Cohousing-L Mailing List: A Paradox in the Definitions of Freedom

[CHRISTINE COE (CHRISTINECOE1]

Dear Cohousing List--

I think we've stumbled across an interesting paradox in the recent discussion 
of the 
preferences of Europeans vs. Americans in regard to freedom.

On February 22nd, Nika Quirk wrote:

"I was reading this thread this evening and it merged with musings I had
today after hearing a European commentator on NPR today, commenting on
Bush's meetings with European leaders. He said one of the fundamental
differences between the U.S. and the EU is our definition of freedom. He
said parents in the US teach their children that freedom = independence and
autonomy, and that European parents teach their children that freedom is
based on the quality of your relationships.

Seems to me that those definitions directly relate to housing choices.
Autonomy/independence translates into the American Dream of transcending
shared and rental housing, and owning a detached home on its own "little
acre". No one witnesses or gets in your private business. You're finally
free.  

Co-housing, I believe, rises out of the European definition, holding the
perspective that investing in quality relationships, collective ownership,
and cooperation, creates the support for real freedom.

Co-housing is in my near future, which is why I'm on this list. Yes, I am a
liberal; more importantly, I identify myself as a cultural creative."

>From my qualification studies in the Myers-Briggs, I know that, in general, 
Europeans report a much higher preference for "Introverted" sources of 
energizing (like time alone spent in reading or doing "at home" relaxation) 
than do Americans, who report a 75% preference for "Extraverted," 
meaning they prefer to be around people as a source of gaining energy. 

What seems to be the case here is a preference for one's housing situation 
to provide more balance to your daily natural preferences or experience--if 
you prefer socializing during the day, or your work demands it, your idea of 
home is more likely to be a private "get away" from others.  

If your daily routine is characterized by a less harried pace, with less public 
contact, or the work you do is less sociable --by preference or by default-- 
it would seem that you're more likely to prefer your "home life" to include a 
wider dose of daily fellowship.  

Now, for those of who have looked thoroughly at the cohousing model, a 
primary attraction is that it offers the best of both worlds -- one of my 
favorite 
definitions is "Cohousing communities are designed to be small-scale 
neighborhoods 
which provide a balance between personal privacy and living amidst people 
who know and care about each other."

I suppose if I had to choose between the American and European "definitions" 
of freedom, I'd tend towards the European (which I believe is the more 
"spiritual" 
of the two), but I'd be reluctant to choose.  Why not have both, in proper 
measure?

The European memories of a crowded, pre-owned confederation of aristocratic 
domains still dominated by a relative "peasant squalor" are pitted against the 
American memories of a vast, unbounded unified continent whose prospects were 
only limited to the degree to which her citizens were willing to take personal 
and 
financial risks (and, of course, consider the native inhabitants and slave 
imports 
sub-human).  The result is a Europe populated with more relationally-connected 
people, with a less ambitious self-understanding (post-Empire) as opposed to an 
America populated by people with more hubris, a heightened sense of 
individualism, 
an almost unquestioned assumption of self-empowerment (waning Empire, 
struggling 
hard to "stay on top").  

I believe many Americans read the impulse "back" towards the "village" 
atmosphere 
of cohousing as a concession to the "loss of Empire" rather than to the demands 
of a depleted environment --a surrender of core values, rather than an 
embracing 
of more human, environmental and spiritual values. The Australians, whose 
history 
is similar to that of Americans, yet who have seemed to escape the level 
of international hubris of this country, seem to be embracing cohousing as a 
new 
way to extend their frontiers and assemble in communities of shared values and 
strength, and bolster the strength of their ("Empire") status.

Cooperation would seem to fly in the face of individual consumerism, the 
economic 
engine which our present society wishes to fuel at all costs.  That explains 
the 
insanity of a society which decides to fight the loss of double-digit economic 
expansion with tax cuts to encourage greater personal deficit spending.  Far 
too 
much of America's self-concept rides on the latest economic trends.  In an 
increasingly 
oligarchic society, this perception only worsens.  It's time to rebalance the 
equation 
with sane, local, community-oriented, relational and environmental solutions.  

Community-supported agriculture, sustainable development, eco-villages, green 
building, cooperative buying and sharing, recycling, freecycling, etc. are all 
strategies 
which can start to conserve the natural resource base which we have in 
abundance 
already, and lessen our dependence on foreign imports.  But this does not serve 
the 
agenda of the New World Order.  

The irony is that these are conservative strategies advocated most vociferously 
by 
the liberal (or progressive) elements in our society.  Personally, I have no 
problem as a conservative (in many other areas) embracing these solutions.  
It's Big 
Business which is threatened by them, not me.  Oligarchies are only threatened 
when 
the trends of dividing and conquering the people in order to create long-term 
dependence are effectively reversed.

Which is another reason why affordable cohousing needs to prevail.  We haven't 
insisted on government "living within its means" because we haven't done so in 
our personal lives, either.  The higher the remaining mortgages on our 
cohousing 
developments, the more the feeling of a safe and secure environment is a 
fragile 
illusion, at the mercy of an unstable economy.  

Time for a new look at the American Dream!

--Guy Coe