5 Reasons Why Living in a Commune Makes a Better Life and Makes You a Better Person
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.
You are just the kind of person that we need here on Steemit(and I am quite much like you as well,lol).Welcome aboard!You are upvoted and followed!
Maybe we can make a communal living tag,for example?WE need to collaborate and cooperate with people who have shared values,in life and on this platform.There is a lot of anarcho-capitalist and neoliberal bulllshit on this platform at the moment,because Ancaps especially are prevalent in the crypto space,and these were the really early adopters and investors.But I feel confident that their dominance will subside when we get more users,they will be outnumbered.Yay for communal living,l andiving a free life,not based on consumption!
Lovely stuff, I lived in a community too, for 3 years in total. Whilst agree with everything you said, I would be interested to hear about any downsides you find to the lifestyle. I started to miss my personal space for example.
Thanks!
Very nice, thoughtful blog loveon <3 I appreciated your words and the glimpse into your community. I have seen very few successful, responsible, loving communities, and it warms my heart to know that you guys are living this, full on, pulling no punches, sharing your soul space, along with living space. A dream for many that I feel will become the norm for most - well, for the circles I run in, anyways :) <3 thank you
Nice read Love, Peace and Pura Vida
This is a wonderful article and reminder of why I live in community. Truly love that you posted this and ever more grateful to share space and time with you. To the future and what it holds!
Well Ma'am ?!?!!
Being a daily reader... I am very impressed with what I read here. Having experienced friendships and sharing with many of y'all... I know these things to be true... even for us "some-timers" !!
I feel the best blip in the whole diddy is the ... " No drive through window here" ...and if'n I didn't know you... I would'na got that !!
Wonderful ! Keep it up... I'll join just to read ya!!
Peace Wonder Woman !
Wayniac
It was so great to read this and be able to share to others about the benefits of community living. People have so many false ideas about what it's really like. I personally encountered my friends and family cracking jokes about me going to stay with a "cult" when I came to visit the garden of Eden 2 years ago. Although they were just kidding, it really brought to light that so many people have no clue about community living.
Lovely message, thank you for sharing. It is always so much more meaningful when it comes from someone actually walking the walk. It does not take long being at the GOE to feel the love and support that exists. It is truly inspiring, keep doing what you're doing.
GOOD JOB LOVE! Considering I live with you at @garden-of-eden, I will see you later this evening for a bowl ceremony to celebrate this excellent post!
Upvoted this accordingly.
I don't see how you can think this is effecient. If you got a normal full-time job, you could do alot more good for the world with the money recieved from that.
I personally know this entire community, and the amount of planetary work that can be done with little money is unfathomable to many people who do not understand the value of sustainability. There are many millionaires on the planet, and some of them are very good people who donate federal reserve notes to people in need. They also spend a lot of this money in the form of credit and banking. The problem with dealing in fractional reserve banking is that money is created out of thin air and the incessant "need" for this money keeps people in debt slavery forever. People who constantly circulate these non-backed paper notes through consumerism, are also contributing to the commerce and transportation of massive goods by way of petroleum fuel. What the Garden of Eden is doing, is giving away FREE food that is harvested in their gardens or donated to them or rescued from landfills. I'm talking really GOOD food prepared by amateur chefs, but you wouldn't know they were armatures if you tasted the divine nectar that is spawned from the Garden. 40,000 FREE meals are fed to homeless people and other people in need every year from this community with very little use of money. I don't know one millionaire on the planet who could accomplish this feat. Nothing could be more efficient than providing a service or product that is produced with very little material resources and leaves a Zero carbon footprint.