LIVING IN COMMUNITY

Living in conscious communities and sustainable settlements can spark deeper awareness. After all, we need each other to survive and to respond to the needs of our planet. We can slow down climate change by sharing our knowledge and resources and consuming less. We can learn from nature. From elephants to ants to micro-organisms, most species live in community. 

Creating child-friendly environments, sharing the same values, creating sanctuaries for the species that live around us, caring together for gardens to have nutritious and safe food, celebrating our oneness with gatherings and festivals, striving for equality and inclusiveness in all our relations, creating meaningful livelihood, healing our wounded selves, protecting the natural world around us. These are just a few of the possibilities of living together.

Human communities come in all shapes and sizes. A community can be an extended family, a traditional village, a neighborhood association, a group of friends or soulmates with similar interests, an intentional group of people with strong commitments towards a specific goal. 

Communities are living laboratories of evolution. At best they are an inter-generational bridge between past and future where we can develop our own awareness and engage in relevant collective projects that are sustainable. 

No community is a utopia. The most important aspect is that all community members need to share the same vision and mission and make a strong commitment towards working together. There are always struggles and the path may not be easy. We may have different intermediate goals or experience strong personality clashes or have difficulties with our context or resources. But when we initially ask the right questions and have a clear vision from the beginning as to why we want to live and work together, we will have a better possibility of succeeding. And then with a warm heart and an honest perspective, we can create a vibrant resilient community. And our community can join a network of communities that work together and respect the Earth.

THE POWER OF TRANSFORMATIVE PRINCIPLES IN COMMUNITY

We have the opportunity to transform one into the other:

• Ego-driven • Eco-friendly

• Elite • All encompassing

• Competitive • Cooperative

• Having • Being

• Peak experience • Sustainable over time

• Logical and linear • Paradoxical & imaginative

• Big is better • Small is beautiful

• Exploitation  • Mutual support

• Fear of losing • Joy of sharing

• Be environmentally friendly  

•  Strive to live with a light ecological footprint 

•  Create child-friendly communities

•  Grow healthy food and protect the Earth and our water sources.

•  Respect the local biosphere

•  Provide hands-on experiential education. 

•  Use renewable energy  

•  Restore the environment and create wildlife sanctuaries

•  Support indigenous peoples’ movements. 

•  Honor the path of unity through  diversity 

•  Establish  ethical businesses and meaningful livelihood

•  Respect cultural diversity

•  Build replicable community models

•  Think globally and act locally