Makin’ a few changes around here

I’ve got a little dilemma. Recently I’ve been on a life-changing journey of physical, emotional, and spiritual healing (if those categories are separable, which they aren’t). I would love to write about this in a way that isn’t too public. It is pretty personal, this journey, and it leads to other topics that I feel vulnerable writing about. I’m uncomfortable exposing certain thoughts to people who may not have my best interests at heart.

Furthermore, mixing this more personal material into the same feed as political writing doesn’t serve either. Each dilutes and distracts from the other. For example, the force and credibility of, say, an article urging the MAHA movement to establish its political independence and pressure congressional Republicans and the Trump administration to change course on environmental and agricultural policies, will not benefit from being sandwiched between ruminations on plant medicine, ancestral healing, and my personal psychology.

My solution to this dilemma is to split this blog into three: a public-facing column, a personal journal, and an anonymous separate blog under a pen name where I will get really creative.

(1) The public facing column: I will continue to write on politics, tech, ecology, culture, and other current affairs here and elsewhere. I am going to stop allowing comments from free subscribers, because scammers and trolls are using my name and photo to impersonate me. Just because it says “Charles Eisenstein” and has my picture doesn’t mean it is me. Especially if it links to investment websites. Just a reminder: if I make commercial endorsements, it will be for fine products like my new line of typewriter ribbons, battery-less corded electric vehicle, and 5.25” floppy disk storage rack. Anyway, this column will be irregular, since politics is not my main interest. Deeper things are moving, both within me and in the world.

(2) The personal journal: Mostly, I will use the present blog to write in a more personal voice. Sometimes it will be intimate and vulnerable, sometimes light and chatty, sometimes elevating, sometimes sobering, sometimes esoteric, sometimes grounding, veering often into spiritual territory that isn’t just about me. (But a lot of it will be about me.) I’ll tell stories, my own and those of the fascinating people I encounter, stories of healing, stories of awakening, and use them as vehicles of sense-making to navigate these crazy times. And I will reflect on the past 15 years as a public speaker, writer, Covid dissident, and political advisor.

These posts I will send to paid subscribers only, to create a bit of a container where I feel safe to write freely. So if you want to receive the more personal writing, please switch to a paid subscription. I’ll send the first post in a few days. It will say something like “Charles Eisenstein journal” or “Reunion Journal” in the sender field.

For those for whom $7 a month is genuinely a problem, I will be happy to upgrade you to paid status for free. I will do so only if I know you, or you have a history of polite comments in the past, or you can persuade Patsy that you are sincere. I know that many of my readers are based in India, Africa, Turkey, Brazil, and other places, and I really don’t want people with small incomes to pay for a subscription. If that is you, reply to this email with your request, then be patient. It may take a while for Patsy to get to it if there are many requests.

At present between 1% and 2% of the subscribers to this blog are paid, so those who receive these personal posts will be a fairly intimate community. Though of course, I welcome more! I intend to engage comments more actively as well. It will be freeing to know that my writing here won’t be super public. I’ll worry less about how my personal revelations might negatively impact my more mainstream advocacy. I’ll be free to write whatever I want! Free to be less cautious, the way one feels when speaking to a sympathetic listener.

(3) The anonymous blog. I was visited with an incredible title and vision for a new Substack. It will be more poetic and adventurous and maybe more mystical than my normal writing. Freed of “Charles Eisenstein,” I will be able to explore a different voice. You see, when I write as “Charles Eisenstein,” I have to be aware of all the perceptions and history that affect the way people read my words. That has become quite limiting. Furthermore, apart from reader perceptions, that voice has its own inertia that constrains my creativity.

If it is anonymous, how will you find it? Unfortunately, I can’t give you a hint, because if people know it is me it ruins the whole purpose. But don’t worry, you’ll find it. I’ll reach out to a few people who can keep a secret to spread the word.

I can hardly wait to get started in this new direction, particularly the personal writings. Feeling so much gratitude to my readers. Thank you!