions. And yes, money makes this world go round, more than I thought before stepping into this ?Loom? adventure, more than my naivety wanted to admit to itself, more than I wanted to admit to myself.
But there it was, the mirage of the goose?s golden egg named, ?Blessing Loom?, and with such a promising name, I ? too quickly ? bought into it.
But there?s good news too, there might not be a golden-money-egg, but there is a treasure out there! A great treasure many heroes have gone out to look for all over the world and all through time: a diamond egg. This diamond egg isn?t resting underneath a goose?s warm behind, it?s actually much closer to you than you might think: it rests inside of you, in the deepest, often darkest and most hidden corners of your being. Yes, it?s that easy? And what does this diamond egg offer you? An easy road to making money in a clean and ethical way. All you have to do is accept the hero?s journey of going out there to really get to know yourself, put in the hard work to ask the right questions that will bring you closer to the real you and do good for yourself. With that, the greatest, most heroic task of all will naturally come: to do good for the world and everything and everyone in it. It will not alway be easy, a diamond is still a rough stone, but eventually you will be rewarded, truly abundantly, for your bravery and efforts. Great things will come your way when you finally step into your light and yes, money will be one of them. When you finally do what you love to do, what you are passionate about, what ?is you?, what gives to the world and doesn?t only take, you?ll see how easy this money will be?
Lesson Two: always question, don?t be a sucker for beautiful words, concepts or people?
When the ?Loom? first presented itself to me, I wasn?t entirely convinced by it, I intuitively smelled something fishy, and in hindsight, my hunter?s nose should have been the first thing to follow. But my good intentions, naivety and ?hope for something better? took over and I quickly swooned for the charms of the loom?s serenade. I?ve always been a sucker for romance? With time, as I saw my loom growing with great ease, I adopted the loom?s message and even became one of the looms?s most (in)famous and successful advocates. With honest enthusiasm, and being very good with words and philosophy myself, I talked to everyone about this new and beautiful thing in my life that would help me and all of us. I started to believe everyone could benefit from the ?Loom? and suddenly I found that everyone around me seemed to have a project or vision the ?Loom? could support and help with. And I always so genuinely wanted to help people? I invited some of the people most dear to me to join this ?beautiful system against systems?, as I ended up calling it. I was so blind, blinded by the Loom?s radiant message that, at the time, I didn?t even see the extended consequences it would eventually have and that I was contributing to first hand.
Until? until reality started dawning on me and I became more and more aware that this ?Loom? wasn?t much of a ?shared economy? at all. It was a pyramid structure in disguise. Not a ?system against the capitalist system?, but something worse than that. A wolf in sheep?s clothing. At least the capitalist system doesn?t claim to be anything else than it truly is: you work hard, you make money. Some will make too much money on your account, feasting on your hard work. Some will have clean hands forever, while others will have to get down and dirty for life. Some will be transformed in the uncrowned kings of a rotten system, others will remain slaves forever. It depends where you end up in the scales. The capitalist system ends up being unfair and has some ?values? that can hardly be considered valuable, but at least it doesn?t present itself as a system that will make a positive change by using positive actions, applying beautiful words to sell itself. At least it has a shadow of honesty and truthfulness about what it really is: anyone has a shot at money, status and fame, anyone can try. The capitalist system is a wolf, a hunter, a creature on the prowl for its survival. Nothing close to a little, cuddly, wool-wrapped sheep, part of a comfortable herd of many.
The ?Loom?, on the other hand, is an even more violent hunter than the capitalist wolf and its strife for survival is vicious in itself, but this only becomes clear once you have been able to look beyond the beautiful words and concepts that sugar coat and hide the rough edges of this beautiful monster.
The ?Loom? isn?t the first, and certainly won?t be the last system and concept that will present itself in an entirely different way than what it really is and I, for one, will be put up to the test when I meet one of these systems again. Will I be swooned by sweet words once more or will I resist the sugary temptation of instant satisfaction and look beyond as I question, apply a bit of cynism and, most of all, connect with my true self?
