04 Meaning Isn’t Found—It’s Made.

Matej Sanitrár - 2025-02-16

Revolutionary Changes, Rush, Stress, Unrelenting Progress... Fatigue, Exhaustion, Illness, Depression. These are all common phenomena and ailments in today's world. Some of them are even referred to as "diseases of civilization." The constant flood of stimuli, news, information, and knowledge doesn’t go unnoticed—it takes a toll on us.

Our response began with a few questions: What if we could reduce the costs of housing, food, energy, water, and gas to a minimum while creating a healthy living environment? What could we do with the time we’d gain by not having to work so hard to cover such high expenses?

These questions came to mind while watching the documentary Basic Income (SK-version). One of the questions posed in the film is: "What would you do if you received an unconditional income?" Answering this isn’t easy. It’s almost as challenging as asking yourself, "What is the meaning of my life?"

The film *Basic Income* explores the idea of providing all citizens in a country with an unconditional basic income—enough to cover all basic needs without requiring anything in return, such as work. It’s an appealing idea (though those who lived under socialist regimes led by communist parties might have mixed feelings about it). However, implementing such a system would require the agreement of the majority of political parties or, as in the case of Switzerland, where a referendum on the topic was held in 2016, the majority of the population. At FiiDU.org, we asked ourselves if a similar effect could be achieved in a different way.

This mosaic of questions and reflections is beautifully complemented by a statement made by Ron Finley, the guerrilla gardener from Los Angeles, during his TEDx LA talk: "If you grow your own food, it’s like printing your own money.".

Now, imagine applying the same idea to electricity (generated from solar panels, wind turbines, or small hydro plants), gas (produced through anaerobic fermentation of organic waste from your own household), or water (collected through air condensation).

If we add to this the "creation" of food through cultivation (aquaponics, hydroponics, food forests, permaculture gardens, walipini greenhouses, raised beds, etc.) or raising animals (aquaponics, free-range poultry, flow hives, etc.), all on a household scale, we could talk about a form of income—not unconditional, but one that requires only a bit of enthusiasm for a new lifestyle. Moreover, this "style" doesn’t require the broad consensus of the population or political forces.