Confronting Complicity in Capitalism - Wrap-Up (for now)

What did we learn in our 3-month experiment to face privilege with care?No, we didn’t solve capitalism. We are not now doing money perfectly ethically forever. But we sure learned a lot. And phew, how our lives are already different.Some highlights for me:Our three original questions: seeing clearly (what are my resources and needs?), sitting with what's hard (is this money even mine?), and moving forward (what is mine/ours to do?). All three are still alive, not “solved.”From “is this mine?” to “what do I do with access to this?” We moved from an anxious, binary ownership question toward practical redistribution. For example, getting out of the stock market and letting resources circulate to people and community who need them now.Rejecting all-or-nothing thinking. A recurring insight: people assume confronting capitalism means either full compliance or total withdrawal / go live in the woods. Instead, we already live by multiple economic logics (capitalist, communal, hierarchical) simultaneously within our relationships. We can apply this to work and money too!“There's more than two options here, friends.”Privilege named systemically, not individually. Learning to name privilege openly (rather than downplay it as personal “bravery”) and to hold it “with care and joy rather than shame and blame.” More and more, we can see our privilege as a structural condition, not a personal trait.“This idea of me, mine, ownership, accumulation, possession... I can be a bit closer to why some of that feels problematic.”“It's not good nor bad, it just is.”Holding shame with care. Being witnessed while sitting with painful shame (rather than being judged or someone turning away) was one of the most powerful parts of the process, enabled by a small trusted container, and coaching from our mentor Miki Kashtan.Ripple effects into family relationships. The together work made it possible for Elena to approach money conversations with her parents more honestly, separating assumptions and projections from what was actually true, moving toward co-holding decisions with them.Collective/communal investing. Inspired by guest Morgan Curtis's resource library, we both want to move from individual financial decision-making toward more collective, community-based approaches to investing and resource-sharing.“Even me not making a choice – like keeping things invested in a retirement fund – is absolutely still making a choice.”What's next. Rather than a tidy conclusion, this is an ongoing spiral: next steps include our "purpose partnership," making needs more visible, and maybe even another experiment with new and different questions.And we're curious: What questions are still open for you? What feels new and illuminated?As always, follow along on…video on LinkedIn (visible if you’re connected to me or Elena)blog on Medium: https://juliash.medium.com/