Myths and prejudices
"Doesn't know his arse from a hole in the ground!!"
Gosh, EVERYONE has an opinion on everything and that can get really frustrating sometimes.
The moment I dare to utter the word "community" people just go crazy!
They come out with the most hair-raising stuff...but when asked if they are talking from experience, well you can imagine.
First of all, people seem to confuse communities with communes and then they throw around words like hippies,
and cults and so on.
They imagine young folks running away from home (I am 40 years old and have been told "aren’t you too old for that sort of thing?!" HA), society drop-outs with lice and no shoes...
So you either have lived it, or you actually go to see for yourself, like John here, who writes:
"There were way fewer welcome orgies than I'd imagined"
He has a refreshing and hilarious take on his experiences, you can read the full article here.
Community vs commune
Andrew Jacobs of The New York Times wrote that, contrary to popular misconceptions, "most communes of the '90s are not free-love refuges for flower children, but well-ordered, financially solvent cooperatives where pragmatics, not psychedelics, rule the day."
A commune is a group living situation where people share everything, as in literally EVERYTHING.
Communes were popular with the peace-loving hippies of the 1960s, like minded individuals who lived simply like their agrarian ancestors.
And, most notably, hippies placed communal needs and values above individual rights.
If you want to know more, read Growing up on a hippy Commune.
An intentional community is a planned residential community designed from the start to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork.
The members typically hold a common social, political or spiritual vision and often follow an alternative lifestyle. They typically share responsibilities and resources.
Anything from a co-housing community, kibbutz, monastery or ecovillage can be called an intentional community.
Communities are religious or spiritual
While it’s true that many groups have a spiritual focus–and most of the better-known historical communities did, only 35% of the listed ones are explicitly spiritual or religious.
So, if they are not necessarily based on religion or spirituality, do they still have that "charismatic" cult leader, the one who wonders around in a white garment, brainwashing everyone?
The reverse is true; the most common form of governance is democratic, with decisions made by some form of consensus or voting.
Statistics say that of the hundreds of communities they have information about, 64% are democratic and only 9% have a strictly hierarchical or authoritarian structure.
Communities don’t allow privacy
The degree of privacy and autonomy in communities varies as widely as the kinds of communities themselves.
In some communities individual households own their own land and house, and have their own independent economy while in others with for example a religious or spiritual lifestyle, privacy and autonomy can be more limited.
Most communities fall between these two points on the privacy/held-in-common spectrum.
One of the fastest growing segments of the communities movement today is actually co-housing, where residents enjoy autonomy similar to that of any planned housing development.
Communities have a low standard of living
There is a bit of everything, some embrace simplicity, while others emphasize full access to the products and services of today’s society.
Communities are inclined to make careful choices about the accumulation and use of resources and they tend to share facilities and equipment they don’t need to own privately such as power tools, washing machines, pick-up trucks, swimming pools etc.
Starting off with limited resources, new communities usually live simply and as they mature, they tend to create a stable economic base and enjoy a more comfortable life–according to their own standards.
Many established communities have built impressive facilities, some of which are quite innovative in design and materials.
Sources: Fellowship of Intentional Communities
The moment I dare to utter the word "community" people just go crazy!
They come out with the most hair-raising stuff...but when asked if they are talking from experience, well you can imagine.
First of all, people seem to confuse communities with communes and then they throw around words like hippies,
and cults and so on.
They imagine young folks running away from home (I am 40 years old and have been told "aren’t you too old for that sort of thing?!" HA), society drop-outs with lice and no shoes...
So you either have lived it, or you actually go to see for yourself, like John here, who writes:
"There were way fewer welcome orgies than I'd imagined"
He has a refreshing and hilarious take on his experiences, you can read the full article here.
Community vs commune
Andrew Jacobs of The New York Times wrote that, contrary to popular misconceptions, "most communes of the '90s are not free-love refuges for flower children, but well-ordered, financially solvent cooperatives where pragmatics, not psychedelics, rule the day."
A commune is a group living situation where people share everything, as in literally EVERYTHING.
Communes were popular with the peace-loving hippies of the 1960s, like minded individuals who lived simply like their agrarian ancestors.
And, most notably, hippies placed communal needs and values above individual rights.
If you want to know more, read Growing up on a hippy Commune.
An intentional community is a planned residential community designed from the start to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork.
The members typically hold a common social, political or spiritual vision and often follow an alternative lifestyle. They typically share responsibilities and resources.
Anything from a co-housing community, kibbutz, monastery or ecovillage can be called an intentional community.
Communities are religious or spiritual
While it’s true that many groups have a spiritual focus–and most of the better-known historical communities did, only 35% of the listed ones are explicitly spiritual or religious.
So, if they are not necessarily based on religion or spirituality, do they still have that "charismatic" cult leader, the one who wonders around in a white garment, brainwashing everyone?
The reverse is true; the most common form of governance is democratic, with decisions made by some form of consensus or voting.
Statistics say that of the hundreds of communities they have information about, 64% are democratic and only 9% have a strictly hierarchical or authoritarian structure.
Communities don’t allow privacy
The degree of privacy and autonomy in communities varies as widely as the kinds of communities themselves.
In some communities individual households own their own land and house, and have their own independent economy while in others with for example a religious or spiritual lifestyle, privacy and autonomy can be more limited.
Most communities fall between these two points on the privacy/held-in-common spectrum.
One of the fastest growing segments of the communities movement today is actually co-housing, where residents enjoy autonomy similar to that of any planned housing development.
Communities have a low standard of living
There is a bit of everything, some embrace simplicity, while others emphasize full access to the products and services of today’s society.
Communities are inclined to make careful choices about the accumulation and use of resources and they tend to share facilities and equipment they don’t need to own privately such as power tools, washing machines, pick-up trucks, swimming pools etc.
Starting off with limited resources, new communities usually live simply and as they mature, they tend to create a stable economic base and enjoy a more comfortable life–according to their own standards.
Many established communities have built impressive facilities, some of which are quite innovative in design and materials.
Sources: Fellowship of Intentional Communities