Re: Spirtuality within cohousing | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Shava Nerad (shavaphloem.uoregon.edu) | |
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 1995 19:10:44 -0500 |
Rob sez: > I know of a group of Mennonites who are forming what may be the first = > religious based cohousing community. They are ENOURMOUSLY touchy about = > it and very exclusive, only members of their own church are involved. = > In this case, they very strongly feel that the core value of their = > community is religous based and have gotten offended by being told that = > "cohousing can't be spiritual". =20 OK, so I have to say SOMETHING. I've been sitting on this issue because I figure a lot of other people are saying good things about it, but I have to chime in here... <a href="http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~shava/idyll">Erisian Fields Cohousing of Lane County OR</a> was specifically started as a pagan- friendly NON-EXCLUSIVE cohousing community. We seriously believe in a diverse environment, based on tolerance. And that means that we are a community where we can feel comfortable expressing our spirituality, and welcome anyone who can feel comfortable with that. Our email list includes persons interested in possibly eventually living in our community who are atheist, agnostic, freeform mystic, pagan, Unitarian Universalist, buddhist, and catholic. Singly, and in combination -- and some of the combinations are pretty non-trad, too... The mennonites are probably better organized and funded, tho, and will certainly have something set up before we do...! ;) Civil liberties are based on the idea that a minority -- religious, ethnic, whatever -- sometimes needs to be protected from the oppression of the majority. However, I believe that we need to think really hard about when we cry for help! Living with diversity often means giving a little slack to those who might *lightly* tread on your toes, without malice. The analogy I would use is this: if BPaiss and them had set up to have, say, a {punk band, string quartet} volunteer from one of the coho communities to play during lunch, and you found the music disagreeable, would you have the same level of outrage in your hearts? There is no harm from this cross-cultural experience you have been "subjected" to, that I can see. I'd be sorry if it spoiled your lunch, but it might stretch your taste, too. If that makes me arrogant, I think I can live with that. The problem some folks seem to have had is not that religious expression was present, but that spiritual expression was used that conflicted with their particular world-view. RELIGION IS SIMPLY THE TENETS OF YOUR WORLDVIEW. If your worldview is fanatically agnostic or atheist, it is still religiously so, if it fails the lunch-music test, seems to me. Can't we all just get along? Shava Nerad shava [at] ns.uoregon.edu
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RE: Spirtuality within cohousing Rob Sandelin (Exchange), October 10 1995
- Re: Spirtuality within cohousing Stephen Farley, October 10 1995
- Re: Spirtuality within cohousing Shava Nerad, October 10 1995
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