On Community

On Community

Avalon is about community. George Green described the ground crew. Michael St Clair described the radiant zone.
Bill Ryan and Kerry Cassidy have founded the Avalon project and provided a vision.

What we need now is guidance in the formation of a new social order. An alternate vision to the centralized
new world order being displayed to us. Instead of moving away from what we fear, we must instead move towards
where we want to be. What I believe that we want is a decentralized network of intentional communities, tribes,
or groups of people who work in harmony with each other. Where individuals are equals, where there is no hierarchy
as one would find in the military or a corporate organization. No single individual, no single community rules over
or has precedence over any other. Rather than being puppets on a string, micromanaged to the point of being told when
to jump and how high, this alternate vision conforms to what is found in nature. This alternate vision of community
harmonizes with Rupert Sheldrake's morphogenic field, which explains how a school of fish or a flock of birds each as
individuals can work together as a unit to turn the group en masse on a dime without the benefit of a leader. This is
the natural order of things, and nature will not be denied!

My wife and I opened our eyes three years ago. We are not very far down the road ourselves. I like to think we are
at that awkward in between stage. Debbie was grinding wheat to bake bread this evening. I took a shower. The paradox
is we used a mix of the old and the new to make this happen. She used an electric motor to grind the wheat. I used
the electric well pump to enjoy a hot shower. Yet the room is lit with kerosene lamps. It takes time to wean yourself
away from the corporate web. We are older - I'm in my fifties, and we lack the vitality of a Goran Krupp who lived
in a tent in the woods while working to save money to climb Mt Everest (Goran Krupp was the crazy man who cycled from the
Netherlands, climbed Everest without oxygen, then cycled home - he was twenty something and as hard core as they come!)

I do my best thinking in the shower. During my shower talk I reflected on a brief conversation I had with Shellie on the
topic of guidance. The vision is there but we lack guidance. My thoughts turned to a book I read several years ago by
Penny Kelly called Robes. In a series of visions back in the early eighties she was shown what is happening now. She predates
the ground crew and radiant zones by twenty years. In Robes, Penny describes the turmoil we are entering today. I have alluded
to parts of her message in many of my previous posts. My shower talk told me to talk about the communities described in Robes
along with other community models we have looked at in the last three years. An old chinese curse is that you should live in
interesting times. If the little men of Robes are correct, we are indeed privileged or cursed depending on your point of view.
If their vision was correct, and the centrists are defeated, nations shall be no more. The Republic of the United States of America
will be a nostalgic memory for the elderly (that's you twenty somethings) to tell your grandchildren about. The land mass of North
America will break up into logical regional units of commerce and trade, such as the Pacific Northwest including Western Canada.
Other nation states around the world will experience similar transitions.

In this thread I will present essays on various community models which have been successful in time, including but not limited to the Amish, The Hutterites,
and the Amana Colonies. That they are religious/spiritual organizations is immaterial. Their social structure and the pros and cons of each is what
I wish to examine. Take what is valuable and leave the rest. I shall also paraphrase Robes in this thread. The little men have much to say on the topic.

Robes; Setting the stage

It began with the the fall of the Berlin wall, followed by the breakup of the old Soviet Union. It will spread across the globe. Nation states disintegrate. Governments fall, and democracy will pass away.
This is a natural progression, and it will be easier on the people if they work to understand why it is happening and work with the flow instead of against it.

When people see only the destruction, instead of the phoenix rising out of the ashes the process will be
more painful than it needs to be. Are you witnessing the end of the world as you knew it, or are you participating in the birth of something new?

Evolution is part of who you are. The reason these changes are occurring is you have outgrown the existing structures. New methods, new structures and new ways of thinking will replace what has been.
Why would you fight against it? Would you wish that your child not grow, or that you would never step
up to the next level in your own development?

The political, financial, and earth changes will occur to complement each other so that you will be unable to deny the need for change.

The changes are not fixed in stone or in space, but the changes will occur. In your lifetime you will witness the passing of democracy and the passing of nations. What shall replace them?

Realize the need to see inside what is happening, especially in the United States, which has served as
a role model for other peoples around the globe. If you cling to what was, you will only alienate those who look to you for guidance. This will only make the transition more difficult for yourself than it needs to be.

The current government in the United States is a response to fear. Your leaders are your own creation.
They only exist because you are afraid. Today your heads of state are only heads. They have lost their heart. When does a CEO and grandfather stop being a CEO worried about profit and start being a grandfather concerned about the future of his grandchildren?

Growing beyond the political structure results in a tendency to ignore the voted decision. The natural extension of disregard for political structure is lawlessness and chaos. You will have the best laws and the best government money can buy. As the nation state fails large corporations will step in to temporarily fill the gap. When business begins to openly administrate government, the fall is not far away.

The reign of business as government will only last five to fifty years. Then the multinational corporation will also fall away. People will naturally gravitate back into tribes or groups. It will begin
even before the disintegration is complete. It is necessary for the safety of the people and is part of their development.

This natural grouping will swallow up the nuclear family replacing it with a blend of the feudal state, the commune, and the corporation. This new extended family will evolve into a socio economic structure known as the family business and democracy will evolve into a new form of self government
called personal responsibility.

The church held power for 1500 years. The nation held power for 500 years. Corporations will hold
power for fifty years or less. The value of the multinational corporation is to show you how to organize
yourselves into groups which transcend national borders and continents. In the end the family business shall reign supreme.

