Help
Sign In
community
July 2009 
Update on zaadznowgaia
Posted on Aug 28th, 2008
by 
lightenup
lightenup
Over half a year since the assimilation, this is how I currently feel about zaadznowgaia.
zaadz = spiritual community.
gaiam = commercial enterprise.
I see the zaadz = gaia equation as one of two basic scenarios: an attempt to "commercialize" a spiritual community (zaadz) or an attempt to "spiritualize" a commercial enterprise by way of grafting zaadz on. Please do not read this as meaning overt attempts, but nevertheless the results are the same.
When I signed up on zaadz, neither of those two options were my intention in becoming part of this community. When zaadz became gaia, neither of those options became mine by osmosis.
For now I am still, waiting and seeing.
Access: Public
It's been about a year, if you can believe it! Brian sold the company last August. I actually love your analysis of the spiritual / commerical equation, and goodness… I feel we're still struggling with both sides. Gaia, to me, is as spiritual a community as ever, and Gaiam has had our / their / its values inscribed in its mission statement from the get-go. We're a now much closer to pulling our own weight than when we were Zaadz (and just burning through investor money), but balancing the two (not to mention trying to integrate them) has been oh, such a learning experience.
Also, I feel more 'planted in' than 'grafted on to', but that's my sense. You're in different shoes.
:)