Jeff Cates : visiting the research center
Two years ago my life changed completely. My relationship of seven years ended abruptly. I found myself 30 years old without adequate employment and needing to provide not only for myself, but for my two children. I had to move my children and I into my mother’s house until I could find adequate employment.
Getting back on my feet proved difficult, to say the least. I found myself in jobs that relied on either the manipulation of people, maintaining inadequate machines, or doing monotonous repetitive manual labor that clearly could be automated. I couldn’t help but think that there is something very wrong with the way the world is. I started learning about politics, assuming that this must be the way to help understand the problems I could see in the world. I started doing a lot of research and learning many different political points- of-view on how to manage society.
I found myself feeling even more discouraged than ever before. I found politicians to not only be incompetent, but who clearly based their ideas and positions on who gave them the most money, not what was in the best interest of the people who elected them. They were putting money over the well-being of other fellow human beings.
So at this point I felt that getting money out of politics was the best way to get politicians to base decisions on the well-being of other humans. I started having political discussions with people. My lifelong friend Paul started having discussions with me and presented an idea of removing money altogether - a moneyless society called a Resource-Based Economy. Well, at first I could not fathom that. I had never before been presented with such an idea. Money just seemed like something that had to exist.
He recommended three documentaries called Zeitgeist. I have always considered myself an ope- minded person and felt like I respond the best to logic and reason. So I watched all three of them on YouTube. Well, I have never in my life been so much on the edge of my seat. It struck such a nerve in me that it changed me forever. It sparked something in me that gave me an insatiable thirst to learn more.
I have always been a passionate person, but this gave me an excitement and a passion to share what I’ve learned like I didn’t know existed in me. Zeitgeist gave me a deeper understanding of the problems and a hopeful solution called The Venus Project. So I spent literally every single day for two years learning and researching everything I could find on the subjects presented.
But nothing came close to inspiring me and giving me hope like listening to Jacque Fresco. I searched on YouTube for every lecture, interview, and movie about The Venus Project. I have learned more in the last two years than I have in the culmination of my entire life. I became so excited about what I was learning I couldn’t help but talk to everybody that came into contact with me about The Venus Project. I had a naïve notion that if people just knew about this then people would fall in love with it the way I did. Unfortunately, it made a lot of people upset and caused some serious arguments with people I cared about. I became discouraged with discussions I would have and would over hear. I saw people I once respected as very intelligent saying things that were not based on research and the scientific method, but rather on cultural myths and superstitions that had no basis in reality.
So for a while I stopped trying to use logic and reason with people and just continued my learning. I read every book that I heard Jacque recommend in interviews. I researched every subject Jacque talked about. It just inspired me like nothing else to hear him explain a better way for humanity. I learned about the tours that were held in Venus, Florida. People would go there and Jacque and Roxanne would show them models and designs of The Venus Project and have group discussions on many subjects. There is a guided tour of the premises that has amazing and beautiful buildings, gorgeous ponds, and palm trees. There are even alligators and other wildlife to experience in a safe and friendly environment. The best part for me was to get the honor of sitting and taking part in a conversation with Jacque himself. I knew that the chance to have a face-to-face encounter with one of the most extraordinary human beings who ever lived, was a once- in-a-lifetime opportunity I couldn’t pass up, especially considering that learning about The Venus Project changed not only how I view the world, but also how I interact with people forever.
The trajectory of my life had been changed. So I started booking the trip. I was telling my friends and family about it. They all knew what it meant to me and were very excited for me. My father who was just starting to learn about The Venus Project asked if he could go with me. Of course I said, “Yes,” and we planned the trip together. As the date to leave got closer, my father and I would have very good deep conversations about the ideas and directions of The Venus Project. It brought my father and I closer together and created a deeper bond between me and him that I will cherish for the rest of my life.