RE: De-Centralised Governments: Will This Work?
At the @gardenofeden we are living in community based on love, sustainability, responsibility and freedom. We have a vision and inspiration to create a whole new paradigm, and we invite only those who seriously wish to engage in the things that align with our values. I can say that it does work, as an example we are living it everyday.
It can be a very tricky thing however, as we humans have a lot of baggage to unload, and lots of introspection to do. People are not accustomed to living true, vulnerable and raw, nor do they really love themselves, so loving others is difficult as well. There is a lot of indoctrination of the human psyche which may take some time to unravel. I believe if we do it little by little, with love as our basis of importance, anything is possible.
I'm interested to see where this all goes and am grateful for your raising the questions @edje. Upvoting and following you.
Thank you for your comment. Read also the posts you've linked.
Such way of living as you do with your community is quite rough and will for sure not be for everyone. I like the things you try to do. I guess for you and your gardenofeden community, your lives are totally different to that of the common person. You are out of the system so to speak.
Please also understand that some things you do in your community is certainly GOOD and suistainable, but becomes not sustainable when done by everybody on the planet; ie use 'waste' wood for a fire and grow your own food. When all people on the planet would do that, we would not have enough wood, and we would not have enough land. But that aside. I love what you try to do, since in the end what you try to achieve is a life with more happiness for those that are part of the community, at least that is what I think your goal is.
We definitely agree that if everyone lived a sustainable life then there wouldn't be the excess which we live on. It is sustainable for us in the current state of affairs. Also, most people are too attached to their creature comforts to live the life we do--it is not for everyone, and definitely not for wooses!!! (Ha--I don't even know how to spell that word!) But those of us who have chosen this path feel the freedom we create by making these choices are well worth letting go of the things we thought we needed. Choosing between wants and needs is of great value, and we find that the abundance is way more than we could ever really want.
There is such an excess of wood, and if we consider all the paper towels, toilet paper, office paper, new building waste, etc., and utilized hemp (the most valuable plant on the planet) , there would be more than enough to go around. I can't imagine that growing food and having enough land would be an issue. We have only 3.3 acres and have housed and fed up to 20 people. We could feed everyone here from our own land if need be, though our diets may be more limited than they presently are. We could just trade and barter for those things we do not grow. Much land is used feeding cows which could be repurposed for a more sustainable and prolific reality and our current housing is extremely wasteful which would free up tons of resources.
We will likely be able to live like this for many many years, as consumerism is alive and well with little hope of changing anytime soon. Our goal is to live as happy, healthy, free and responsible as possible and to set an example so people know alternatives are within reach. Our lives are definitely not common and we are truly grateful that is the case!
I'm really blessed to exchange with you and excited to see what other topics you bring to the table. Thanks for engaging and sharing some thought provoking material with the Steemit community. I'm glad you checked out our links--just a little taste of the vortex!!
Thank you so much for your comments and views. I really appreciate what you try to do and that you indeed can be an example how things can be done differently. GREAT and even FANTASTIC! It would not be for me though, but I like to think I use the system we have to try and create a better life with lesser attachment to objects and more time and energy in and with people. Better life means also small things like, don't through any rubbish on the street, refuse plastic bags at the grocery and all these small things. Better life also means starting coversations with those who are in the money big time and have no idea of anything else, do not understand what it means to become happy, always look to others who have more and think "I want that, That'll make me happy". In my group of friends, I have people like you are, I have a bit more moderately thinking people as well, meaning they would not live in a community you have, but are not far away from it. On the other hand, I also have friends that do find what you do totally HIPPIE and disconnected form everything what is important in life (hahahaha, you can not imagine that anymore I would think :))
Regarding enough land for own food; in The Netherlands we have cities/villages/farmer land, and a little bit of nature protected). That takes up 100% of our land. Ok, we export quite a lot, like flowers, patatos and some vegetables, but we also import a lot. We are with 17 million people int he country that measure about 250km from north to south and 140 km from west to east, and part of that is water. I suppose you are in the USA? No comparison regarding number of people and square mile of land you have :) NOte: Whole of Europe counts around 750 million people, and is around 10 million km2 big, the USA counts around 320 million people and is around also around 10 million km2 big. The Netherlands is one of the most dense country in population / km2, we are almost a city state from that perspective.
You may be interested in my post of today; It is about adding more transparency to the centralised governments to make the system better: https://steemit.com/transparency/@edje/will-100-transparency-of-the-individual-solve-the-trust-issue-we-have-with-democratic-systems
Thanks for your acknowledgement @edje. Of course people want to label things/people so they can categorize them somewhere in their brain for understanding. And we know we are also not who people think we are., no matter what they'd like to call us. Though our worlds may be far apart, we have no judgment on others who choose the lifestyle of their own different from ours. There is something in this life for everyone. We are also aware that karma is real and we are the makers of our own realities, so the more honorable we can be with our choices, the more blessed we are.
We too have many friends on the full spectrum and there are many ways of going about change and from many different angles. We have chosen to be the change we wish to see in the world, and we are grateful for the joy in our lives, and if that happens to inspire others that is a magnificent bonus.
I'll check out your post. Thanks for your response. It's fun to exchange with you.
Same here :)