My Purpose is Discovered, and I'd Like Your Help! :D

[XeutonMojukai]

Today, just a half-hour ago, I realized that I wanted to create my own place.

Not place as in house. I mean, I want to start a group fund, buy out some land, and create a settlement that will foster an environment of positive development for everyone who lives there temporarily or grows up there or dies there or whatever happens.

I'm obviously not going to be able to do this alone, but there's no time rush... I'm 19. If you have advice, ideas, support, etc., don't hesitate to post here, or email me, or PM me, or AIM me.

I am very sure that I want to do this, and I'm even more sure that I want all of you to have an opportunity to be a part of it.

This could easily become the perfect place for many of you to apply your own purposes, so I won't stop trying until I either succeed or die trying.

Thank you for hearing me out, and I look forward to seeing this vision become a reality with the help of my fellow visionaries.

~ David

[A.K.Light]

That sounds awesome. I'm interested to hear about some of your ideas. What sets this place apart? I know that if you have a vision of making the place great and you never stop, you'll end up with a wonderful place to live. Is there any place that you've heard of that is anything like the place you're going to try to create?

[fawn]

Wow, that is an intellegent idea! Do you know the idea of utopia? Have you read walden two? Here's what I got from reading your entry
You want to help people, to create a place where people will be happy and
you want to buy some land? What I am thinking of is a commune. There is a place called twin oaks, it is a commune that was started in the nineteen sixties and has survived till this day. It has no unified religion and from what i've read about it, it doesn't seem cultish. They have what seems like a grea visitor package,first you write a letter, then you pay any where between 250-50$ (depending on what you can afford) and then you try living at the place for three weeks, after that you get a month off to go home and regroup, then you can offical join if you wish/are accpeted by their government.

I strongly suggest that you do some reasherch into it. You have a beautiful dream but it's also very difficult.

Here's some reading about Twin oaks:
A Walden Two Experiment
Is it Utopia Yet?
Living the Dream

Their website
http://www.twinoaks.org/

Other comminties you might be interested in
http://www.thefec.org/

Good luck and i hope i've helped, if not talk a little more and we'll see if there's anything out there..

[XeutonMojukai]

That is definitely helpful.

Thanks.

As far as concepts, I think it would be best to start with the most naive, idealistic concepts we can all think of, then tone them down and mix them to become doable in the real world in this day and age.

For example:

A communal money system and a system of mentors for every child and every seeker, regardless of age are two very important things to me.

Also, I feel this place should be one that considers one person's success to be a success for the entire place, since the entire goal of the commune is to encourage success at all times.

Recreational drugs are something I'd consider to be a poor idea in this place, because knowing how to do such things to one's own body seems like a better power than buying temporary changes at will.

Anyway, just spill out what you've always wanted to see in a commune, and talk about the various ideas.

~ David

[XeutonMojukai]

I also checked out the website for Twin Oaks. I think it's kinda like what I'd hope to do, although my ideal is quite a bit more ambitious.

In the words of a great teacher I had this summer, "To have a revolution, you need a philosophy. Guns, people, money, all that goes away, but not a philosophy."

So, I think the best thing to do now is figure the philosophy that would define the community.

In my opinion, the philosophy is one that starts with SR and then goes further...

- Because I am all things, I should support my fellows in their ambitions, as well.
- Because I am all things, my fellows will then support me in my ambitions.
- Because I am now helping myself so thoroughly, I can succeed in multiple things at once, and whatever this part of me (being members of the community) touches will become immeasurably better.

Essentially, I want to create the helping atmosphere of this forum in a self-sustaining community.

~ David

[XeutonMojukai]

Read the Mastermind Group blog by Erin first, because that is what all this is based around.

Okay, the core concept I have for this commune is that it would be similar to a mastermind group, except the entire society is meant to inspire growth in everyone who lives there.

This means that everyone would be trying to help each other perfect their intentions within the world and their lives, so they can better be able to go back out when they're ready and make a difference the way they want to.

~ David

[Alchemiss]

More food for thought.

http://www.findhorn.org/

[AidanMatthews216]

Have you studied/heard of the utopian socialist Robert Owen? If you're looking for a way to make your ideals doable in the real world, he might be a good example, because one of his utopian communities (New Lanark) was a huge success for a time.

