We return to this chapter in the last week of 2023, closing in on fifteen months into the journey of spreading our message and building community. The use of "we" is intentional, as this chapter revision is the first collectively published by the SpiritDAO community.
SpiritDAO is the organization actively furthering the philosophies and practices contained within this text. It serves three core purposes: spreading our message, serving our community, and furthering the Eight Dignities. At this time, we are moving towards incorporating as a 501c3 religious nonprofit to maximize our fundraising capacity and protect our members. The DAO will serve as the board of directors.
In the original conclusion, Ron shared a vision of what SpiritDAO might become. Today, it is a living DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) actively fundraising and furthering our core purposes by distributing cultural artifacts like Becoming More, the graphic novel based on Self-actualization in the Age of Crisis. The path in the original vision evolved significantly in all the best ways. Living documentation detailing SpiritDAO's structure is available at https://docs.spiritdao.org.
Since the initial release of Self-Actualization in the Age of Crisis, many have shared that the philosophies and practices outlined in this text deeply resonate with them. Today, members dedicate themselves to growing and supporting the community formed around this book.
After publishing the first version of this text, Ron realized that the suggested initial revenue model was incompatible with the success of SpiritDAO. On June 4th, 2023, all past and present revenues earned from book sales were transferred to the SpiritDAO community vault. Self-actualization in the Age of Crisis is now fully stewarded by SpiritDAO so that our shared spirituality may evolve alongside us.
SpiritDAO's high-level operating vision is detailed in Figure 9. We're taking a multifaceted approach to fulfilling our core purposes. We raise operating capital from various sources, including direct grants, the sale of artifacts (like Self-Actualization in the Age of Crisis and Becoming More), our membership tokens, and services provided to members and non-members. We then direct those capital flows to community-approved proposals that further our efforts.
Figure 9: A visual map of SpiritDAO’s operational infrastructure vision.
We should establish that SpiritDAO does not intend to manage or facilitate the creation of the Eight Dignities but rather to provide grant funding to those doing so. Given the nature of philosophy and practice, we understand that overcoming the dogmas surrounding systemic actualization will not happen by creating another monolith. Instead, we prioritize a decentralized, pluralistic approach to supporting builders aligned with our values and vision.
Our membership tiers are means-based; members contribute what they can towards our mission. In alignment with our core values of relation, equity, and flexibility, we offer a “Proof of Curiosity” membership that can be earned through time contribution (approximately one hour) instead of capital contribution. Member donations do not impact access and agency within the community outside of governance.
There are two present member distinctions within SpiritDAO: Members and Verified Members. A Member is anyone who has donated and received a membership token or completed our Proof of Curiosity path and earned a free Advocate token. Advocate tokens last four months, while Embrace, Become, and Catalyze tokens last a year. Supporting members support our vision and purpose, typically with capital donations, and may have or may need more capacity to contribute focus and energy.
Verified Members have completed our onboarding process and possess governance rights within our community. Our onboarding process is a combination of self-guided and communal learning. Members invest three to four hours throughout the entire process, depending on whether or not they engage with the optional content. Members completing the onboarding process are awarded a “Verified Member” role and are granted governance rights within the DAO. We feel that this process adequately reflects our core values as all members contribute the same amount of focus and energy towards the process, about three and half hours. Figure 10 illustrates how this process takes shape.
Figure 10: Details SpiritDAO’s onboarding process, combining self-guided and communal learning.
We manage roles within the organization with tokens via Hats Protocol. We delegate roles depending on member interest during our onboarding process. Roles and the access and agency they provide are contingent on a live membership; if an individual lets their membership expire, their roles are automatically revoked via smart contacts. Roles support the organization of work into Pods. Pods are small, independent working groups with the freedom to create rules for operating. See Figure 11 for a visual example.
Figure 11: Pods (also known as Holacracy) working groups.
When a group of community members wants to contribute focus and energy towards furthering SpiritDAO’s purposes, they post a proposal (by creating their own or using one of SpiritDAO’s many templates) in our collaboration hub for other members to review. Upon successful review, the community votes to pass or reject the proposal. See Figure 12 for a process breakdown.
Figure 12: Details SpiritDAO proposal process.
If a proposal passes, the working group creates a separate Multisig Wallet (a financial ledger that requires multiple people to sign off on transactions). Then, the work of meeting the milestones outlined in their proposals begins. Organizing ourselves into pods helps each SpiritDAO member contribute in meaningful and flexible ways to meet them where they are.
We host consistent weekly spaces to contemplate our philosophy and practice and publicly discuss DAO business. SpiritDAO actively fundraises and funds various efforts, with one of our most recent efforts being the design and publication of Becoming More - a graphic novel based on Self-Actualization in the Age of Crisis. One of the most effective means of attracting members to our spiritual community is by creating meaningful artifacts that inspire visions of shared bigness.
At SpiritDAO, we’re also experimenting with communal artificial intelligence. Sensemaker AI is a large language model trained on this book and our DAO documentation. It’s integrated into our community spaces, and we leverage it to develop conversation topics for contemplative practice.
Beyond our structure, what makes SpiritDAO so special is our community. Spreading the spiritual practice of aligning with the single truth and relational universe is challenging. Every week, community members show up to cultivate a wisdom protocol and work towards our shared purposes.
The age of spiritual renaissance is upon us. The only question is what form it embodies. At SpiritDAO, we seek to orient with the infinite, preferring to trust our observations over the dogmas we inherit. In doing so, we embody a framework of core values that develops a restlessness within us. We recognize that empowering more people to align the observable infinities directly correlates to our capacity to further the Eight Dignities. It is a purpose we embody for ourselves and our actions for others.
If the philosophies and practices presented in this text resonate with you, we encourage you to join us. Every SpiritDAO member is an owner, a shared participant in shaping our direction. If you desire an alternative and possess the courage to act upon it, visit www.spiritdao.org today.
