Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: your mail

[david sucher (dsucher]

On Mon, 8 Nov 1993, Till Houtermans wrote:
> and choosing consultants.  The problem I am working on is, how do individual
> concerns and group concerns balance in the process of forming a community.
> For example, if some people want to have pets in the community and others do 
> not
> how does this conflict get resolved.  If you have any suggestions or examples 
> of
> other types of conflicts and how they get resolved I would like to hear from 
> you.  Thank you

You have hit upon what I believe is THE basic problem of civilization; the
conflict between the individual and the group.

The 'solution' is all around us: war, police and the courts. :-) Of course
perhaps you are talking about a different level of complexity and scale of
organization: 10 to 30 families living in proximity; but is that not
simply a very small village? I would simply like to remind us that the
problems of one small group are the same problems faced by the larger
society. Call it CoHousing: it's still politics. 

So, you might want to consider the successful and pro-evolutionary ways in
which conflicts are resolved by the larger society.

Cheers,

David