Re: ecovillage and sustainability

Dear brothers and sisters,

The issues we are dealing with here are timeless, of course: inclusion vs. 
exclusion, individual autonomy vs. group solidarity, structure and hierarchy vs. 
consensus and flexibility; conformity to established behavioral norms vs. 
self-expression and spontaneity...So we should not be dismayed that we have not 
solved them, nor that different communities solve them in very different ways, 
with differing degrees of success.

Having not yet directly experienced life for an extended period in an 
"intentional community" or ecovillage, I lack expertise, and would be very 
presumptuous to claim any. But I clearly remember the gut feeling I had after spending a 
weekend at a very enlightened spiritual community (whose name I will omit) in 
the Pacific Northwest.  Although the people there were gracious and 
openhearted, full of interesting visionary ideas and smiles, by the end of the weekend 
I felt a bit stifled. I remember one evening when we were all cooperatively 
washing the dishes, everyone joined into one of their group anthems about 
creating an enlightened, peaceful, and ecologically sustainable future "day by day, 
stone by stone."  All I remember at the time was a sudden craving for my usual 
dishwashing music--the Rolling Stones, turned up loud. Needless to say, any 
such suggestion would have completely ostracized me from the rest of the happy, 
enlightened group...

Likewise, a year or two ago, I spent a week at a Buddhist retreat, and while 
it was, overall, a wonderful experience, I was similarly glad to leave--no 
longer obliged to recite the "five remembrances" before every meal, nor maintain 
a "noble silence" in the interstices of the various activities. While the 
mindfulness training was very good for me, I was relieved to return to "the world" 
where I could drink coffee (and beer or wine, if I liked),  speak freely and 
openly, and do as I wished.

So, needless to say, I am still quite hesitant about creating or joining my 
own ecovillage. On the other hand, I wholly endorse all the basic values 
underlying ecovillages--permaculture, sustainability, community. But I also need, in 
my life, the freedom to say exactly what I think (albeit tactfully), and the 
spice of wit, irony, and sarcasm.  These would be hard to come by in any 
"intentional community;" they would likely be seen as indicative of a bad attitude, 
and get me expelled. 

And yet...and yet...the time is coming soon when our choice will be either to 
form or join ecovillages, or perish with the rest of the collapsing 
industrial world order, once petroleum peaks and declines, the global market collapses, 
and prices of everything start skyrocketing uncontrollably. We face either a 
Gaian future, or no future. 

Can there be an ecovillage--urban, suburban, or rural--that is not 
"intentional" per se, but rather the evolving consequence of free, uninhibited people 
recognizing their common interest in sustainability and solidarity, complemented 
by respect for individual differences, and above all a sense of humor? Can it 
be a true Sangha--a community without boundaries, in which, like a Moebius 
band, those "outside" are also inside? A community that takes care of everyone, 
and abandons no one; that takes care of everything, and abandons nothing?

I certainly hope so...

Best wishes,

Tom