Cohousing-L Mailing List: Communities of Communities

[Susan Johnston (sjohnsto]

(I think I'll compose a little reply to Mike's last posting while 
I'm on hold, waiting to talk to a mortgage company in Louisiana.  This 
could be a l-o-n-g wait, so my posting might be similarly lengthy.  So far 
the "music on hold" feature has played the Zombies, Stevie Wonder and Earth,
Wind & Fire.  I guess that says something about the average age of 
mortgage holders in this country.  Most amusing.)

I support Mike's encouragement to coho/community groups to help create 
satellite groups.
 
I think that every thriving intentional community and cohousing group should 
take it upon themselves to "mentor" other groups that are just starting 
out.  They might even want to refer interested community seekers who 
approach them, to other seekers who have approached them in the past, and 
facilitate meetings by offering to host them or lead them.  In some way, 
every community should seek to reproduce itself, like a living organism.  
Then the numbers of successful communities might grow geometrically, like 
a population of rabbits multiplying unchecked.  If this happened, the 
effect on the quality and character of human society on earth would be 
appreciable -- remarkable, even.

Why create something approximating paradise just for yourself?  Share 
it.  Duplicate it.  Spread it around.  I would love to see "community 
replication" become an integral part of the mission of every conscious 
community and cohousing group.  For many communities, I know it already 
is.  Others are so busy keeping their own poop in a group, they 
realistically haven't got the resources to reproduce yet.  

Perhaps if all coho/communitarians assume from the outset that their role is 
not only to produce community, but to reproduce more communities, in the 
image of the first, we will begin to see more focus on making human life 
better, and less focus on just making more human life.  What I'm trying 
to get at here has something to do with the basic will to reproduce, to 
extend your life outwards in space and time.  This drive, as we can see, 
has resulted in gross overpopulation of the planet and apparently 
imminent extinction of humanity, unless something changes.

What could change?  How about this -- What if we could redirect the will 
to reproduce; raise it to a higher level; transform it into the will to 
reproduce successful community life, to spin off new communities from 
parent communities?  If we could be inspired to expend as much effort 
and material resources raising new communities as we do raising 
(excess) children, what might happen then?  There's far too little left 
to offer children on this planet (at the moment).  It would become a better 
place quickly though, if we could bring more people together in community 
and reduce the waste generated by greed, alienation and excessive 
competition between individuals.  Perhaps someday, we could provide a 
dream without disappointment for children of the future.  The whole way we 
conduct human life on earth, though, would have to become sustainable 
first.  Through conscious creation and re-creation of community, I think 
we can get there.

Another dream from a dreamer, and a pragmatist, and a hopeful soul with 
eyes wide open.

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Susan E Johnston - Flying Fish Private Expeditions Inc - sjohnsto [at] wln.com
(35-year old solo nomad until mid-96 then a 36-year old community seeker)
                         Have a defining moment.
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