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in praise of unintentional communities | (Read 552 times) |
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kelda
Posts: 265
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January 25, 2008, 08:46:50 PM |
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I kind of see intentional communities as the 'think-tank' within which a community-disabled people can figure out how to do it again. By 'do it', I mean sharing resources, communicating honestly, not having any big hang-ups with each other, and having a good time.
What an embarrassing no brainer! And yet all of us, I bet, have stories in which this simplest of things has gone very wrong.
So I enjoy my conversations with intentional community folks, and my random readings of 'Communities' magazine.
BUT, for many reasons I sing loudly the praises of unintentional communities. Of the community that is created by having different goals, different politics, different lifestyles, and that one uniting factor being just basic old geography. Neighbors.
One of the reasons I find this so precious is my general take on 'leaving society' perspective. My perspective is 'DON'T!'. Or maybe do it for awhile, till you start to breathe easier, and then come back to the messy world as it is.
That messy world needs you, needs people in a neighborhood who like potlucks, and dare to push the envelope of what a 'garden' looks like (to name an example).
When I was growing up in the suburbs I had some suburbian idea that the further you went into the city, the more disconnected and superficial people would be, and the further you went into the country the more hippie and earth-connected people would be. Not true!
There are plenty of people who live way out in the hills and own a 5acre ranchette just so they can sit on a riding lawnmower and feel agrarian. And there are plenty of people in the city who know the birds and the wind and what it means, who grow food in the craziest most wonderful places, and whose ecological footprint is a fragment of their country counterpart.
So that's something to consider.
The other is that when my one and only connection to someone may be the fence we share, that is actually a very fertile edge. That is place. Even if they think I'm a sinner or a nutcase, most everyone can find a passing minute to talk about how lovely the flowers or weather is. And from being connected to that place, revolution comes. The place is the intention, no matter how much asphalt it may have.
I'm very happy that people are living in intentional communites. They teach me a lot. It takes a lot of support to not forget how important the flowers and the weather are, and that the earth works its magic on us everywhere, as much as we will let it.
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pixelphoto
Posts: 44
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May 05, 2008, 11:05:52 AM |
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I agree with you.
Sometimes people do need to get away from it all but then they need to come back and rejoin society as a whole.
Come back to the "messy world" as you so called it.
Besides coming back to the community look at what all you can teach others. Maybe you can make a small change in the neighborhood around you by showing others what it is you do and why you do it. Once others understand the strange ways of yours they will better like you and understand you. They may even take up some of your strange habits LOL 
Good post thanks for sharing.
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