There is no doubt that concepts such as ?sharing?, ?community?, ?cooperation? and ?solidarity? are valuable. I truly believe they are essential to a society, a world, a breed of humankind, that reflects love, equality, justice and permits individual freedom while the collective can thrive. That?s why I was so quick to believe the loom?s message, it seemed to present some of the goals I wish to strive for, but I acted on an impulse, I believed it too quickly and I allowed my ego to take over. I didn?t look far enough, I didn?t look beyond the obvious to find the obvious (?), and therefore I was blind to the truth that was right in front of my nose all along.
I failed to see that concepts like ?sharing? and ?community? don?t rhyme with the kind of economy the ?Loom? presents. Sharing and community can work in a money venture only if such a ?Loom? would be a closed system, not when always more people are needed to make it grow. Such closed money venture systems exist and have existed for ages all over the world. They have helped many to start the projects of their dreams, not by making money, but by re-distributing that same amount of money time and time again with honesty, trust, mutual respect and eventually ?gain without gain?.
The ?Blessing Loom?, however, is not such a system. This ?Loom? is not looking to help ALL others, contrary to what it claims. It?s not striving to build a happy, ?shared? economy, nor is it concerned with solidarity, such a concept would imply the more fortunate helping the less fortunate, so everyone can grow and benefit in equal measure. No, the ?Blessing Loom? has no such intentions, its number one preoccupation is its very own survival, self-suffiency and growth. It is just like any other economical system out there that holds on, in vain, to the idea of eternal growth with disregard to all the latent weight it has on the bigger community, the global society, the planet; with no attention to its broader, ethical impact. It is merely concerned about its own opportunistic goals, but is just afraid to take responsibility for this.
Granted, it?s much nicer and makes you look like a more admirable person when you share spiritual talk and motivations to share than when you?d have to admit you are actually looking for the easiest way to make money?
Great evil has been done to the world under the guise of good. Beautiful words, concept and ideologies have been sold hidden behind good intentions, with the promising view of a bright future ahead only to turn into some of the greatest nightmares humanity has ever seen and experienced. What?s painful is that, too often, beautiful and even very spiritual concepts are used to promote the least spiritual of things when put in the hands of those with only opportunism in mind. ?Bullshit philosophies? are easily woven and, once they are, their, almost invisible, spiderwebs have a way of grasping you tightly and not letting you go. Be aware of such cheap philosophies, they lurk behind every corner as people always need to and will find a way to explain their actions, to justify their deeds, to righten their wrongs. Be aware of not buying into them, be aware of not becoming one of their advocates, because we all possess the power to manipulate others and ourselves?
I learned this the hard way as I failed to see the signs when they showed themselves to me more than once. And that?s what happens, we learn the hard way when we refuse to be taught by softer, more sensitive and sensible teachers. We understand the words we are ready for. We receive the guru we are prepared to listen to. I only understood this after I listened to the Loom?s sweet and sugar coated words, allowed them to draw me in, come closer, one step closer, another step closer, only to find out that right in front of me wasn?t a delicate, endearing grandma calling me over from her tidy, little bit, no, what I found was a big, bad wolf, cleverly disguised, veiled in innocence, ready to eat me?
Lesson Three: follow your intuition. It always guides you in the right direction?
As I mentioned before, there was a fishy smell to this whole ?Loom? business, but even my vegan nose decided to dive into this stinky stew and go against so many of the things I believe in and claim to stand for.
Initially, when the ?Blessing Loom? still enchanted me with all its exciting novelty, I felt like I was walking on a cloud. The ?Loom? seemed to flow very smoothly, new people were added to the circle with great ease and together we were a digital, happy community. ?Those who were bringing the change?, that?s what, I genuinely believe, we all felt like. But as the circle grew numbers had to grow times 64 for it to be maintained. With such staggering numbers the whole thing very quickly slowed down and became a stressful ordeal. I must have been in one of the first looms, I realise now when I look back at how easy the beginning was? As the growth of the ?Loom? was slowing down, doubt rose among all of us that ?it might not work?, people started to become more nervous, but empowering slogans were always rapidly spread to boost moral. But even the vibrations of those energizing words didn?t last long?
?What would happen to all those people, all those dear ones, I invited and wanted the best for??, I started wondering. ?I will let them down, the ?Loom? will let them down. I cannot let that happen!?, my inner monologue went on. For a while ? still believing in the loom?s system ? I tried everything in my power to be the one to motivate others, encouraging them to find more people, spread the good message and word, keep their hopes up and their belief going. Until I finally understood: this wasn?t going to work, nothing was going to work, because mathematically and logically, this system was always bound to fail?
