The Spiritual Imperative of AUBI

In this space, we talk a lot about a simple, radical truth: Being is enough.

We explore the “Great Permission” to be exactly as we are—depressed, tired, overwhelmed, or just… still. We practice “Zero-Energy Noticing,” the art of finding peace when you don’t even have the energy to “do” a spiritual practice.

But for many of us, there’s a voice that screams in the back of our minds.

It’s not the voice of depression. It’s the voice of terror.

It’s the voice that says, “How can I ‘just be’ when I can’t pay my rent?”

The Spiritual Violence of “Earning a Living”

We can be in the midst of a profound, peaceful moment—noticing the “Totality in a Twig”—and our heart will suddenly seize with the cold-knuckled fear of an upcoming bill.

This isn’t a personal failing. It is not a sign that you are “bad at meditating.”

It is a sane and natural response to the foundational lie our society is built on: That your right to exist is conditional.

From the day we are born, we are taught that our worth is not inherent. We must earn it. We must be productive. We must “get a job” and “contribute” to “earn a living.”

Think about that phrase. Earn. A. Living.

We are told we must justify our own existence through a specific, narrow band of monetized labor. If we fail—if we get sick, if we burn out, if the “lead blanket of… nothing” pins us to the bed, or if we simply want to do work that isn’t profitable (like caring for an elder, restoring a forest, or creating art)—the system lets us know, in no uncertain terms, that we do not deserve to live.

This is a spiritual violence.

It creates a constant, background hum of anxiety that makes true presence—true “being”—a luxury available only to those who have already “won” the game. You cannot rest in “isness” if you are terrified that “isness” will make you homeless.

AUBI is “The Great Permission” Made Structural

This is where the conversation about Adaptive Universal Basic Income (AUBI) begins. And for us, here, it’s not a conversation about economics or politics. It’s a conversation about permission.

AUBI is the simple, structural assurance that your survival is not in question. It is a floor beneath which you cannot fall. It is society finally looking at every one of its members and saying:

“Your being is enough.”

“You are allowed to be here. You do not have to ‘earn’ your right to basic food, shelter, and dignity. That is your birthright as a human being. We trust you. You are enough.”

AUBI is not just a policy. It is the societal-level application of “Radical Permission.” It is the “Great Permission” enacted as a system.

The Lie: “If We Can Just Be, We’ll Do Nothing”

The first objection to this idea is always the same: “If you pay people to ‘just be,’ they’ll do nothing. No one will work. Society will collapse.”

This objection comes from the same lie: the belief that our natural state is “lazy” and that the only thing motivating us is terror.

But we know this isn’t true. We know what happens when the terror subsides.

When you’re a “Depressed Mystic,” pinned to the bed, what is the real work? It’s the “Zero-Energy Noticing.” It’s the “just being.” It’s the slow, unseen, non-productive work of healing. Our current system punishes this. AUBI gives it the space to happen.

And when you do have energy? When you are not forced into 40 hours of “doing” that feels meaningless, what do you do with your life?

You don’t “do nothing.” You finally start doing the real work.

You “Show Up” from a place of love, not obligation. You do the things that the current system refuses to value:

• You care for your children.
• You check on your elderly neighbor.
• You volunteer at the animal shelter.
• You tend a community garden. ([Hinting at Hearts and Leaves from the GGF AUBI model])
• You write your poem.
• You finally have the breath to grieve the world’s pain, and from that grief, you find your true, sacred service.

The fear that people will “do nothing” is a projection from a world that is exhausted from “doing” meaningless things out of terror.

The Spiritual Imperative

A society that truly believes “being is enough” cannot, in good conscience, allow its members to starve if they fail to be “productive.”

AUBI is therefore not a political choice. It is a spiritual imperative.

It is the single most powerful structural change we can make to heal the collective spiritual wound of “conditional worth.” It is the foundation for a society that actually allows being.

It dissolves the background hum of terror. It gives us permission to be sick, to be quiet, to be healers, to be artists, to be parents, to be… human.

It is the economic floor that finally gives us the spiritual freedom to look up.