NEW CIRCLE MOVEMENT:
DIRECT DEMOCRACY & CIRCULAR ECONOMY
the danish parlament, Nov 28th 2017
Thank you for the invitation Uffe 
and welcome to New Circle Movement
We are a group of people who have gathered 
to explore questions that we find very important
among these are: What is democracy really?
What is 'the good life' ?
How do we organize ourselves such that as many as possible, 
thrives in the best possible manner?
and on this note, how do we distribute 
our resources in a fair manner?
And not least, how do we create an even more loving society?
Among other things we have the focus that 'the good life' 
is about good relations, good communities 
We believe that thriving is not the lonely life, 
but to be part of communities, creative communities
This is some of what we understand about 'the good life'
If I should list three core issues 
of what we would like to see more of, it is
the idea of a more direct democracy, 
to give the civil society a louder voice than we hear today
Also we really like to give everybody, rich or poor, 
the opportunity to create projects
both their own projects, 
but also taking part in the projects of others
And not least, we would like to pull this society 
in a more loving direction
and now I need to put on my glasses, this is how old I am
We already have a democracy, just standing in this room 
which is a really amazing place to talk about democracy
We believe that direct democracy where the individual citizen, 
through the involvement in own projects or projects of others
will influence the local community, as well as the world at large
towards being a little more sustainable and humane
For this reason we have created a digital platform
It is an online meeting point 
where you can present your idea or your vision
and in this way make it visible on the website 
www.NewCircleMovement.org
By using electronic votes 
you can vote on your own or other projects
in this way it is not the individual 
but the community that decides which projects to support
There is already one project running using the platform
And doing very well
it is Tinkuy which Tanja will tell more about later
It is a spiritual fitness center in Copenhagen, where there 
are around 6-700 members, I see several here in the room
This is a very nice place where the focus is to train 
presence, being in the heart, ..
Big and nice concepts, but they can infact be trained practically 
which among other places is done in Tinkuy
Currently a Tinkuy center is on its way in the city Aarhus
and we hope it will spread throughout the country
and the whole world as well
On a practical note you will find pen and paper by the chairs
What you are going to hear 
will probably cause reactions like 'what?,
or 'I did not get that??', 
this was strange or maybe being provoked
all different kinds of things, 
hopefully also 'Wauuu'
What ever it is please take a note of it 
and wait until after the break to ask
there will be time for this at the second half
Now .. please take a deep breath 
all the way to the stomach
It is always a good idea to breathe deeply
but also I wish for you to hear this 
with an open mind and heart and curiosity
so these qualities will be here also
and one more breath ..
Thank you for your attention up to now 
and now Johan will continue
Thank you Hanne
We have a first part and a second part
In the first part I will present the new economic model
and then Tanja will share about the Tinkuy project
In the second part we have questions and reflexions,
there will be plenty of time
In the beginning of the second part we have a visit from 
Peter Baumgeist, who will share his views on the model
The explanaion of the trust based economic model 
will have these three angles
the perspective, where does the model originate from? 
the model itself, 
and finally how do we implement the model on a global scale?
To start with the perspective, the model originates 
from a place that is hard to put into words
fortunately it is not everything in this world 
you can explain as '1 2 3 this is how it is'
although somebody would like it to be that way, 
but fortunately you can not always do that
Words that can be said, however, 
is that we are in a time of transformation
A familiar example is a butterfly, transforming from 
a caterpillar, to a cocoon to the butterfly
To some extent you can relate to this, 
because you can see what is going on
but if we are the organism 
that are in the middle of a transformation
it can be hard to understand what is going on
Different angles on this transformation do exist though, 
and I will share some angles here
One example is Burning Man, which some of you know
Once a year around 70.000 people gathers 
in the Nevada desert for 5-7 days
and a whole village is being built in this desert
people bring what they need and during the event 
people interact on other principles
and when the event is over everything built is dismantled, 
and the desert is left without a trace
and people return to the normal society
This event is not only in USA, 
in Denmark we had a gathering this summer
and also many other places around the world
Transition Towns is an english initiative, 
about sustainability in the cities
and how the local citizens are actively involved
In common for these examples is that 
they transcend national borders,
and they all originate from that place .. (laughing)
Words like self-organizing and trust-based 
can be used to describe them
and first and foremost there is a 'vibe' in these movements 
Also there is Sacred Economics, 
by the initiative of Charles Eisenstein
about sustainability in the economic system, 
and how to rethink our economy
also a big source of inspiration
Rainbow Gatherings, something that also occurs all over the world
Ting meetings ... have existed for decades 
and continue to have a strong impact
These movements are rarely mentioned in the mainstream media
but they are all important expressions of the transformation
A transformation that can be likened to a collective heart opening
There are a lot of other examples than the ones mentioned here
One more example, with a different flavour to it, 
is all the crypto-currencies that emerges
These currencies also has a 'transformation-ring' to them 
as they transcends national borders,
they are self-organizing and its something thats hard 
for an individual to control so to speak
All these examples also highlight the tension between two 
different systems which we all take part in simultaneously
These two systems can be likened to 
the left- and the right brain-hemisphere,
and also 'the heart' compared to 'the brain'
The words we will use here is the control-based system 
and the trust-based system
And to give a taste of the nature of these two systems
we will here highlight different aspects of them
We all have one leg in one of these systems
and the other leg in the other
The aspects we will look at are: What is valuable? ..
