I have talked about Intentional community before (e.g., New Ways of Living Together 2 – Intentional Communities {October 2018}) as a new way of living. It’s literally an intention to rebuild community, and that’s what ‘Intentional Communities’ are all about – living with cooperative intention instead of just living with people in the same location. At this time most intentional communities are outside urban environments but they don’t have to be. It can happen with any neighborhood anywhere. What is different from just a neighborhood is that people who build intentional communities tend to have similar worldviews. I cannot imagine my specific neighborhood easily becoming intentional because there are too many people who are privileged and are willing to pay for the services they want. They are not ‘bad’ people but they have the consumer materialist mindset and want manicured landscapes within the neighborhood even if the areas beyond the manicured areas are wild. Only a few people like myself have a crop garden during the summer months. Many of my neighbor have green lawns. Those will be the first things to go if we ever have a food crisis, but that is what it will take – an emergency. And if (and when) that day comes then people will be more ready to move to making the neighborhood intentional.
Rob Hopkins talks about Transition Communities (see earlier post, Relocalization and Community {January 2018}) where people work to develop relocalized food and power systems within an existing village to small town. It takes the cooperation of the community to make it work. For now, most intentional communities are ones that people move into because they see people that have similar values of what life ought to be like when it is better than simple urban living (post-materialistic – see last post. While people locked into mainstream thinking have lots of consumer options, they are less likely to reject the consumer paradigm. I call them ‘logical idealists’ in that they would like to see a better world but are hesitant to let go the consumer paradigm they enjoy (see earlier post, Richard’s Research on Worldviews and why he is optimistic about a transformation {June 2018}). I think the big changes are going to come once we start to see the economic consumer system start to fail.
If you reading this blog, then the likelihood is that you are already for the change now. So, imagine a different way of living from the one you currently live within (a perspective I have asked before in this blog.) Imagine no crowded urban or suburban environment, but a semi-rural setting surrounded by countryside immersed within a natural setting yet with all modern conveniences we take for granted in modern living. We are not taking a step back into the past but a step forward with the best aspects of the past and the present.
Imagine the people living in this community are now living a more natural lifestyle in a natural setting, and they share your values and are cohesive such that you all protect each other from what’s “out there” (big government control, mandates, restrictions, economic problems, mass surveillance, etc.). Imagine how you do not have to spend a regular workweek working for a corporate system, and even if you do it is a different kind of corporation that is more local and responsive to the people in the region. Imagine you have a flexible set of hours where you work producing your own food, energy, and educate your children and each other in things that make sense to your community and do things that interest you not because you have to make a living. You no longer need to ‘make a living’ because you have nearly everything you need by being part of this community. You deal with conflict by talking things through rationally and with critical thinking and tolerance. You do not need police because everyone is part of looking out for one another – like an advanced kind of neighborhood watch. Everyone has personal sovereignty even though the community has rules that guide it, not control it. Solutions, compensation, and reconciliation are sought, not punishment for infractions of the rules. Life is relatively peaceful and you live more in harmony with each other and the natural area around your community.
Neighboring communities are going through the same kinds of processes. They may have some minor differences in their rules but differences and diversity of all kinds are seen as beneficial and welcome. Humans are an amazing species capable of so much more than simply surviving and despoiling the areas in which they live. Our ‘natural’ way to live is not one of conflict and limitation. Societies not corrupted by the consumer paradigm live much more rewarding lives, have health and well-being at the center of their daily focus and have a more spiritual connection to each other and the land where they live. They really espouse what Aldo Leopold calls “the Land Ethic’ (see earlier post, A New Beginning – Part 5: Interconnectedness – a deeper introduction {January 2021}).
Do you find yourself looking at the clock all the time because your day, week, and months are so tedious or overly structured and busy? The corporate system built this belief that ‘busyness’ is erroneously equated to success – particularly true in the U.S. Gratification comes from everything external with little emphasis on the what is internal for each person. Intentional communities are where people co-create intentional and rewarding lifestyles that enhance your spiritually awareness of the world around and within you. You becoming intentional helps others become more intentional, and hence the community starts to become intentional.
Living an intentional life is literally about becoming intentional about what you want in life, what really matters to you then and making day to day decisions based on that larger picture of what you want out of life and then moving towards that kind of living. This kind of intentional conscious awareness has numerous benefits not just to you but to everyone around you because you live more in the NOW as Eckhart Tolle would say. You stop living in the past and acting like a victim to your circumstances. You take control of your thinking and stop reacting defensively and instead begin consciously responding to what happens with more understanding and appreciation. Once you understand how your conditioned beliefs and values used to influence your reactions, you begin to reprogram your inner thinking and start choosing ways to enhance your happiness and well-being that make sense to you, and literally begin to feel healthier in mind and body. Its not that nothing happens to you, just that you no longer will react negatively. You become authentic and sovereign in who you are and not needy of external validation of who you want to be. You transform by recognizing and using your inner power.
To Be Continued ………
“We should focus on those things which are distinctively human–the powers of creativity, of curiosity, of compassion, and of collaboration.” Sir Ken Richardson.
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