It's been a dream of mine for a few years now to find a way to live in a community who's origins are based on a pagan/earth based/human soul spirituality and whos foundation is a system of communal barter of goods and services. Recently this vision has begun to crystalize more and more for me. Each citizen has their own home and land to grow whatever they want for themselves and their family, as well there is a community farm that grows as many of the staples we will need. Everyone shares a hand in the tending of the community farm, and those individuals who do not take part in the feeding of the community must provide some other form of service (administrative, constabulary, artistic/entertainment, teaching, medical etc). The farm would not only grow community crops but would also be the ranch on wich the bulk of our meat was raised, in this way we could control the lives of our animals and see to it that each life taken for our sustenance was honored and given thanks for, the meat taken as a blessing and a gift. I would prefer to hand pick the location so that we could have a year round water supply (stream) and a means of stocking fish for our consumption (lake/large pond) as well I would like good forested grazing lands so that we could harbor herds of elk or deer, to supplement the livestock, hunted by men and women in the community. I firmly believe that the ability to find and provide yourself and your family with meat is a skill of high value. The only real thing in this world is each individual, their need for air, water and food, all other societal machinations and grand designs are false, devised to distract and calm the individual so that a select few may have power over the masses. It is inevitable that the societal house of cards will fall one day, through self destruction or as nature rebalances the scales, it will be a matter of sheer life or death to be able to provide yourself with food during those times. There are a number of challenges in this endeavour, firstly, to codify and present a clear and consice religious and spiritual doctrine. One that gives a moral and ethical code to live by, will act as a source of inspiration and faith, and will create a warm and welcome place for people of diverse ethnic and relgious origins. This is by far the hardest of the preliminary tasks, though I have made leaps and bounds in this arena and I think I may soon begin to actually put my ideas and framework onto paper. I won't go into this part just yet, it's all still much too raw for public consumtion. The second major task is to logistically map out the ways and means of such a community, and that, while daunting, is still much easier than bringing the spiritual foundations to life. This community could act as a shining example of how technology SHOULD be used to make mankinds life better, more in sync with the world around us. Each home would have a composting toilet ( LINK ) We could effectively use all of our waste for the good of the community. Each home would be supplied electricity for lights and cooking by a hydrogen plant ( LINK / LINK ) So as to not contribute to the massive polution we cause and to be free of dependancy on war inducing fossil fuels. For vegetables and fruits not native the local growing climates, we could build large scale greenhouses ( LINK ) to grow citrus fruits, melons, mangos, pineapples and bannas. Year round vegetables as well. We could store and preserve our meat with a sonic fridge ( LINK ) so as to not add to pollution. Every citizen would have a clearly defined set of responcibilities within the community and these chores are the key to the entire system, you do your job, invest your time and labor, and in return you have a home for you and your family, food, education, basic medical. And whatever service you provide, each hour is counted equally, wether you spend time painting with the children and singing at our gatherings or you spend your hours harvesting our food or acting as a magistrate, each task is seen as an equal contribution, no one above the other and therefore we all are able to consume and live as equals. The ideal is for this community to be as self contained as possible, I would hope that by the time this dream has begun to live, the government would have come around to the legalization of hemp growing. Hemp production and processing could provide such a community with many items, (clothing, building materials, food, etc. ( LINK / LINK )). If not we can still take a very responcible agricultural view of our wood and plant harvesting for clothing and building. We would need to decide on what level of medical care we want available, that will be one of the greatest cash costs to the society, as well as staples we cannot grow effectively ourselves, can we grow grain/corn/rice and mill our own flour? Is it efficient and effective for us? We need to have a means of income somehow, most likely through the artisitic and spiritual creations of our citizens. Charms, pendants, crystals, wands, staffs, clothing. Will all contribute to creating a modest cash income and help to provide higher medical needs as well as basic staple goods. I would love any ideas or thoughts you all have on such an endeavour! ~Bear
I foresee a possible problem with the work, every hour being counted as equal. The problem is that not all work is equally strenuous. Easier jobs would be more coveted, and those working the harder jobs might be dissatisfied. I don't really know how to remedy it; I put a lot of thought into this type of thing myself. Everything else sounds good, I look forward to a constructive dialogue with you.
