Philosophical Patronage
Hello friends,
Update: The Stoa is no longer going to be framed as “operating through a gift economy”. Things will functionally be the same, but I will be directing people who want to support The Stoa to our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/the_stoa
If you like what The Stoa is trying to accomplish, and if you’d like to see it keep breathing, and keep living with delicious thumos, then consider becoming a patron. The Stoa can be the space where we sense-make what is and what ought to be. It can be the space where we learn how to be fully deployed in addressing the meaning crisis and the meta-crisis we find ourselves in.
I may add more bells and whistles to the Patreon page. I do not know if that is the best thing to do, but let me know what you think. I share more thoughts in my journal below.
With love,
Peter
Tomorrow’s events:
Relational Exegesis w/ Freyja. Every Thursday @ 4:00 PM ET. RSVP here.** 90 mins.
Shame Breakthrough Bootcamp w/ A.J. Bond. Every Thursday @ 6:00 PM ET. RSVP here. 60 mins.
Postscript: Guns in America w/ Buster Benson and BJ Campbell. July 30th @ 9:00 PM ET. RSVP here.
***
July 29, 2020
Somebody gave me a monetary gift via PayPal with the following message: May you discover the micropayment financial model for The Stoa to support you so no normie job robs us of your epic contribution.
I laughed.
I have dropped the “gift economy” framing for The Stoa. Everything is still functionally the same, but the economy word in particular was unclear to a lot of people, even to me. When I started this thing, at the beginning of a pandemic, lots of people were losing their job, and it felt wrong to charge for anything. It felt right calling The Stoa a gift during that time as well, and given the amount of effort I was putting in, I did not mind receiving monetary gifts myself.
My mentor Andrew Taggart based his practice on his version of the gift economy, so without much thought I put “operates through a gift economy” on the website. The way this has been presented, on the website and during the meetings, is if we are soliciting gifts, which does not make sense. A gift is something that is not asked for.
Given this, I am dropping the “gift economy” framing, and I have asked our regular facilitators to stop saying The Stoa is operating through a gift economy. I still view The Stoa as a gift, and the facilitators and featured sensemakers can still receive gifts, and I encourage everyone to gift to them.
I have so many fucking ideas for this thing and the delicious dream is to build a rich online experience. First and foremost, The Stoa is an experience, one where we make real connections, and one where we can have personal and collective insights and transformations. It will continue to be a “communal podcast,” which I think is a wonderful and unique thing.
Adjacently, there will be a large ecology of practices in the wisdom gym, and a rotating “sensemakers in residence” series. It could be a hub for memetic mediation as well; a space where warring memetic tribes can engage in dialogue, and for people to learn how to facilitate such dialogues. I’d also like to have sensemaking series, which can be made into courses, on practical things such as bioregionalism, power literacy, and existential risks.
Once the online Stoa is more or less established, I would like to compliment it with in-person spaces via the philosophical coffee shop. The idea is that people can learn and practice wisdom in-person as well, ideally with a yummy cortado in hand. The vision of all of this is very clear, but the nitty-gritty of how to get here is unclear.
I was talking to Andrew about this during one of our previous philosophical conversations. He had some good suggestions, such as seek out old-school patronage. I really like this idea of philosophical patronage. I want the bulk of The Stoa to be for free, but in order to do that I would need to have a “hand on my back” as Andrew puts it.
I am going to seriously consider seeking patronages out, but I do have a Patreon account already, and without much advertising for it I am somehow receiving over $700 a month, which is not bad for a project that has only started four months ago. After talking to Andrew, a goal that seems reasonable is for the Patreon account to receive $5000 a month. Other podcasts are receiving much more than this, and are offering much less then what The Stoa is offering.
I am not quite sure how to do this Patreon thing. Right now people can give $5, and have the option to give more, someone is very kindly giving $300 right now. At the moment I do not like the tier system that is common for Patreon, something about it feels off. It feels against the spirit of genuine patronage. I could be wrong though, and this steward is open to suggestions.
I do know that I want to keep doing this thing full-time. I have a strong daemonic desire to keep doing this thing full-time. Whatever this thing is.
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Support The Stoa @ www.patreon.com/the_stoa