Collaboration versus Competition on Substack
A Sunday Bonus
Good afternoon beloved reader,
I have to say that even after hearing a delightful “dhamma talk” at the Thai Forest Buddhist monastery across the road, I’m happy to come back and play with writing for the community here on Substack.
Besides Substack being a fun space in which to play as a writer, I also believe it is a space where we own our inner-authority — notice how ‘author’ is the beginning of the word ‘authority’ — and we claim our own inner-divinity. For me, this is a big part of the Rising of the Divine Feminine and the new era I wrote about this morning.
I’ve also noticed on Substack, a focus on collaboration rather than competition.
Collaboration is part of the essence of the Rising of the Divine Feminine — we need to collaborate when we understand the spiritual aspect of our ecological crisis, so we can bring back the balance for the survival of our planet, as Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee and others write about in the anthology, Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth.
We are also collaborating when, with art, we brighten the connections between us.
Collaboration is the opposite of unconscious competition — which transpires when we’re triggered: hooked by the Inner Critic, or the Inner Patriarch.
And this is opposed to conscious competition which can be fun — like with the game of tennis or even chess.
When my own Inner Critic is triggered, and I spiral into “toxic compare-and-despair,” again I have to remember to observe my humanity from my divinity to stop the spiral.
This apt phrase of “toxic compare-and-despair” comes from
’s wonderful interview with where Jane asks Sari:
What’s the best piece of wisdom you've encountered recently?
Not recently, but a long time ago someone said to me, “What you think of yourself, people think of you.” That wisdom comes to mind whenever I’m down on myself, or get caught up in toxic compare-and-despair. I immediately switch gears and try to remember my virtues and talents, and to believe in myself.
This is such beautiful wisdom for our times!
~
, the Head of Writer Relations at Substack, wrote on her About Page:If you think you have a good description for what Substack is, write to me.
And I did. I offered this:
Substack offers writers and readers a space to connect: for writers to find the right match with readers.
A space where art may brighten the connections between us.
A space where writers are encouraged and supported, and community is created around a writer’s work.
Perhaps I need to also add to this: “A space where we cannot underestimate the importance of being aware of unconscious competition, and that toxic compare-and-despair spiral.”
~
If we were to dream into being a ‘more beautiful world our hearts know is possible’, one of the most important aspects I feel we desperately need, is to get to the point where we are able to value and appreciate each human being as they are, and to no longer “other” other people.
May we learn to value and appreciate differences; own our own ‘muck’/shadow; and release any need to “other” other people.
May we recognize our innate NEED for diversity.
May we value and appreciate each human being for their unique soul-print in our human experience.
I would love to hear from you, my beloved reader, what Substack may be for you… is it an online space for community? To interact with others of like mind? Or maybe it’s just a space for you to go and read? If you’d care to share, I’d love to hear. Either way, thank you for being here reading these words✨🌟💖🙏🕊️
And this is me experimenting with I think putting only the audio recording behind the paywall… so if you purchase a paid subscription now, you will be able hear the audio recording for this post, and you will be able read ALL the chapters that have been serialized here of THE BOOK: The Rising of the Divine Feminine and the Buddhist Monks Across the Road: A Memoir, and any other posts that may be behind the paywall, but there is no further text in this Sunday Short-Post.