It became increasingly clear, increasingly visible that citizens within their village circles were perfectly capable of managing their affairs themselves. Not only financially, but also organisationally, business-wise, in terms of housing and care. It was striking that fewer and fewer people needed psychological help and even physical health care. The process of emotional healing, which had started years ago from within, began to bear visible, audible and tangible fruit.

In The Hague, with the new national government, conversations were changing. Instead of wanting to regulate everything in laws and measures, the politicians noticed that there was no need to do that anymore. And since this new government had little or no urge to rule or dominate, the conversations changed. Questions arose, questions like:

"What can we let go of?"

"What laws can we relax, simplify or even drop?”

This was, of course, an immense puzzle because the complex of laws had become particularly confusing. The politicians were considering spreading out across the country and visiting a lot of villages, going around asking what local councils nationwide thought was needed, and whether it was true that more could be left to the villages themselves. One of the politicians, Annemarie Verdouw came forward and said she had seen a series of interviews in video recordings on the website of 'Soul-Journalism' that already gave quite a clear picture. She suggested, asking these journalists if they wanted to do more such interviews, including specifically politically-oriented questions.

"These are people who do it in such a great way, so people-to-people, and it is visible that villagers confide in them. I would be super if they started doing that more. I think we would benefit from that."

One of her colleagues suggested to watch some of their recordings on the spot now. Everyone agreed and the first recording was soon started.

After three interviews in different villages, someone asked if they had also been to any of the villages that had emerged from a big city they had filmed. This turned out not to be the case yet.

They discussed the issue and decided that Annemarie would ask the journalists to make more of these interviews and put them on the site so that they could watch them in the coming time to see what more was needed from the national government. Together they compiled a few questions, which she would pass on to Jeroen, so that they could get a good idea of what was going on and where they could serve the country.

Annemarie went to the microphone last: "Just that last one, where we can serve the country, that makes me feel incredibly good! How much has changed in the last few years! I am happy about it and confident that things will keep improving. I will call Jeroen about those interviews. I have one more question about that. I know for a fact that they employ at least 10 full-time staff, and I would suggest, that not only Jeroen and his cameraman Eric go on the road for us, but that the other team members also travel the country as couples. That will probably mean that they will have to buy cameras in addition. My first question is: do you guys agree that it would be good if all the staff of 'Soul Journalism' will work on this?"

All hands went up without hesitation.

"Then from that follows my second question: the equipment they have to purchase for that, can it be purchased at our expense?"

Again, all hands went up. A fellow politician stood up, walked forward to the microphone and asked, "Wouldn't it also be right for this team to be compensated for their hours?"

Annemarie laughed: "So that was my next question, thanks for thinking with me, colleague!"

All hands were raised by now, and a fee was agreed, which Annemarie was allowed to propose to Jeroen.

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The next day, she reported on the phone conversation. "I told Jeroen what we discussed yesterday and that we watched some of their interviews. And I asked him if it was possible for his complete team to go out in pairs for us. I immediately mentioned what we had agreed around compensation for the equipment and their working hours, and he was happy with that. He would discuss it with his colleagues and get back to me. It took a whopping five minutes before I got him back on the line. As a team, they were grateful for this opportunity to help us with the national government. They had been talking about it just yesterday, about how all the local changes would affect the national government. So our request for help was very welcome for them! I told them we would put our arrangements in the mail today, whereupon he promised that they would then immediately start buying the necessary equipment. And yesterday they would already start working on a work schedule, forming pairs and agreeing which villages they would go to. It was abundantly clear that they were looking forward to it! It looks like they will visit a few villages every day, a few villages that are somewhat in the same direction, to save travel costs. And then the day after, they will get the recordings ready to put on the site. That's the idea at the moment, and that seems smart. Jeroen promised to keep me informed of the goings-on."

A standing ovation was the grateful response to her report!

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The Soul Journalism colleagues were indeed blazingly enthusiastic, and grateful to have received this request. Forming pairs was not that difficult. The part-timers were also involved, which meant that there were also several alternating pairs. They did not experience this as a problem; it seemed good for variety.

The next day they received an e-mail message from Annemarie Verdouw listing all the practical arrangements. Eric immediately went looking for cameras and, as agreed, forwarded the invoices to Annemarie. Annemarie marvelled that Eric had only bought second-hand equipment. He had the option of buying everything new... She emailed him about this, to which his simple reply was: 'We followed our inner voice, and all experienced that there was no need to put you to unnecessary expense. Second-hand is fine, especially if you feel inwardly clear that you are with the right one.'