[Iksander]

I used to be apart of a commune that was working toward building a spiritual retreat on an isolated ranch in Kentucky where people could come to grow as individuals (intellectually and spiritually); we did alot of construction while I was there, had a all of our power needs met with an advanced solar array; we had bi-directional satellite internet, and a very beautiful piece of land.

Water was an issue there because it was laced with alot of nasty farming chemicals and heavy metals... So we bought our water from the local grocery store - we were working on bio-dynamic farming, but had limited success with it; and the project didn't live long enough to see that come to fruition.

One thing that many people over look on these projects, is the social isolation - that is dangerous; I feel such a project would be served by being located near a medium sized city within atleast a 10 minute drive to get downtown. This way you can maintain the more 'private' nature of the community but leave the more complicated dynamics of social interaction upto the individuals by being close to a city.

[XeutonMojukai]

That's absolutely what I believe as well. Closeness to a downtown is something I certainly want to work for.

~ David

[Ree]

Check this out. This community was founded by the brother of one of my best friends. It's very near to Asheville, North Carolina.

Earthaven Ecovillage - Building a Sustainable Intentional Community
Earthaven Ecovillage - Building a Sustainable Intentional Community

[Iksander]

Very cool Ree!

My family owned a 6000 acre ranch when I was little (sadly they sold it) which gave me alot of exposure to building your own, fixing your own, and the importance of sustainability.

While I think straw bail buildings are innovative and very cool, I always felt that using your own local wood (permitting the trees say it is okay, which sounds weird to some people) for temporary buildings (sheds and the sort) was a better construction decision; especially if you were respectful about replanting the land. Stone for the more permanent buildings - excellent building material, and there are some very fundamental engineering techniques to speed up the construction process when very large stones are used (think Coral Castle).

If you were to make the community a legal corporate entity and leveraged the power of technology (bi-directional satellite internet connection, integrated intra-net, computer savvy people, and solar power) a business model in alignment with the community's purpose to generate income would be very successful, I think. For example you could do bio-dynamic farming for those that weren't interested in technical stuff; a web design firm for those that were technically inclined, and a construction contracting branch for those that were good with construction and used the community's equipment.

On top of all that you would have the growth environment and community surroundings that are ever evolving to really stimulate personal growth.

Many people criticize me for such a strong focus on business - but I think it is essential, many such communities fail because they run out of money - or they only want to generate income selling herbs (which doesn't pay for the Backhoe's diesel fuel, or construction materials, or solar panels, or inverters...).

It always made me wonder if a 'country' or 'state' could be built upon corporate entities instead of a singular government entity...

None-the-less, don't forget to talk to the land, and the trees - if you find a place that likes you, the Lady of the Land will ensure you receive an opportunity to create.

Edit:

There are also alot of very cool alternative technologies that are proven - just not known in the US market; if you do a search for Aquafuel (or Magnefuel) you will have the ability to purify and generate your own source of non-polluting flammable fuel from water using carbon rod electrodes that could easily be manufactured from composting piles. That could be another source of income, could power the vehicles with sustainable technology that produces less pollution than our own breathing does, and could be a great method of recycling nasty waste water (carbon material increases the output of the machine and is used up in its production).

[XeutonMojukai]

I absolutely think you're on the right track, Iksander.

It seems like I am best able to make this happen if I allow experts on these sorts of things to help me find the best choices, kinda like the director on a film production.

I hope that doesn't sound lazy on my part, since I still need to figure out the basic idea of how I want the social structure to work. Then I'll need to try and keep all of this in line with that philosophical backbone.

Still, the suggestion above regarding a corporate entity and such seems to me like the absolute best way to do this.

Plus, I'm actually the kind of person who wishes he could do every job there is, so this is nice! :P

~ David

Edit:

The idea of trying to create a corporate city-state in this, much more utopian ideal (rather than just another capitalist land) actually could be a huge benefit to shaping the socio-economic structure and political landscape of the world.

Think about Rollerball: a Corporate-run world that tries to use drugs to subdue the growth of its people.

Instead of that, imagine if we, a light-worker syndicate, are the first corporate city-state...

We'd set a completely different precedent, and possibly find ourselves changing the rules of that whole scenario!

I feel like I'm raving a little, but then again I'm a visionary, so I have to be a little nuts... :P

~ David