What is 'the good life'? ..
What is rewarded in the system? ..
What is the beliefstructure in the system? one example of this
What is the currency-unit in the system based on? 
What is interpreted as 'robust' in the system? 
and finally what is the vision behind the system?
If we start with the control-based system
what is valuable and what should be nourished is my savings
And what is understood by 'the good life' is alot of money
remember this is a simplification
but it is a strong conviction out there
What is rewarded in the system is saving and storing money
because a mechanism in the system is that 'money creates money'
A strong belief in this system is that the best thing I can do
is what other people (society) expect of me
And if society is really 'under the skin' or internalized
there might not be any difference between 
what society wants and what I want
A fate that can be described as 'the company man'
The currency in the system is based on the idea 
of being everlasting, with 'gold' as a symbol of this
You think of your money as 'this is mine' 
and I can dig a hole in the garden and put them there
or I can put them in a vault in the bank
Being 'robust' in this system is to bite the teeth 
and do whats needs to be done
The vision is to create a strong empire
Note that there is nothing wrong in the control based system
much of it is really important
what is important, however, is that it is balanced 
by the trust based system, which fortunately also is here
In the trust based system what is valuable 
and what we should nourish is authenticity and community
The good life is meaningful relations
there is a reward in the system for creating things
and for being creative together
A strong belief in the trustbases system is that
the best thing for everybody is that I follow my heart
The currency in the system is based on 
the resources in the community inspired by nature, 
where resources are temporary but also always is produced
Being robust is an ability to sense within
and then say yes or no according to this
The vision in the system is a healthy inner core
Be the change you want to see in the world
Another way to view this is to see the controlbased system
as the brain and the trust-based system as the heart
An image of the controlbased system is this guy
who has stored a lot of grain
And here is a possible image of the trust based system
I dont know if you ever tried this 4-chair-game
it is a really great experiment
to do it takes trust and the 'leaning in' towards each other
Doing this you discover that you can do things together
which is not possible as an individual
If these systems are isolated, 
you could ask if the controlbased system is stupid?
The system is rather fragile and also sometimes 
you have to burn a lot of grain 
because releasing it on the market would dump the prices
and strange things like that
When the control based system is running rampant, 
you are sawing off your own branch
which could be called stupid
Likewise with the trustbased system, 
is that not a little naive?
To go to rainbow gatherings and so on: 
There is real problems in the world, so whats the use?!
For these reasons the two systems need to work together
Where there is reason in the controlbased system, 
because this guy here he knows that winter arrives 
and he will need food on stock for his family
In the trust-based system a collective intelligence shines through 
when the members have the courage to lean into it
This is something we need to practice and do again and again
its like a re-wiring of our nervous system 
that establishes a trust in the community
The new thing that is occuring is that all these movements
Burning man, rainbow gatherings, ting meetings and so on
they used to be very volatile: People would meet 
and the system would dissolve again in a few days
and the participants would return to the control-based society
The new thing emerging, by the use of modern technology, 
is that a set of building bricks is emerging
And basically these building bricks are:
WHO
DO WHAT
WHEN? 
