Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Definition of IC

[DHCano (DHCano]

In a message dated 98-10-11 11:26:15 EDT, fholson [at] cohousing.org writes:

     >We've been around this block before.
     >People use "intentional community" to mean two similar
     >and highly confusing things.

Three, actually (at least)...

     >Some people use "intentional" to mean "not by accident".
     >In other words, the group exist by "intent".
     >In which case cohousing groups clearly fit.
     >
     >Other people mean "for a specific purpose".
     >In other words, the group has some "intent" other
     >that its mere existence.
     >In which case some cohousing groups fit, some don't.

In the latter case, it is also true that some urban IC's fit while others
don't.

And in the third definition of which I am thinking, in which the group has as
its purpose 'intentional living', that is, not living according to some given
set of rules (even its own) but living mindfully in an ongoing collaborative
effort to decide each aspect of its way of life together, the number and type
of communities that would 'fit' would be different again.

One of the things I like about the cohousing list is the evidence of *this*
kind of intentionality.  A resounding "No", to the correspondent who asked
whether working out their way of life at a cohousing community on their own is
not reinventing the wheel, as compared to going to the literature on community
to find out answers.  It is living intentionally, and more power to those who
do so! 

Diane Cano 

P.S.  I am cc'ing this to UrbanICs - it responds to a post to cohousing-l but
I think it is relevant to the discussion on both lists, and some do not
subscribe to both.