There I was, stuck in a system I no longer believed in and so many of my dear ones trapped inside of this truly vicious (yes, you can take this literally) circle with me. More and more I saw what I had intuitively always felt: this system is no good? I started to see how it didn?t rhyme with my ethics, but how I was forcing it to be my match, all the while knowing, the ?Loom? and I would and could never be compatible. But how does one get out? How does one make a change? The answer is simple, but the act takes bravery: with courage, with your chin up, with trust in yourself empowered, by ethics and supported by your intuition, that wise one inside of you that always knew and always knows, is always forgiving, will always give you another chance time and again?
Why did I so blindly want to believe in the goodness of this treacherous ?Loom? in the first place? Why was my belief and hope so strong that it even managed to silence my intuition?
Because I wanted to believe it was good, I wanted so badly to believe money-making and life could be so easy, I wanted to trust something positive and happy was out there, I really wanted to find a group of like-minded, positive and good individuals around me,, I needed to?
?Why was such an idle hope necessary??, one is eventually inclined to ask, and this is a very good question. The answer to it leads me to the next lesson?
Lesson Four: don?t wait for your savior, be your own hero?
Why are beautiful words so easily sold? Why are people so easily persuaded? Why are we ? as humans ? so easily manipulated and why are we (all of us if we are not conscious about who we are) so quick to manipulate? Why do we all need hope to stay alive, to drive us through life, to hold onto? Why do we feel the need to find escapes, alternatives, supernatural, mystical, ?spiritual? ways out of reality? Why do we have such a hard time accepting what is, so much so, that it continues to drive us to look for ways to refuse, repress, reset?
The answer lies in one of our most profound psychological needs: the desire to find a savior, a hero, to find someone or something to invest our trust in, to save us from our mundane, material existence that, at times, can feel so meaningless, senseless, like such a burden. Because we need someone or something to save us from ourselves, from the emptiness we walk and move around with as we fail to see and truly recognise that all we need and will ever need, is already all around and inside of us, it just doesn?t always look like what our eager ego would love to find.
We look for a so called ?savior or hero archetype?, because, essentially, we cannot handle the responsibility of our own lives. We cannot deal with owning our very own existence and the suffering, the burdens or even the high peaks that, inevitably, come with it. It is something we have to learn to do somewhere along the way, the challenge will be put in front of all of our noses, as we learn to grow up and become respectful adults of our own. Mind you, it?s not because we have reached the age of ?maturity?, that we are mature; it?s not because we flew out of our parents? safe nest that we are our own individuals and actually know how to fly and build a nest of our own, in our own style, in our own way, on the place we carefully select, with the set of values we went out to experience and then choose for ourselves. Many of us never become these mature individuals, most of us continue our family?s, society?s, generation?s? collective ?karma?. The majority of us copy what our parents, their parents, their parents and so on and so forth, have done before us, because we don?t question, because we don?t follow our intuition, because we don?t take on the hero?s journey of getting to know our true selves, because we cannot deal with the mission of taking our lives into our own hands, the mere thought of it makes us feel anxious, scared, stressed, disheartened and completely lost? because we have never learned ? or wanted to learn ? how to actually be ourselves?
As a child we look up to our parents, sweet mother and beloved father, to teach us everything we need to do to survive in this world, our lives are completely in their hands, which, psychologically, keeps us safely nested in this cocoon ? and illusion ? of comfort. But as a small child we have the right to do so, we need to rely on our parents, growing up, however, pulling their sleeve for every little question and problem we encounter, is what psychologist label a ?complex? or ?neurosis?. But because near mother?s breast and under father?s wing it?s good and safe to be, we go through life with more years to our name, but not necessarily more wisdom. We might get married and start families of our own, we might move out of the house or go travelling, we might tell ourselves we have moved away from our parents, but that doesn?t mean we truly have? Many of us live, what might look like separate and different lives to our parents, but make transferences of the responsibility for our lives ? the task we initially bestowed upon our parents (when our parents were there to continuously teach us, save us, nurture and take care of us, catch us when we fell, feed us when we were hungry, cater our every whim and support our every tantrum?) ? to other people, ideological systems, the government, our religion, our teacher, guru, mentor, our partner? We find the most cunning ways to make this transference, we are so clever that, most of the time, this trick even escapes from our own attention.