Who do what when? ... and when doing this resources are produced
and how do we distribute these resources?
Basically it is as simple as this
For instance if you are sitting in a forest and its raining: 
Who build shelter and who do the cooking?
Several tools for this have emerged
and here we will present one example of such a tool
On www.NewCircleMovement.org we are currently 639 members
and I, who is logged in here, have 378 water drops
as is shown here in the top
this is important because these waterdrops 
organizes who do what when
Likewise everybody can share projects on the page
here is a small selection of them
In a community of just 639 members there is 
really alot of ideas circulating
To know which one of these ideas to focus on 
we use four different status for a project
here it says seed, and also we have sprout, plant and tree
On this diagram the members are shown at the bottom
and there is four types of projects: Seed, sprout, plant and tree
a 'seed' can be compared to a sketchy idea, 
something that you might want to do
a 'sprout' is an idea where you have decided 'yes lets do this'
initially it is somewhat bigger projects 
but it can also be smaller projects 
When is a project considered an important project?
In New Circle Movement we have decided that when 
at least 100 members put a certain number of votes on it
the project is considered to be an important project 
and receives resources
It is a filtering proces for the ideas on the platform
A mechanism in the model is that each member pay 
a small fee each month, e.g. 15 euro
with 639 members this is alot of money and 
some even pay a little more than 15 euro
this money is gathered in the association, to be distributed
How the money is distributed is determined 
by these points we call waterdrops
each member get a certain amount of waterdrops 
Here is another way to view the basic principle
What each member gives to New Circle Movement 
is something that the members considers valuable
here it is danish kroner, it could also be bitcoins 
or something else
each member then receives waterdrops, 
that can be placed on projects
Here this big waterdrop to the right, has the same size 
as the five smaller waterdrops combined
because the waterdrops are either at the members 
or at one of the projects
also note that 10 percent of the waterdrops disappears 
each month to make the economy organic
How much money should the association 
give to the individual project?
Ofcourse this is determined by 
the number of waterdrops given to each project
The person with a sketchy idea, a seed, 
also pays money each month 
this money is not given to this project 
but to one of the important projects
The same for the projects of type 'sprout', 
if a project only gathers support from 90 people 
and then maybe loose momentum, 
the money paid by these people likewise go to an important project
This gives a synergy effect where we help each other 
to launch what is important to us
The project that Tanja will speak about later, Tinkuy, 
is one of the projects considered important
It has the status of tree and it is a communuty 
within the larger community
it is exactly the same softwareplatform 
used to organize this community
in Tinkuy each member of this project gives something 
they considers valuable: Waterdrops
What is the value of waterdrops? They determine where the money 
in New Circle Movement goes so waterdrops are very valuable
A basic membership costs 100 waterdrops per month, 
and a complete membership 200 waterdrops
Then like for the larger community we need to determine 
how the resources in Tinkuy is distributed
In Tinkuy we have access to treatment rooms, 
workshops and different activities
How is these resources distributed? .. 
the local currency in Tinkuy determines this
Note here that a tree is an ongoing activity, 
and a plant is one-time activity
So an example of a plant could be 
'lets have a pot luck dinner next friday'
a tree in Tinkuy is an ongoing activity, 
like eg yoga each wednessday at 12.30
Also it is possible to sow seeds - new activity ideas - 
like Tango or play and spontaneity for adults and so on
some of these ideas receives support in the community 
and are given a spot in the calendar and other resources
When I login on the platform I can see an overview 
of the amount of local currencies I have
I have an interest in how many plums I have, as they determine 
how much access I have to the resources in Tinkuy
I also have an interest in how many waterdrops I have
as they show my access to all the interesting 
entrepreneurial projects on NewCircleMovement.org
and maybe I want to start a project of my own
There is a monthly supply of each currency 
and also each of them has a negative interest rate
The caretaker for each community determines how big 
a percentage of the currency dissappears each month
This means that, as opposed to the current system, that 
there is a certain amount of units circulating in the community
for instance like for bitcoins where there is a certain 
number of bitcoins that can be produced
likewise here there is a certain number circulating, 
and this number grows when a new member arrives
and it falls when a member leaves the community
This system is different than the current system
because in the current system, the guy here to the right 
he gets almost all of the money in the world
while the rest are barely making it through the day
this is not a good way to distribute our resources
likewise it is a stupid idea to throw out food
even though there is profit in discarding a lot of food 
because it would dump the prices if it was send to the market
we believe this is stupid because there 
are people who are hungry out there
Our suggestion is that we choose to distribute the resources 
and there is no central production of these units of exchange
the local currencies are produced by the citizens themselves
There is a global need for this right now
the control-based system are caught in its own tracks
and there is a need for a 'foot in the ground' 
in order to reestablish balance
The balance with the trust-based system 
has only become possible recently 
as we now have the needed tools to implement it
The Internet, and modern software is recent inventions
So how is the trust-based system implemented globally?
