Nobody is earning a living in nature’s world, when economic systems do not mesh with whole-oriented integrative systems. A butterfly does not make money or produce something outside of living its life. Nonetheless, this delicate and diaphanous creature miraculously thrives. The “job” appears to be staying at the edge of its species’ potential to serve the good, the greater whole of life.

From long observation of seemingly unpractical animals like butterflies and hummingbirds, I realized: They do not stand alone at the edge. The “economy” supporting the non-working flowers and trees as well is a natural tendency, among most organisms, to form a coevolutionary relationship with the formless, energetic, quantum, all-informed, totipotent patterns so that physical expressions can come into form.

Artists, mothers, gardeners or simply anyone who passionately cares about something unrealistic — like raising a child in today’s world; my daughter faces thousands of dollars of student loan debt — no one has a crystal ball to see how these life choices will be affordable in the future.

Anything that is truly meaningful in life, like reaching for the stars with building the Vashon Center for the Arts, is never going to square with the checkbook. When a new baby is born, nobody says someday you might grow up to be an accountant. This is not to say this job is not valuable; it always is — maybe you will be a dancer, a great artist, a poet, a dreamer. Of course, if there is an issue of lying or incompetence, it will be impossible for VCA to accomplish what may seem possible at present, to serve the good of the greater community of Vashon.

— Suzanne Hubbard