COMMUNITY,
DEFINED
(From Wikipedia)
A group of interacting people, living in
some proximity (i.e., in space, time, or relationship). Community usually
refers to a social unit larger than a household that shares common values and
has social cohesion.
In human communities, intent, belief,
resources, preferences, needs, risks, and a number of other conditions may be
present and common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree
of cohesiveness.
In our work experience helping develop eco-communities around the
world, and studying the ones that haven’t made it - from the Utopian and other
movements in history - we’ve discovered one criteria, above all others, must be
present for the community to survive:
a concept of living and allowing others
to live, without reserve.
What this means is… the freedom and equality of EVERY
person must be valued above any thought that someone is “right”. Communities
that dictate behavior (must be vegan, must be Christian, etc) fail, invariably,
in the long run. The concept of free will is strong in every person, and only a
community which works towards balance in viewpoints can survive. A person can’t
be threatened with expulsion if they give in and eat a hamburger after 12 years
of following the yegan rules… nor can they be told that they are to be subject
to anyone else. Each member must ”buy into” the concept of the village – they WHY of the community
– without reserve... and the reason they want to be there has to be a choice they
continue to make as their sense of community is renewed in the way they spend
their day.
The most successful eco-communities on the planet – those that have
stood the test of time– are the Jewish Kibbutz and similarly-style religious orders
(nunneries and monasteries) both far removed in Europe and of non-Christian
traditions in Asia.
Successful communities share some easily identifiable qualities:
- Regular community meal, though they range between daily to only once per week
- Emphasize equality such that women are not subject to men or vice versa
- A day without work every week (sabbath)
- Honor special moments in time (holidays) with community feasts , fasts, dances, pilgrimages, fire circles, tests of feat, etc.
- Leaders elected to run day-to-day operations
- Consensus voting on plan for operations
- Express concerns about the community only on specified days
- Preference for, if not commitment to, silence and/or listening “from the heart” (not to fix)
The communities we are working with have
found the most success when they:
- Honor the individual as equal to the community (limiting required communal responsibilities)
- Institute a community shared-learning program where individuals help the community to succeed by sharing their knowledge freely
- Have an effective barter system. (i.e. Your community has a chainsaw, to which every person is assigned one day of use in the month. You aren’t going to use it, but your neighbor Bob wants to, he can barter you for a bag of beets or an hour of help in the greenhouse plot to use it.)
- Have individual property (even if leased from the group) and ability to use it within defined limits (zoning type agreements, for instance using permaculture and native species, and no fences allowed)
- Do not require community members to participate in aspects of the community they do not wish to. Their dana is just that: theirs. They may balance the books or wash dishes. The key is: they must participate, at an agreed level, usually 10-20 hours per week.
- Internships allow people who cannot afford to otherwise join the community with the possibility of participating without cost, for services performed - often housekeeping, marketing, or management positions.