One possibility is to look at Tinkuy which we will 
hear more about in just a minute
Tinkuy has 627 members giving 73000 waterdrops/month
The income from 627 members is about 10.000 euro/month
because Tinkuy is an important tree-project in 
New Circle Movement, it can exchange waterdrops for money
The reason why we need to talk about revenues is because the 
world out there is heavily influenced by the market economy
so to reach a global impact we need to play along 
with the rules of the control-based system
last year we had a revenue at 5.000 euro in Tinkuy Aps
thats not a really big revenue, 
but still that is quite good 
for the second year for a startup company
As the platform grows there is a synergy from other projects which 
means that Tinkuy Aps will have a monthly surplus of 10.000 euro
This is a successful company on normal market terms
as it is a success in one big city, 
it will probably be in other big cities too
the concept is given - for free - to others 
who want to do this in other cities
Already at this early stage we have been contacted by a 
group in Århus who wants to create a center there
this is now a sprout on the platform named Tinkuy Århus
Why is New Circle Movement growing?
because other cities want Tinkuy centers
soon we will know how many wants that
if you have a good idea that you wish to present via 
the platform, this can be done for 7 euro per month, 
which give you access to a webplatform 
and resources to your project, 
also the tools we have developed for Tinkuy, like booking 
of resources and event administration
is offered to the new project, included in the membership
Another reason that the movement grows is that there is wish 
to participate in one or more of the interesting projects,
and already now you can see the projects on 
www.NewCircleMovement.org
And finally you can see 'hey there is something new going on here'
which contributes to a healthy balance in the world
Alright, now I will pass it on to Tanja who will talk about Tinkuy
you have been sitting for a while, 
so do a little stretch of the body
and now I want to invite you for a time-journey
we are going back to the summer of 2014
and if it helps you can close your eyes on this journey
here comes the story about Tinkuy
now imagine you are in august 2014
and you are at a spiritual festival called playfull heart festival
on this festival a man is walking around with two sheets of paper
where he has scribbled a few notes of 
what could very well be called a 'vision'
A vision to create a place in the heart of Copenhagen
a place that could be called something 
like a spiritual fitnesscenter
this man walked around and he met alot 
of other people on this festival
and to everybody who wanted to listen he told about this vision
at some point this man also meets a woman who thinks 
'Wooow this sounds interesting'
She had just putted her own company on hold because 
she wanted time to develop on some concept in her company
instead she was now suddenly engaged 
in creating a spiritual fitnesscenter
and now please open your eyes again
The man who walked around with the vision is Johan
and the woman who putted her projects on pause, is me
at the beginning we were five who wanted to start this center
we had some meetings to discuss how to do it
eg we talked about if we should examine the market?
investigate what others had done? .. and so on
However we were two who agreed that no no 
thats not the right way, lets just do it
and so we did 
and in just 21 days we had gathered 84 investors 
who together invested 35.000 euro
and then after two months we had what we today 
know as Tinkuy, a spiritual fitnesscenter
At first we had found a venue on Nørrebrogade in Copenhagen and 
this were the first venue we met in at our first investor-meeting
on the same day for the meeting the owner called us and said 
that they were not interested to rent to us 
because you are doing meditation and yoga
and probably there will be alot of people up and down the stairs
all right .. 
