I LIVED 17 YEARS IN THREE COMMUNES---All of which I started. Two were in New Orleans one in Tampa, Florida.
It was a pivotal experience that awakened me on many fronts. I love living communally---entangling my life with a dozen or so people. After 5 years of near-bliss I fell out of agreement with the group---suffered hugely---raged internally. Finally I went off to San Francisco and took the EST training and began to take responsibility for whatever came into my life. I eventually got a new vision---bought a fire damaged mansion--and started another commune---this one structured with a new system based partly on an insight from Buckminster Fuller: ---the critical distinction between MORAL and TECHNICAL solutions to human problems. (e.g. the problem of speeding cars where children play. The moral approach is a warning sign---the technical approach is speed bumps---engineering situations rather than engineering people)
The next 5 years were truly blissful. I found the right people--and together we created what I think is the "perfect" communal system. (beginning with Andy--who sometimes comments on this blog)
I renovated the house as we occupied it and soon it was valuable enough to "cash in" and not have to work for many years.-----And so I did--selling to a member who kept the system going. I went traveling for several years---then got the urge to create another one. I did so--in Tampa, Fla for 7 more years. Then I got another vision---living on the road---sold the house hit the road and have done this ever since.
I think I can summarize in a few paragraphs what I learned about communal living those 17 years.
1. Self fulfillment is the basic purpose. (Teilard De Chardin: "Isolation is a dead end. The self is fulfilled in community") Close living makes it easy to absorb qualities you admire in others.
2. There are 6 major challenges to group functioning.
A. Power:---who will run things?
B. Property: Who owns what?
C. Privacy: Protection of personal space.
D. Performance: How will things get done?
E. Peacemaking: How are conflicts resolved?
F. Personnel: How do you select and evict members?
The great breakthrough came when I saw that each of these challenges could be met with TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS:
*Power: Everyone was required to lead the group for one month----two months if you enjoyed it,
*Property: Your stuff was your stuff.
*Privacy: Color wheel on each door--6 colors--dial a mood---violators subject to eviction.
*Performance: All house chores were up for bid. Lowest bid got the job and the money it paid from the common fund. (money is condensed energy--and it is the cleanest way to exchange energy.)
*Peacemaking: Done by the leader--WITHOUT JUDGMENTS--by shuttle diplomacy. (facilitating peace, Kissinger style, by transmitting perspectives back and forth till each party was
satisfied. (this was our finest social invention--It never failed to resolve matters)
Personnel: To join us you had to be INTERESTING. You were evicted if you became UNPOPULAR. (This also worked beautifully---avoided the tedious right/wrong game).
What I learned in one sentence: "LOVE WILL GROW ON A FOUNDATION OF JUSTICE---BUT NOT VICE VERSA."
It was a pivotal experience that awakened me on many fronts. I love living communally---entangling my life with a dozen or so people. After 5 years of near-bliss I fell out of agreement with the group---suffered hugely---raged internally. Finally I went off to San Francisco and took the EST training and began to take responsibility for whatever came into my life. I eventually got a new vision---bought a fire damaged mansion--and started another commune---this one structured with a new system based partly on an insight from Buckminster Fuller: ---the critical distinction between MORAL and TECHNICAL solutions to human problems. (e.g. the problem of speeding cars where children play. The moral approach is a warning sign---the technical approach is speed bumps---engineering situations rather than engineering people)
The next 5 years were truly blissful. I found the right people--and together we created what I think is the "perfect" communal system. (beginning with Andy--who sometimes comments on this blog)
I renovated the house as we occupied it and soon it was valuable enough to "cash in" and not have to work for many years.-----And so I did--selling to a member who kept the system going. I went traveling for several years---then got the urge to create another one. I did so--in Tampa, Fla for 7 more years. Then I got another vision---living on the road---sold the house hit the road and have done this ever since.
I think I can summarize in a few paragraphs what I learned about communal living those 17 years.
1. Self fulfillment is the basic purpose. (Teilard De Chardin: "Isolation is a dead end. The self is fulfilled in community") Close living makes it easy to absorb qualities you admire in others.
2. There are 6 major challenges to group functioning.
A. Power:---who will run things?
B. Property: Who owns what?
C. Privacy: Protection of personal space.
D. Performance: How will things get done?
E. Peacemaking: How are conflicts resolved?
F. Personnel: How do you select and evict members?
The great breakthrough came when I saw that each of these challenges could be met with TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS:
*Power: Everyone was required to lead the group for one month----two months if you enjoyed it,
*Property: Your stuff was your stuff.
*Privacy: Color wheel on each door--6 colors--dial a mood---violators subject to eviction.
*Performance: All house chores were up for bid. Lowest bid got the job and the money it paid from the common fund. (money is condensed energy--and it is the cleanest way to exchange energy.)
*Peacemaking: Done by the leader--WITHOUT JUDGMENTS--by shuttle diplomacy. (facilitating peace, Kissinger style, by transmitting perspectives back and forth till each party was
satisfied. (this was our finest social invention--It never failed to resolve matters)
Personnel: To join us you had to be INTERESTING. You were evicted if you became UNPOPULAR. (This also worked beautifully---avoided the tedious right/wrong game).
What I learned in one sentence: "LOVE WILL GROW ON A FOUNDATION OF JUSTICE---BUT NOT VICE VERSA."
STORIES FROM A 'thrown away' LIFE
![STORIES FROM A 'thrown away' LIFE]()
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November 17, 2014
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