What is unconditional organizing?

To provide a comprehensive definition of unconditional organizing is out of scope for this project. It would be like trying to give a definition for unconditional love, which means a lot of different things for a lot of different people. What we can do is:

• Identify common conditions for gatherings
• Imagine the utopian situation for UO
• Take a look at existing ideas that move towards UO to some degree

Does the process of moving towards UO have potential to be good for humanity? We strongly believe so, otherwise we wouldn’t be doing this project.

Common conditions for gatherings

There are many types of conditions, ranging from the very obvious (an entry fee) to the very complex (hardly noticable subconscious conditions which has roots in personal trauma).

Let’s list a few:

• To bring your phone to the gathering (to show tickets or book a locker)
• An entry fee
• To be clothed a certain way
• To comply with common ethics & morals

This might seem obvious, but there is a counterexample. A pedophile was not kicked out of a ‘rainbow’ gathering because the gathering was set on being unconditional. This then caused almost all the other participants to leave and the gathering ceased to be. Perhaps perfect unconditionality is also not desired?

• To be of certain gender, political view or race
• To leave a donation at the end
• To do what the teacher says

A person was told to comply with the teacher or leave when he wanted to do a slightly different shavasanah in a yoga class (Our personal experience).

An utopia for UO

Imagine there would be an abundance of healing gatherings available every day. At zero cost, inclusive and run by highly enlightened facilitators. Gatherings with very little conditions. Spontaneous entry possible.

You wake up on a monday and decide today you’d like to receive a massage, some somatic guidance and dance in connection with the community.

This would be the utopia of Unconditional Organizing.

Existing ideas that move towards UO

Decommercialization is a concept that is closely linked to UO. Decommercialization is a broad term. It refers to the general concept of moving away from profit-driven practices to ones that are more socially responsible. Decommercialization of healing gatherings is not a new concept; many structures have been invented to this purpose and are actively being used at the moment. Examples being:

• Organized gatherings where the cost of the space is shared between the participants.

This is a significant move towards UO because all of the organizing is done unconditionally. There is still a financial condition which is often significant as the cost of spaces tends to be the biggest one.

• ‘Burn’ or ‘Rainbow’ events

Many ‘burn’ events still have a financial condition. Most ‘rainbow’ events are very unconditional, though not very integrated or accessible.

• Donation-based events
• Option to work something out for those with limited financial means
• Helping out at the event directly as a payment to join
• Trading services for services (i.e. trading a massage for a somatic session)
• Grassroots organizing