Furthermore it becomes increasingly disheartening to see, as we grow up, that our infantile ideals and beliefs, the ones that made us believe we can grow up in sheer happiness and things will all flow easily ? because they did under the wings of our parents, when we didn?t have any responsibility at all ? that exactly those most precious hopes, dreams and beliefs, are nothing but an illusion. In a society that constantly portrays and triggers us with messages of perfect smiles, perfect faces, perfect bodies, houses, diets, outfits, perfect? everything? it becomes even harder to face and confront the honest imperfection of the world out there. In a technologically advanced today in which we can change our faces on pictures just the way we like, it becomes harder and harder to accept the face in the mirror we have much more trouble changing. In a world that promises to offer a quick fix and remedy for any kind of trouble, discomfort or pain, we cannot accept that suffering, disease, decay? are part of this human, material existence too. So we get out there, with our same infantile ideas and beliefs ? that everything can be good and easy ? and start looking for answers that could somehow defeat reality. We find peace in the supernatural, the mystical, the so called ?spiritual? (but it?s not?). We look for salvation in healers, mediums, gurus, mentors? of all sorts, shapes and colours. We become part of communities of like-minded (so we say) people, adhere a religion in which we agree to pray to a God formed by the hand of man, we support nationalist causes or other differentiating ideologies (and ideologies always differentiate)? because living in a small bubble of comforting beliefs, in this type of control and controlled system, is far easier than being confronted with the daily reality of globalisation, diversity, confrontation and yes, suffering. It?s all far easier than getting to know yourself, asking questions, turning within, looking inside, being ?alone?, surrendering to the emptiness that is everything and letting silence speak to reveal the answers that are already inside of you?
So to answer the initial question: ?Why is such an idle hope necessary??, because as long as we are not able to face the reality of our existence, as long as we are not able to own the responsibility for it, as long as we don?t go out there and face the challenge of learning who we are, we will need this kind of external hope to hold onto and comfort us.
As long as we don?t realise that all we need is deeply embedded in the mystery we call life and ?me?. As long as we don?t learn to accept that all there is and will always be, is mystery, we will forever be looking for a savior, for a ?Loom?, that offers great humane values like ?community?, ?solidarity? or spiritual boons like ?abundance?. As long as we don?t become who we are born to be, such slogans will continue to appeal, and eventually, swallow us whole.
Lesson Five: let ethics guide your way?
There is a beautiful quote out there, it goes something like: ?If everyone would live according to ethics, no laws, no lawyers, no judges, no prisons, no government, no church? would be necessary?.
I think this is one of the highest truths out there.
With ethics I mean: ?What brings benefit not only to me and my small nucleus of family and friends, but what is beneficial and postive to all those around me, near and far, today and tomorrow?.
A ?shared economy? that will help one person make a lot of money only when 64 others join (this is the ratio the ?Blessing Loom? is based on) cannot bring benefit to all people in the world. Think about it, hypothetically, if 1 billion people would come to join the ?Loom?, 64 billion people would be needed to help these 1 billion people to make their easy money, and, as we all know, there are not enough people on this planet (thank God!) to make this happen. It?s a matter of common sense and easy mathematics, an exact science. You don?t have to be a rocket scientist to figure this out, you just have to ask the right questions. Something I did late in the game, but not too late?
Once I made my decision to stand up against the ?Loom? and make my way out if it, I decided I would not do this in silence, I wouldn?t, I couldn?t just take my money ? the money I didn?t believe in in the first place ? and leave in silence, without disturbing the system and the peace of those remaining in the claws of the ?Loom?, this, to me, would entirely beat the purpose of leaving in the first place. I felt I simply had to pick up the ? according to me ? necessary task of informing others about this system, even though I knew this would not be received well, with understanding or sympathy by everyone, I simply had to pick up the weapons and fight this good fight. Preparing for the battle, I intuitively recalled something I read some time in the past. It?s a beautiful story that strengthened me in my mission and serves as a valuable reminder of a great people that I now, in my life after the ?Blessing Loom?, keep on top of my mind and deeply nestled in my heart every day.