we asked if it was okay that we had our first 
investor meeting there? .. and it was OK
at the meeting we start out with the message 
that there is good news and there is bad news
the good news is that we have gathered 84 people and 
we have reached the minimum amount of investor money
the bad news is that this venue, that we thought was ours, 
is not ours after all 
then what to do ?? .. we did not know
then a lovely lady was sitting there with her hat on 
and she improvised a ceremoni
where we together connected to the collective intelligence 
and envisioned the new place that were waiting for us
and four days after we had our venue 
on Skyttegade where we are today
many people were eager to start 
to exercise their body mind and soul
so we borrowed the rooms next door 
while the venue was prepared for us
we started in empty rooms and initially brought nothing 
but some toilet paper and a few yoga mats
this is very descriptive for Tinkuy, that someone just 
brought a few yogamats, a few chairs and so on
it is very little that we have paid for in Tinkuy, one of them
is the paintings by Tore Ask Nødholt
otherwise everything else is donations
So .... what is this place we call Tinkuy ?
Something that comes to my mind is that the time 
where we should do things ourselves has ended
we are not meant to carry our projects on our own 
and exhaust ourselves to get things done
we are meant to find the people 
who will help carry our projects forward
something that the new circle movement platform 
is an expression of, 
and 629 people give their waterdrops to Tinkuy each month 
so that it can pay the bills
the time of the lonely wolf is over
its time to find your community 
or your tribe or what you choose to call it
In Tinkuy there is free access to morning meditation, 
drop-in yoga and different workshops during the day
Also we have open space evening where the members 
can share what they are passionated about
they borrow the venue for free and can share 
what is important to them, maybe with some extra heart beating
there are always people who are interested,
maybe its one person, or two persons or fifty persons
We also have two treatment rooms that can be used 
included in the membership, 
as well as a large lounge and books to borrow
This is a fantastic place that is created and an example 
that this is actually possible
A part of the story is that Tinkuy actually was there 
before we knew there were anything called New Circle Movement
New Circle Movement is born from the idea of Tinkuy, 
through the question of what is this a part of globally? 
Some of what is brought to life in Tinkuy is trust, an example
is when we were gathering the needed money to start it up
with just 24 hours before we were closing for investments 
we still needed money to reach the minimum
Johan and I called together and were tempted 
to borrow in the bank or something
but no, breathe deeply and have the trust that 
if this is meant to be it will happen
Johan and I are co-leaders in Tinkuy, which means that no 
important decisions is made without talking to each other
it can be hard for one individual to make decisions 
on behalf of a larger community
thats why its a good idea to have one to confer with
Another example of trust is that we have no reception in Tinkuy, 
and also no membership cards, we trust each other, 
and we can now see that it is actually working, 
thats really great right?
We also have keys at different locations in the city, 
so that workshop facilitators and therapists 
can open and lock the door themselves
This also works very well
Authenticity .... its about shining the light each one of us have
its connected to being robust, where you feel in and say yes
and no without any fear of what might happen when that is done
So a big part of what we do is to train 
this muscle of 'being robust' in that way
something that keeps to touch me about Tinkuy is that 
it really is a magical playground
There are other centers out there where big names from abroad 
is coming to give a lecture or play music
This is a really good thing
and also this is not what Tinkuy is about
In Tinkuy its the members themselves who share of the gifts 
they can feel is coming from within
In Tinkuy there is the possibility to book the venue 
without paying rent 
and there is the possibility to invite the community 
to participate and to give their feedback and support
We often meet people in Tinkuy who have been carrying a dream 
for a long time about a yoga workshop, or some other workshop 
and when that happens we always support them to share 
what is important to them
In this way Tinkuy becomes a really magical playground 
where everything is possible
we hear alot about co-creation and this is something 
that is also very descriptive of Tinkuy
an example here lately where we celebrated 
the 3 year birthday of Tinkuy
one of us booked the workshop room 
with a headline of 'birthday party' 
and then other members appeared and said 'I would like to 
share this..' and 'I would like to share that ..'
and can I do an energetic mirror proces of Tinkuy, 
like Elizabeth who is sitting there, did for us
and then during the evening where Elizabeth shares her mirror 
event, another member - Runi jumps in and offers to add music 
everything improvised on the evening
We have a great trust that the best 
possible things will unfold effortlessly
And that this is possible in the heart of a big city, 
isn't that wonderful? 
If some of you find this interesting you will 
find these small cards on your chairs
they give free access for you as a guest 
to a workshop in Tinkuy, see www.tinkuy.dk
before the break find someone you do not know and talk about 
what especially was interesting for you in this presentation