Moved, Annemarie shared his answer with her colleagues. The reaction was very different this time, no applause, no hands in the air. There was utter silence. Everyone was steeped in the immense change that was going on in the country...

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The Soul Journalism duos travelled around the country, visiting different villages every other day. They met in their workspace the next day, went straight to work editing the footage for the website. As they were used to, they put English subtitles underneath.

Annemarie and her colleagues kept an eye on the site and watched all the new videos the Soul-Journalism staff had made. In their meeting a few weeks later, they discussed what they had experienced with it.

"Citizens are paying more and more themselves, spontaneously taking care of their own environment. Can't we start reducing taxes?" someone suggested.

"If citizens take so many more initiatives of their own, take care of it themselves, why should we still have to regulate it all? It is abundantly clear that they are perfectly capable of it and it seems to make them genuinely happy," another thought.

"The local leaders consult with residents just fine, and together they come out of it. I think it would be good to leave the really local things to them themselves. That would make legislation much simpler, it's just not necessary anymore to want to control everything from here."

All sorts of ideas were floated, ideas for legislative changes and significantly lower taxation.

This included a new regulation whereby tax was no longer levied on anything that could be bought through shops and online shops. It was made clear to retailers and businesses that the government considered them sufficiently capable of arranging their own pricing such that from the profit they made from it they could pay for their expenses and maintenance of their shops and equipment. In that settlement, the government reported that through Soul-Journalism's interviews, they had noticed that the urge to make extreme profits had disappeared and therefore they dared to leave the setting of new prices to shops and businesses with confidence.

There was something else special to notice in the interviews. There was no more buying addiction, on any level. People bought only what they really craved, things that really suited them and what they really needed. As a result, there was still trade, both domestically and with foreign countries, but it was much less extensive. Transport of products also decreased as a result.

The same could be said about the desire to travel, to take holidays elsewhere. In any case, there was less desire to have holidays, because there was so much more relaxation in daily life, and so much more fun and joy. This did mean, of course, that there was less travelling, which resulted, for instance, in a decrease in air travel.

Another noticeable phenomenon was that people increasingly did their work in the villages where they lived. As a result, there was much less traffic on the highways. Thereby, it was noticed that driving was much quieter, according to citizens who were asked about it, because of the peace they experienced inside. For this reason, the government decided to narrow roads wherever possible and even dared to eventually abolish the speed limit. The maintenance of roads, which began to look more like the former country roads, was henceforth paid entirely from taxes on fuel. The money from that tax was remitted to the companies that provided maintenance. It couldn't be simpler and cheaper!

And something completely different... In practice, it turned out that crime in all forms had decreased enormously, and if anything happened, the people of 'Heart for the Netherlands’ were perfectly capable of solving it together with the citizens. That too prompted the government to simplify laws or ban them from their range.

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In those months, the national government simplified rapidly. There was a positive response from many villages. Citizens and local leaders felt that they were taken seriously, and were more than willing to take care of their environment and residents themselves.

Major changes in the tax system were hugely welcomed by residents. It was regularly the talk of the day, with joy at being taken seriously and being able to do the things they liked themselves prevailing.

The phenomenon of tax administration as it had always existed disappeared from the scene altogether. Those who became unemployed as a result were taken care of in their villages. Together, they looked for other work that really suited them. At first, these unemployed people found this quite difficult, as they had always worked in the tax office system and were less used to thinking about what they really wanted to do. The help from their fellow villagers consisted mainly of asking questions and thinking along. Nothing was forced on them, the newly unemployed were given full space to start feeling consciously and asking themselves what their heart was in. They were involved in things organised in the village and eventually all found their way in it.

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It would go too far to describe everything that changed as people were emotionally healed to the point where they were able to live from their inner selves, live and work together.

What is still worth mentioning is that the national government made itself almost completely redundant. However, the politicians still continued to meet regularly, depending on the things that required it. They changed the name of their organisation. They no longer wanted to be a government, but more of an organisation that kept an overview. So what name would suit them better than 'National Overview Committee'?

No more government, no more rulers, no more control, no more intimidation and manipulation. It all disappeared from the scene....

For the first time in history, the Dutch people lived a restored life in perfect freedom, from their inner selves. The Dutch people lived and enjoyed, enjoyed themselves and each other.

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When and with what had this started?

By whom had this been brought about?

Ah, what did it matter!

People were largely healed inwardly, living from their inner selves, doing what suited them, with which they regularly served their environment. They had real relationships, soul connections. They were happy, grateful, had fun, were relaxed. It made them feel like they were living for the first time. Their life was a complete new life in a new world!

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To be continued in part 3:

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“A new world”

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