To begin with I want to mention that this is my first Steemit post and more importantly, other people refer to us as a commune. We refer to ourselves as a community but the truth is that the words "community", "communication" and "commune" are all relatives of one another. We are communing together for deeper communication to create a thriving community. Is it working? Well, let's take a look.
Living in Community can potentially create for you a better life and make you a better person for a variety of reasons. Currently I live in the sustainable ecovillage, The Garden of Eden in Arlington, Texas. Many people associate community living with cults (coming from the word "culture") and extremist. People have lived in community since the beginning of mankind. It is actually our natural way to live. Rows of boxes, separating you from your community is the prevalent unnatural way to live in today's alleged modern society. That lifestyle cuts you off from relationships, cooperative community and creates barriers and fears of your neighbors. Frightened people are easier to manage and control.
I've been living in community for a few years, loving the freedom the lifestyle it creates. Currently the community inhabits about a dozen adults and 4 children. There is no bedtime, no waking time, no set routines so we all follow our own internal clock. We have one main house we all hang out in to eat, use our steemit accounts, dance, and engage in various projects. The majority of the community has personal space outside in trailers, teeny tiny homes and tents. All of our inhabitants love their life, working passionately daily on projects of their choosing and sleeping deeply having put in a full day of awesomeness. There's just no way this life wouldn't make you a better person.
There are five main ways, in my experience, living in community makes you a better person and is a better life beginning with number 5 to number 1.
5. OPK (Other People's Kids)
There are so many reasons why being around children is good for you, the children and the greater world community at large. Many people don't know any children and never spend any time with children. I could write a book on the benefits of spending quality time with children. However, in short, children tap into our gentler side, teach us to slow down and be in the moment. Teaching the process of chopping an onion to 3 year old takes a lot more time than just chopping the onion at my usual full speed. When spending time with children I am more aware of my behavior and energy because now it's not just all about me but I'm involving delicate little souls who are looking to me for guidance. Also, and more importantly, children teach us to love. Before people fuck them up they are totally and completely loving beings. My experience is that they have loads of love to give and it is our job to receive it which for most people is the most difficult thus why adults are all fucked up and we live in a fucked up world. Children remind us how to love, laugh, play and not take life so seriously. They are fun to work with, watch them learn, find themselves, develop communication skills, seek out adults to learn about the world in whatever way they are curious. It's the most sustainable education in existence for all of us.
4. Efficient and Sustainable
Here at the Garden of Eden we are the most sustainable community in Texas and likely the most sustainable in the country. Quinn Eaker (quinneaker), our founder and fearless leader, often boasts that we have a negative carbon footprint. I have heard many reply to him that his claim is impossible. "You have no idea", I think to myself. Again, I could write an entire article on this topic but will keep this brief. On an average we have around 15 people living here on almost nothing to free up our cash flow for the purpose of the continued feeding of other people. Where our community is located it is illegal to live off the grid. We run refrigerators, a few lights, our WiFi box, electric fans in the summer and the well pump for our organic garden. Our electric bill is an average of fifty dollars a month. Cooking is done with recycled wood, buildings are built with mud and recycled materials, we share cars, we do projects together making work go faster, easier and funner, and food is either from our garden or was rescued from entering a land fill to just name a few ways how life in community is more sustainable and efficient than mainstream life. In addition, rarely does anyone access the medical industry and no one needs therapy because we have our emotional needs easily met here.
3. Emotional Support
Everyone goes through difficulties and struggles. That's life! Do you have people around you who don't judge you with ready skills to assist you as well as physical opportunities in moving through your "stuff"? Both the inhabitants of our community as well as our friends who visit and those who just pass through to "check it out" share their skills of support. The healing modalities that are shared range from massage, to yoga, tarot, personal life experience, a listening ear, reiki, and the list goes on and on. In addition, there are a multitude of weeds to pull around here. Pulling weeds from the garden is as great active metaphor for digging into the deep dark self. Planting seeds supports a new start, a new beginning. Personally, I have experienced horrific trauma in my recent life. The healing and personal growth strides I have been a part of here would be unheard of in the greater "matrix"" world. Mainstream life just does not support emotional growth and healing. In community, always there is someone to get a hug from. That's priceless!
2. The Mirror of Self and Self Learning
Oh, DAMN!! We don't wanna do that now, do we? Who wants to look at themselves? That's some scary shit, right there. Almost everyone runs from the mirror. It is a a rare soul who will honestly look into their own mirror, into their own milky waters and dark side. Don't lie to yourself and say you don't do that because we all do it. Just get into a relationship and then see how you feel about the lies you tell yourself. This is number 2 on the list because it is the doorway to number 1, Accountability and Relationships. You have to be honest and real with yourself if you truly want to have good relationships. This a planet of abused, damaged and sleeping zombies. EVERYONE is effected by it. No one is immune. It's woven into the very fabric of our planetary consciousness. Everyone needs to heal and everyone has troubled relationships. Self awakening is the path to better communication, more accountability followed by more genuine relationships. If you are not up for this then community will not be realistic for you in the long term.
1. Accountability and Relationships
Something I hear around here pretty regularly is that everything we do at the Garden of Eden is just a playground for working through our shit. The most important thing we do and the hardest thing we do is work on relationships. The bumpy road to that is communication and accountability. The longer I am here the more obvious it is to me that we have seriously plowed an avenue for pinpointing relatively fine tuned communication and accountability. This is followed by integrity. Almost no one really knows how to communicate or really has anything of value to say. Almost no one is held accountable for their words and actions and therefore no one really talks about integrity. I mean, how could you, though? Who sets the bar for the planet? Honestly, you would have to think for a while to come up with an example of this kind of person. The list would go on and on for a person who demonstrates low integrity and accountability. In a dysfunctional environment there is just no chance for a true relationship. The upgrades to a life with good and genuine relationships is worth all the gold in existence.
Clearly number 5 is easier than number 1. The conclusion is that if you truly want an upgraded life, truly want a better life you must become genuine, honorable, accountable and hold high integrity. The only way to do that is looking at yourself. You test yourself through relationships. That's always the way to check your progress. In a community there is no place where you are not. If you don't want to look at yourself then you just might better move along because you don't really want a better life. Nope. No drive through window here. If you are willing to put in the internal work, living in community will provide you a better life because you will be a better person.