A Trade Negotiation 9.6.61

9.6.61

Greetings Family and Friends,

May Peace Be With You.

Shalom. Namaste. Sabudicrom. Pax. A Salaam Alaikum.

ॐ.שאלם

Earlier this afternoon, I am prompted to play the drum on the front porch of the International Secretariat of this InterFaith Settlement (here at 3825 Silsby Road) whilst a number of the Wiley Middle School students are walking home.

During this time, one of the students asks me how much money is necessary for me to give away the drum. Yet rather than directly conversating with the students at the time, protocol leads me to simply continue playing the drum whilst acknowledging his solitication with certain direct eye contact.

I can provide that the drum is made within Southern Africa. I am provided the drum whilst I am studying law in Cape Town, South Africa over seven years ago. Since that time, there are numerous occasions for me playing the drum. There are also certain stipulations, including exclusitivity of use, in maintaining custody of the drum. Understandably, there is a considerable amount of significance for a man within the Western Hemisphere and descended from African slaves to maintain custody of an African drum. However, there has been one difficulty in that since the time I am provided the drum, I become a vegetarian for religious reasons. Thus, there has been the difficulty of maintaining, and actually making direct contact with, a drum made from an animal hide. Yet, even amidst my religious adherence to vegetarianism and ahimsa, there are certain religious teachings and examples that facilitate me continuing to maintain the drum. And thus I do.

When dealing with issues of trade and finance, a snide comment that has often been communicated on the street has been that, with immediate dismissal, the solicitor has been without a sufficient amount of money to provide for the item solicited. Indeed, this is the case pertaining this drum. I and we at the Asona Group within this InterFaith Settlement abstain from holding or exchanging money. Instead, we rely on bartering and benevolence; we trade things and services.

When communicating this practice to individuals, many have been initially bewildered at such a prospect: either doubting the veracity or attempting to perceive the practicalities. I can provide that we at the Asona Group within this InterFaith Settlement utilise a transmonetary valuation system (with ewkahs) in determining the tangible value for any product or service. Further information about this specific transmonetary valuation system and ewkahs is available upon direct solicitation. In the meantime, you are welcome to consider the basic formula of this system: Uc = (Fit x Tt) (Fij x Tj). In other words: the Units of Cost (the price of a product or service [also known as ewkahs]) equals the Factor of Intensity of a person's Training (education and experience) multiplied by the Time of the person's Training multiplied by the Factor of Intensity of the Jôb (a specific task that the person performs) multiplied by the Time of the Jôb. A tangible example, utilising the standard methodology where all factors of intensity are '1' and the Time of Training equals a person's age, a forty year old man doing an hour's worth of work is appropriately compensated with 40 ewkahs:

40 ewkahs = [(1) (40 years of age)] x [(1) (1 hour)]

Presuming an annual work rate of 2000 hours (40 hours per week multiplied by 50 weeks), a forty year old man earns 80,000 ewkahs each year:

80,000 ewkahs = [(1) (40 years of age)] x [(1) (2000 hours)]

This may have seemed like merely semantics yet there are considerable differences between conventional finance with monetary units and the transmonetary valuation system with ewkahs. One of the predominant differences is that each person maintains the prerogative of determining each person's respective Factor of Intensity. With such a process, people can become increasingly aware that money has simply been a figment of imagination. And thus, people can become increasingly mindful of the tangibilities amidst material products and increasingly diligent in promoting the intangible benevolence that exists within humanity and the Universe.

Progressing beyond the snide street response, I consider further the notion that even amidst one maintaining a treasury mint and the printing presses through which the money has been made, a forest of trees providing the paper, and a substantial amount of ink for designing the money, all this has been an insufficient offer for a trade for this drum. However, it behooves us at the Asona Group within this InterFaith Settlement to be able to be effectively innovative and pragmatic in trade negotiations. And in receiving an offer of a forest of trees with a natural source of an appropriate amount of water, we are willing to negotiate.

Trade Negotion in Simple Terms:

Drum = A Forest with Trees and a Natural Source of an Approprate Amount of Water

=

(Illustrations of Drum and Ashino Lake at Mount Fuji, Japan provided by Microsoft Corporation)

Amidst such a trade, there is also an interest in receiving another drum made without the hide of an animal. And beyond this, it may be provided that I am precluded from vehemently claiming ownership over anything. All things are impermanent and all material possessions are transient. I am obligated to provide people with what people immediately need, and thus this is intrinsically factored within the trade negotiation as well.

On a sidenote, there are photographs and stories that I can share about my trip to Africa. I also have stories that I can share about my travel and studies within Europe, as well as my travels to additional international and domestic locations.

With humble and benevolent regards, Idwata,


Peter Frank Womack (fellow with the Asona Group within this InterFaith Settlement)


Peace belongs throughout the Universe.

Good Samadhi belongs to'ard Nirvana.

All Praise Belongs To God.