Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Why I like Cohousing

[Tom Hammer (thammer302]

>

Many thanks to all who have written so eloquently on this topic.

Craig's post is one of many beautiful examples of what I treasure and  
yearn for in our forming community.  I read the suggestion about an  
article in the newsletter based on a compilation of these posts.   
Rather than that, I'd prefer to see a compilation of this topic as one  
of the main resources on the cohousing.org website.  It's that  
important that people get a sense of what is so different and yet so  
possible.  I see an imbalance toward on the physical buildings, the  
land, the architecture, how to acquire land, and these posts would  
help lend an essential balance for folks who are considering cohousing  
toward what is least visible and yet essential, in my opinion.  The  
community aspect of cohousing is what keeps me going above all else,  
toward our goal.

Tom Hammer
Concord Ecovillage
Southeastern PA, northern DE
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:14:27 -0700
> From: "Craig Ragland" <craigragland [at] gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Why I like Cohousing
> To: "Gerald Manata" <gmanata2003 [at] yahoo.com>
> Cc: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> Message-ID:
>         <3d048fc40806201114s27e47051y3f0a4fd702df3387 [at] mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Well, its my truth - but I do not speak for our community. I am a  
> voice for
> Songaia, not the voice of Songaia. I answered Sharon's question,  
> "why I like
> cohousing" - I did so in the abstract, rather than sharing specific
> instances of sharing, acceptance, relationship, leadership,  
> creativity, etc.
> I've got experiences that support my abstractions, but if anyone reads
> between the lines of the concrete examples in this thread you'll  
> find other
> evidence of just how special a life in a cohousing community can be.
>
> It is all to easy for folks who are "comparison shopping" for  
> community to
> focus on the details that are not to their liking, or to project  
> much onto
> brief observations. Its also easy for cohousers to dwell on the  
> challenges
> of life together - and trying to fix them is quite popular. I'm  
> pleased
> that many cohousers really do appreciate just how special a life in
> community so often is - especially when contrasted with what is easily
> obtainable within most conventional housing, e.g. anonymous suburbia  
> or
> apartment buildings.
>
> As humans, we all bring our emotional and spirit baggage when we  
> arrive in
> community and, as much as some would like, we simply cannot check it  
> at the
> door as we engage in lives lived together. Living together surfaces  
> some of
> this otherwise hidden stuff. Sometimes, a focus on baggage and
> reverberations lead us to exit community. Other times we find ways  
> to accept
> each other - at least enough. In the times I most enjoy, we direct our
> attention to what is good and how to grow that. At the current  
> moment, my
> choice is to do what I can to embrace and extend Cohousing as  
> something that
> is good. I hope my local and global actions help my community and  
> Coho/US to
> do more of the same - and I hope more Coho-L readers can similarly
> appreciate the many sweet gifts that each day in community can bring  
> us and
> those we live with.
>
> Credits Due: the baggage metaphor came from the consultation Diana  
> Leafe
> Christian writes about in the current issue of Cohousing magazine:
>
> *http://www.cohousing.org/cm/article/different* <http://www.cohousing.org/ 
> >
> (although this article does not address that part of the consultation)