COMMUNITY

If you are here, you have discovered for yourself that no amount of fighting against or within a broken system is going to change the system. I am conducting a thought experiment, starting with examining myself, and thereby extracting such content that is irrelevant in terms of activating a solution, around what I envision as “Community”.

Community is a collective that comes together by free choice, and does not involve coercion or force of any kind. 

Members are encouraged to develop talents, crafts, and practical skills that benefit the evolving of their unique expression, as well as that of the community at large within a guild. Guilds are formed by voluntary collections of individual human beings who are learning and teaching the perfection of a valued skill. 

Members are also supported in exploring the full range of self expression as long as it engenders no physical, mental, or emotional harm to body or property. Harm is defined by the recipient. Disagreements on the definition of harm go before a council of elders unanimously elected by the leaders of the guilds, themselves unanimously elected by its members.

Our indigenous ancestors were never in a hurry to make a decision pertinent to the well-being of the tribe. Everyone who is effected must have a say in  the guidelines established to support the success of the community’s survival. Wisdom and experience is necessary to show how to stay true to the community’s  collective goals. Also, leadership needs be fluid and dynamic, not stuck in any one viewpoint, so all viewpoints are valid and must be added to the equation.

If a member’s point of view at some point diverges drastically from the community’s, and the council decides that member is no longer one who can abide by it’s guidelines because harm has ensued, that member can be divested of membership, if all agree. If at all possible, members who are facing severe challenges along the awakening path, and are causing harm unconsciously, will be supported through the healing modalities developed by the appropriate guild.

Traditional and useful guilds might include the following: permaculture farming and composting, Carpentry and masonry, electrical and plumbing, herbology and healing, pottery and weaving, music and composition, film making and digital technology, teaching and modeling, childcare and elder care, cooking and food preparation. These are the most basic of needs for a thriving village.

The community, in order to create a circulating and thriving economy, must be based firstly on barter and exchange between members of guilds, and thereby, as much as possible, provide a sustainable and long term survival solution for members. Secondly, the community needs provide an avenue by which they can connect with the greater community by providIng a service. Possibilities for service include product sales, teaching courses, providing workshops, and hosting events. Each guild would sponsor those activities it’s members chose to present to the greater community.

All members would choose an initial guild to join, but Guild membership would be fluid such that each member could change the focus of their exploration of mastery to another skill. Members of one guild can become apprentices to another guild. 

Value is measured by time. Members can exchange blocks of time to barter for basic needs. Members can also barter using any product they produce. Price is established by the parties engaged in barter.

Activities within the community would include council meetings, presentations hosted by members, guild meetings, community assignments, and discussions concerning the needs of the community in a rapidly changing world.

Also important to all human beings is time for play and laughter, to enjoy the bounty of life and each other’s company. Members would be encouraged to organize and offer daily activities, such as yoga, dancing, music and drumming circles, healing circles, meditations, pot lucks, games, talent shows, and other opportunities to share talents, gifts, and enjoyment of life.

A reverence for the natural world and finding a way to flourish within it through practicing humility, openness, a sense of discovery, and a willingness to learn, creates an energetic harmony with the flora and fauna of a geographical area. Nature shows us in hundreds of ways how to prosper; it is imbued with inherent intelligence honed over billions of years, and we are a part of it. We are designed to navigate our environment and receive information from it. Every food we ingest, every word we speak, every hug we offer sends a vibratory message to all we interact with down to the atomic structure of our bones. By becoming conscious within this ongoing process, and choosing the life and path most likely to be evolutionary, we change the direction of humanity and create and entirely new possibility.

This is just the beginning of a conversation I am willing to have with others who are thinking along the same lines. You know who you are. You stand on the edge of the known and wonder if you have any courage left to step into the unknown. Or you are ready, but do not yet see the far off signal flare showing you the way. Consider this a flare, a flame of possibility. I am ready to hear your thoughts.