Seeds of a community March 20, 2014

Over the years, I’ve struggled about whether to use my energies on starting a non-profit or an intentional community first. I have tried the non-profit route several times, thinking that the resources a non-profit could offer would make it easier for a fledgling community to get started. However, my efforts to pull together a sufficiently committed and empowered board have been limited. I have also been finding it increasingly important that I myself live in an intentional community. Towards that end, I’ve initiated a new round of discussions with my most ardent allies about creating an intentional community of our own. I’m not interested in running out to buy land or a house or anything of the kind. I have always believed it crucial that a community first form it’s central relationships, tenets, and cultural aspects *before* investing in land and other forms of infrastructure. I hope we’ll do this by having frequent discussions, but also by using our summer to visit existing communities, have outings together, and hopefully go camping for a few days. None of these things will guarantee what it would be like to live together, but it will deepen bonds and help us practice working out our logistics and preferences. I’m hoping that within a year, we’ll be solid enough that we can start taking more concrete steps. 🙂