Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Intentional communities

[Gordon (weil]

Allen Butcher's thoughtful letter made me wonder what purpose there is in 
discriminating between intentional communities and cohousing communities.  
Dividing the two seems counter-productive, particularly since there are several 
significant intentional communities that have been around for many years and 
should represent a wealth of experience in group process and group living.  
While several people have mentioned in COHOUSING-L their wishes to tour 
cohousing sites, one would think there is some value in touring other 
intentional communities as well.  Conversley, the numerous cohousing 
developments represent a welcome source of new energy and experience for other 
intentional communities whose ranks have, I believe, pretty much stabilized.  I 
am not actively involved in a cohousing group and may never move into cohousing.
I do live in an intentional community, and I have found a lot of useful 
information reading COHOUSING-L.

I'm afraid my experience confirms Allen's observation that different communities
do not network well together.  Part of that is the conflict of ideals that Allen
mentions.  But I think it is also the inevitable result of the inward focus that
communities demand:  While forming the fabric of our own community, it's too 
easy to neglect the rest of our social options.  Living in community takes a lot
of time and attention.  People in community are forced to prioritize and 
priorities naturally fall upon the immediate community.  

-Gordon



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> Gordon Weil                              Phone:     (612) 626-8851          <
< Division of Epidemiology                   Fax:     (612) 626-9444          >
> University of Minnesota               Internet:     WEIL [at] 
> EPIVAX.EPI.UMN.EDU <
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