Hello friends!
My name is Joe and a friend and I have begun a little experiment. It's really
simple, actually. One night we were up talking about all of the possessions
we've accumulated, primarily books, cds, dvds, etc. We realized that we were
incredibly attached to these things and couldn't bear to give them up. We also
realized that perhaps the most difficult thing would be sharing them with
strangers, and that we had forgotten that most basic thing that all of us are
(hopefully) taught when in preschool -- the benefit of sharing. So we decided
to learn a little more about being attached to material possessions and create
the Community Library Experiment. This is a place where people list the books
they're willing to share with strangers and then individuals connect and set up
swaps. You may ask yourself, why not go to a library? Well, we think that this
is different from the library system in two important ways that could
(hopefully) teach us more about ourselves:
First, although a library is public, the feeling that you OWN the items is
almost non-existant. Therefore, sharing them with strangers loses a bit of it's
meaning, and,
Second, when loaning books from the library you have very little connection
with other people.
We hope that people from all over the country (and the world!) could learn more
about eachother and appreciate eachother by loaning their possessions to
someone they've never met.
Also, if you're concerned about price, Media Mail in the United States is only
about $1.40 per package. So you will be basically paying $1.40 for postage for
the experience of letting go of something and sharing it with a stranger and
meeting new people.
Now, we know this idea isn't perfect, but we think it has some merits. We've
been amazed at how some people have reacted SO VIOLENTLY to the idea of sharing
things they purchased with complete strangers over the internet. If you don't
like the idea, then fine! But please, we're not interested in getting any hate
mail or anything. We're just trying to do something good and simple, and
hopefully learn from it in the process.
Only like-minded or interested people need apply. If you do, then you'll know
that you at least have that in common with everyone else who is taking part.
For everyone else, if you can't say something nice, please don't say anything
at all.
This is just a really simple experiment to learn the value of sharing
possessions with strangers and undermining our attachment to material objects.
If you're interested, you can submit your list of books and information and
read more about the experiment here: http://plaza.ufl.edu/eldol/lib/
AGAIN, we've been attacked by those who feel that the idea of sharing
possessions with strangers and establishing trust is a ridiculous and futile
idea... We don't need anyone else to reiterate this to us, and we will not
respond to attacks or make an effort to defend the project.
With sincerity and loving-kindness,
Joe
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Current Book Discussion: Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi Roshi
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