Absolutely Essential Items for Every Community

Eco-village is a “human-scale, full-featured settlement in which human activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world in a way that is supportive of healthy human development, and which can be successfully continued into the indefinite future.”This is just what the world needs now. 

The question is: how do we get there from here? It takes more than idyllic dreaming and wishful thinking. It takes a lot of hard work and learning many new skills, particularly learning how to work with and depend on others, and becoming a dependable and valuable community member ourselves. There is a great deal to learn.

Anyone who is interested in starting or participating in an intentional community needs to know what they are facing, and the sooner the better. Fortunately help is available. Diana Leaf Christian has been through it all for more than 25 years as a co-founder and resident of the Twin Oaks Community. She has taken her experience and written “Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Eco-villages and Intentional Communities.” The is book is an absolute must read for anyone embarking a creating a life away from the modern norm. So many attempts have been made with so many failures, and we can learn from the successes and failures of others. 

Here are the seven essential points that every community must deal with:

1. Identify your community vision and create vision documents There is probably no more devastating source of structural conflict in community than various members having different visions for why you are together.

2. Choose a fair, participatory decision-making process appropriate for your group. And if you choose consensus, get trained in it. Unless you’re forming a spiritual, religious or therapeutic community with a spiritual leader who’ll make all decisions — and you all agree to this in advance — your members will resent any power imbalances.

3. Make clear agreements — in writing. (This includes choosing an appropriate legal entity for owning land together). People remember things differently. Your agreements — from the most mundane to the most legally and financially significant — should absolutely be written down.

4. Learn good communication and group process skills. Make clear communication and resolving conflicts a priority. Being able to talk with one other about sensitive subjects and still feel connected is my definition of good communication skills.

5. In choosing co-founders and new members, select for emotional maturity. An often-overwhelming source of conflict is allowing someone to enter your forming community group, or later, to enter your community, who is not aligned to your vision and values. Or someone whose emotional pain — surfacing weeks or months later as disruptive attitudes or behaviors — can end up costing you untold hours of meeting time and draining your group of energy and well-being. There must be methods for holding each other accountable for agreements.

6. Learn the head skills and heart skills you need to know. Forming a new community is like simultaneously trying to start a new business and begin a marriage — and is every bit as serious as doing either. It requires many of the same planning and financial skills as launching a successful business enterprise, and the same capacities for trust, good will, and honest, kind interpersonal communication as marrying your sweetheart.

7. You will need to create an internal community economy with means and methods of equitably meeting your cash needs and for refinancing any initial loans.

The book is available from Amazon.com both in print and as an kindle e-book.