Terms, Conditions and Generosity

The impetus and spirit behind CreOV is of an altruistic nature. In certain buddhist traditions there is the beautiful concept of the "Bodhisattva vow". It is a vow a person makes to dedicate hisher life to the liberation of all beings, or more prosaically, to the benefit of others. I have always resonated strongly with this kind of intentionality, well before I ever encountered the Bodhisattva Vow concept and even I'm not a Buddhist and don't prescribe to any karmic logic of punshiment or reward for my soul.

Now there is nothing wrong with contributing to the world and making a living by it, or receiving recognition for it in other ways. And yet, I think that if the core motivation is one of contribution without any necessity of making a living from it, it has a different quality. I am lucky, at least for the time being, that I have the time and resources to dedicate to such a project. So I asked myself, why not walk the Boddhisvata path humbly (I'm not a Buddhist), aware of my privilege but making something bold with it that comes from the heart and soul?

There is nothing more wonderful for me if creativity is able to spread freely and be of maximum benefit to all living beings. Copying, "appropriating" and further development of ideas or practices has been part-and-parcel for all human cultural endeavors and should not be restricted and plastered over with copyrighting, thus obstructing its benefit for everybody. 

At the same time, it has been many idealist's sobering experience that not all people are motivated by such a spirit of constructive generosity and integrity and that copying and appropriation for personal, often material or prestige gain, is commonplace. This is especially problematic for CreOV in that it's roots are of altruistic nature and in that it is still in a largely experimental phase, and can hence be easily perverted for other purposes.

So, what to do? While I hope that you can be inspired by my work here, it is my request in the spirit of creative altruism, that you do not copy and develop things without contacting me first, especially if what you will use it for has a price-tag or is for personal recognition. Such behavior would not just betray me, but the very essence behind CreOV.

Thank you for respecting this. And please do reach out if you have any questions or an interest for collaboration!