I found this article such a fascinating analysis. From 2017 - 2020 I lived on a Community Farm as a 'volunteer' warden. I was 'paid' £25 a week for goodness knows how many hours work with no real days off (looking after animals etc). I can see so many features you have listed here in the personalities that engage with such a project and the reason those projects ultimately fail. Including my own 'issues' and the reasons that I ended up feeling exhausted and used. I learnt valuable lessons about my own ego. I am now experimenting with the gifting economy and seeing what else arises for me about how this might work. I don't know if there is a way forward for a design in which a communal type living might work? Our conditioning is too varied and complex perhaps? But this essay gave me lots to think about. Thanks
The real challenge in my opinion is to find the design that will work in our own context (individual and collective identity). Meaning that it will not fit everywhere, nor forever, and that its fulfilment will require a genuine commitment served by a quality communication. Setting up solutions to sort out people that are committed from people that are not is a start.
Yes, this is very true. Communications seems to be the biggest challenge to adaptation. I would say also that I believed that I was committed to the project I was involved in but I did not even know certain truths about myself and my ego. I do not think I truly uncovered those truths until after learning the painful lessons. So, even though I thought I was 'in the right' I did not discover until afterwards that part of my belief system was so conditioned that I was unable to see outside of that box. Therefore even though I was open to honest discussion at the time, it was a complete mess of different egos, different belief systems and different conditioning that was just too much to work through.
At least you seem to have succeed in learning from your experience. This is a great achievement in itself, better progressing slowly than running in circle.^^
Ha ha, yes true! Circles my whole life. I would enjoy being back in a shared community now instead of feeling quite so alone, but as your excellent essays points out, they are not simple and require much ability for honest self reflection, personal responsibility and open communication which is a challenge to find in a group.
I found this article such a fascinating analysis. From 2017 - 2020 I lived on a Community Farm as a 'volunteer' warden. I was 'paid' £25 a week for goodness knows how many hours work with no real days off (looking after animals etc). I can see so many features you have listed here in the personalities that engage with such a project and the reason those projects ultimately fail. Including my own 'issues' and the reasons that I ended up feeling exhausted and used. I learnt valuable lessons about my own ego. I am now experimenting with the gifting economy and seeing what else arises for me about how this might work. I don't know if there is a way forward for a design in which a communal type living might work? Our conditioning is too varied and complex perhaps? But this essay gave me lots to think about. Thanks
The real challenge in my opinion is to find the design that will work in our own context (individual and collective identity). Meaning that it will not fit everywhere, nor forever, and that its fulfilment will require a genuine commitment served by a quality communication. Setting up solutions to sort out people that are committed from people that are not is a start.
Yes, this is very true. Communications seems to be the biggest challenge to adaptation. I would say also that I believed that I was committed to the project I was involved in but I did not even know certain truths about myself and my ego. I do not think I truly uncovered those truths until after learning the painful lessons. So, even though I thought I was 'in the right' I did not discover until afterwards that part of my belief system was so conditioned that I was unable to see outside of that box. Therefore even though I was open to honest discussion at the time, it was a complete mess of different egos, different belief systems and different conditioning that was just too much to work through.
At least you seem to have succeed in learning from your experience. This is a great achievement in itself, better progressing slowly than running in circle.^^
Ha ha, yes true! Circles my whole life. I would enjoy being back in a shared community now instead of feeling quite so alone, but as your excellent essays points out, they are not simple and require much ability for honest self reflection, personal responsibility and open communication which is a challenge to find in a group.