Let the following story be a guide to you too:
The native Indians from the Northern Americas used to have beautiful and strong communities based on a deep connection to nature, respect for Mother Earth and Father Sky, deep family ties and a strong sense of true community and solidarity. Their spiritual beliefs were deep and their spirit was strong. This all was possible, because they never made decisions based on mere impulses or what would appear beneficial for just one individual, for only their little community in the short therm. One of the Indians? basic rules of decision making was to think about the consequences any decision, big or small, would have, not just on one person or his family, his children or grandchildren, but on all those who would follow that person for 7 generations to come. 7 generations!
Imagine what our world could look like if we?d go back to thinking, speaking, acting like this, if we would strengthen our decisions with this ethical, long term thinking. When everything we do would be weighed according to the value it would have on 7 generations to come? Imagine what the impact of our words and actions would be if we were to think, walk, talk and act like this. The world would be a completely different place. A much more livable, green, blue and loving place, I?m sure?
I?m not saying I manage to this every single day, but I am putting in my best and most honest effort to try. A world like this, a truly ethical world, is what I like to visualize, what I want to live and work for and that?s what the ?Loom?, more than anything else, has taught me.
To conclude:
I am sure the ?Loom? has been good to many people all over the world and I hope, with all my heart, that those who have had the privilege of benefiting from this system, are using their ?easy money? to do something good for the world. I hope they are, at least in the spending of their loom?s money, honoring the many people, the whole ?community?, that has helped them to achieve their goals, those many anonymous names and faces that have come and joined after they did and, most likely, got disappointed. I hope those privileged ones are using their loom money not just for themselves and their small nucleus of family and friends, but for all of humanity, for the animals and our planet as a whole and perhaps, yes, for 7 generations to come. I hope their money can be a true contribution and can, while it is being invested and spent, be alchemically transformed from something that started off as un-ethical, into something deeply ethical, because this kind of alchemy, this kind of transformation is possible, every day, by, for and through all of us!
I hope that all those who ever get in touch with the ?Loom? ? whether it be as a participant or as a reader of articles like this ? I hope that all those involved, will come to learn, in one way or another, everything the ?Loom? has taught me, which is everything I value so much today. In hindsight, I believe the ?Loom?, in its own perverse and strange way, really did make me a stronger, less naive, more mature, more intuitive, wiser and more ethical person and question-maker and individual. Sometimes we just have to learn the hard way?
I also hope that, by sharing this story, I can offer a sincere apology to all those I once told, with blind enthusiasm, about the ?Loom?. All those dear ones I invited with the best of intentions ? because I really did believe in this system, before I became more intelligent, and more honest with myself, about its truth, when I was brave enough to face my ego and go against it.
I hope this article can help not only to warn others to be less naive, less ego-driven than I was and encourage them to steer away from any kind of looms, pyramid schemes and easy-money-making ventures, but encourage them ? and all of you ? to learn what I?ve learned the hard way, the easy way (because yes, there is a way!):
question, don?t quickly buy into nice words and beautiful concepts, but question the motivations and depth behind them. Don?t fall for bullshit philosophies. Don?t look for a savior, be your own hero! Don?t be afraid to get out there and do what we are all born to do: get to know yourself! Don?t be scared to stand in and own your very own light, which implies facing your darkness and shadows too? Follow your intuition, be yourself and trust in your own strength. And most of all: hold onto ethics, no matter what! Have the courage to strive for the ethical way, don?t be afraid to become the warrior you are in this battle of battles. No, it won?t always be easy, you will get burned and bruised, you will have to swim against the current at times, and you?ll get caught in the eye of the storm at others. Being a warrior, being a hero means you will have to get out there and fight, but you will be fighting the good fight. I promise you!
I would like to thank the two people who inspired me to ?fight? the ?Loom? and support me in this process. A beautiful woman who lit the fuse to this whole rebellion, whose courage and great sensitivity for ethics I very strongly admire and appreciate. Without whom I would have probably never had the bravery to step out of the ?Loom? and spread this information. And a beautiful man who moves through the world holding value and ethics so close to his heart that it serves as an inspiration to many, especially me. The one who supported me when the loom-crisis was the heaviest and the lessons were the hardest, the one who always believed in me and my ethics even when I wasn?t acting accordingly. You know who you are. Thank you!
