As brilliant, energetic and totally cool as I am, I can’t do this by myself. I need your help.
I need you to read my posts, comment on my ideas and tell me where I’ve goofed. I need your wisdom, philosophy, personal code of morality and theology. I need your suggestions for people to interview and articles and books to read. When you see a relevant link on the Web, let me know.
I suspect that I’ll also need your encouragement when I feel lost and want to give up. And I need one more thing. I honestly hate to ask for this, but I’m going to take a deep breath and do it: I need your financial help.
As I post this, I have zero funding for this project.
I make my living as a freelance writer and editor. I have no other source of income and no spouse or partner to pay my way. I need financial support to do the research and travel to the places I need to go to get answers. I need to pay for video equipment and a new audio recorder, and I need funding to pay my mortgage and buy food while I’m pursuing this quest.
I intend to apply for grants and other support to help pay for this work. (I’m researching grant sources right now, and suggestions will be thoroughly welcomed.) I intend to write articles and take on speaking engagements, and collect whatever fees I can from those activities. I’ll also seek a book contract.
But the publishing industry is in disarray. Magazines are flailing about with no clear sense of direction, and their freelance budgets are plunging. And perhaps even worse, if this project were under contract at this moment, I might have to bow down to a publisher’s priorities.
If I can build an audience before I go to a publisher, and if I can show that the audience supports me financially, then this expedition can stay honest. The answers you and I discover won’t have to be trimmed down, prettied up or forced into a box marked “commercially viable.”
And so, here I am with my virtual hat in hand, asking for your help. A donation of $35, $50, $100 or more will make The Goodness Project possible.
Will you help me in my quest? Will you make a donation, and will you do that today?
Thank you so much!
Diane
In Search of Goodness 
I think you have a lovely idea, and a book coming that is sure to be a success. My concern is that the way you seem to be defining your quest may limit the truth of what you find. The famously good are public figures, with a complicated set of obligations, personas, and rewards that don’t have much to do with their goodness, but may complicate it. You might be better off just wandering and finding goodness at random as it quietly emanates from persons who have no worldly investment in being good. What is it that emanates, and why? And why limit yourself to 365 days? Is the book so urgent, and the quest so dismissable, that you could not take longer to get a better answer?
John, Thanks so much for your comment, and you’ve got a terrific point about not limiting myself to famous people or public figures. I love your point about how the “famously good” have obligations, personas and get rewards from their “goodness.” Wandering the world and seeking goodness from everyday folk may not be a bad idea at all. Also, if you have good, non-famous folks in mind who might be great interviews for me, please let me know!
As for why I’m limiting this to 365 days, I certainly mean no disrespect to my quest or the topic. I’ve imposed a limit because when I first got the idea of doing a book on goodness, the topic felt so overwhelming — so huge — that it seemed impossible. Limiting this to what I can discover in 365 days shrinks this down into a size I can get my arms around. I’m not crazy enough to think that I can learn everything everyone needs to know about goodness in 365 days. Heck, 365 years might be too short for that, but my mission is to see what I can learn in this one year.
Once again, many thanks for your help!
Sympathizing with your recent post regarding the underwhelming nature of modern philosophy, sharing a developed philosophy seemed prudent.
In life (as we perceive it) existence precludes perception. This implies we cannot perceive without existence, we can only perceive existence, and we are in existence.
In life we have interest in association with existence. Although our primary interest, existence, is supplementary, our perception of association consists of interest of varying, yet complementary degree. In other words, existence is whole, and we perceive absence.
In summary, interest in existence creates associations we perceive.
We, as part of existence, should not be tempted to perceive fault in that which is whole and should be humbled by the opportunity to perceive.
Perhaps I should brush up on my English. Existence precedes perception, it certainly doesn’t preclude it.
fellowother, thanks so much for your comments. Your clarification helps make your comment a lot clearer, but I have to admit that I’m still confused by what you’re saying. That’s why I didn’t reply before. I get the idea that we are “fish” swimming in the water of “existence,” and like the fish who can’t perceive water because it has only ever known water, we may not be able to clearly perceive existence. I think that’s what you mean. Am I correct? But I’m afraid that I have to finally admit that I don’t understand what else you’re trying to say.
I realize the abstraction can seem ambiguous, but I believe specificity prevents us from interpreting meaning for ourselves. The meaning you found brought a smile to my face, and hopefully I can clarify the meaning I found.
We, unlike fish, are able to have interest in infinite associations in existence. This is made possible by our primary interest, existence. This may seem apparent, but I believe it is often ignored. Given that we, along with all we perceive (including fish), share this common interest, I believe it should serve as a constant reminder we are here only because of this interest.
Our perception of absence is the driving force behind our ever-changing perception of the infinite. The trick, I believe, is to realize without this perception we would be as simple as fish, content, yet unable to appreciate the beauty of the “water” in which we swim.
You began your search not because you perceived existence to be full of goodness, but, in many respects, lacking. This perception has led you to associations with interest in your perception of “goodness.” Although you may find an answer in these 365 days which most satisfies your search, I hope it never ends. 🙂
Thanks for your comments, fellowother.