[Shellie]

What exactly are you proposing? There are as many ideas of what a community is as there are people on this forum.

How many of us are hoping to create a community like StClair suggests? How many want to use George Green's new paradigm?

I am curious how many people here are looking for a traditionally led "survival" and agricultural community, how many are looking to create a new-age retreat, how many are hoping for a commune? It would make creating communities easier if we at least had a few ideas in common. It would also be easier if there was a way to find other people on this forum who have similar ideas instead of just looking for those who live in your state.

“Imagine a way of life in which money as you once knew it is gone, there are no taxes,
no schools as you once knew them, no factories, shopping centers, or office buildings, and you
do not ‘go to work’ every day. You live in a family instead of a town, and your goal is to
contribute to the survival, health and well-being of the family.

(This is a stub, the beginning of the essay...stay tuned...)

Twin Oaks is an intentional community in rural central Virginia, made up of around 85 adult members and 15 children. Since the community's beginning in 1967, our way of life has reflected our values of cooperation, sharing, nonviolence, equality, and ecology. We welcome you to schedule a visit.
We do not have a group religion; our beliefs are diverse. We do not have a central leader; we govern ourselves by a form of democracy with responsibility shared among various managers, planners, and committees. We are self-supporting economically, and partly self-sufficient. We are income-sharing. Each member works 42 hours a week in the community's business and domestic areas. Each member receives housing, food, healthcare, and personal spending money from the community.

Our hammocks and casual furniture business generates most of our income; indexing books and making tofu provide much of the rest. Still, less than half of our work goes into these income-producing activities; the balance goes into a variety of tasks that benefit our quality of life - including milking cows, gardening, cooking, and childcare. Most people prefer doing a variety of work, rather than the same job day in, day out.

A number of us choose to be politically active in issues of peace, ecology, antiracism, and feminism. Each summer we are hosts to a Women's Gathering and a Communities Conference where we welcome both experienced communitarians, and seekers who are new to community living.

East Wind Community is an egalitarian intentional community that was founded in 1973 and is located on 1045 acres of woods, hills and meadows in the Missouri Ozarks. All decisions by which we live are assented to by the majority of members. We do not dictate manners of living so long as members do their fair share of labor and not break our bylaws.


Our land, residences, domestic facilities, businesses and labor are all held in common by the membership. All income received is regarded as communal income. Expenses are communal obligations. The community provides food, clothes, child care, health care, transportation and whatever else the membership deems appropriate. These entitlements are distributed among the members in a fair and equitable manner.

We encourage cooperation and discourage competitive behavior. Even so, we are not utopia. Conflicts occur, causing occasional departures. Turnover of members and failure to attract or retain people with specialized skills slows us down. These struggles aside, we are proud of what we have accomplished over the years and are enthusiastic about the future. Our location is scenic and rural. We support ourselves entirely from our communal businesses and are a thriving example of economic and social democracy.

East Wind is an active member of the FEC (Federation of Egalitarian Communities), a network of secular groups devoted to equality, ecology, cooperation and nonviolence. We challenge ingrained habits of oppression. We support men and women to break free of traditional gender roles. Children are not ordered around. Gay people are free to be themselves. We look forward to becoming a more racially and culturally diverse group, as we celebrate our differences and are enriched therefrom.

During our first decade we emphasized rapid growth and constructed our major buildings. In the 1980s we were concerned about economic viability and focused on the development of our nut butter business. In the 1990s we have built a child-oriented building and expanded our agriculture program. In developing a closer relationship to the land, we hope to become an ally of our bio region and planet.

Members are not required to work a fixed number of hours a day, can volunteer for jobs that suit them, and can vary their work life doing different jobs. We agree to take turns washing dishes, and there may be some weeks that all members are required to spend a few hours working in our businesses. With these exceptions, East Wind hasn't assigned labor since 1983.



The community sets a weekly quota of hours that members are expected to work as their fair share of labor. Trusting one another to do a fair share is very important to us, and failure to do a fair share endangers membership. In recent years the weekly quota has typically been 40 hours. Keep in mind, this includes domestic labor which is normally not compensated for in the mainstream; therefore, we generally work less than those maintaining individual households. In addition, members get three weeks of labor credit on the anniversaries of their joining.



Most of us find that we can take time off from our work to enjoy the beautiful landscape and one another. We are located in an area known for outdoor recreation. There are plenty of opportunities to canoe, backpack and explore caves.



We have a number of indoor recreational resources, including a pool table, stereo systems, and a large collection of records and tapes. We have an excellent library, musical instruments, board games, televisions, VCRs, and a satellite dish. There is a well equipped exercise room, a pottery wheel and kiln, and facilities for woodworking, metal crafts, and glass work.



Our computer network is comprised of 12 PC's. In the daytime, it's used by office workers, but at night they are free for personal use. We have our own domain (eastwind.org), and we also have a satellite broadband connection.



Live music is a common pastime for many East Winders. We spend a lot of spare time socializing, and there are frequent parties throughout the year.



Often we pool our artistic energies and create talent shows featuring musical recitals, readings, skits, and other forms of theatre. These "coffeehouses" usually occur in conjunction with our community holidays, which are built around lavish meals and parties that may feature bonfires, sweat lodge gatherings, and drumming circles.

Amish society has several distinctive features. It is small, informal, local, compact, and fairly homogeneous. From egos to organizational units, the Amish prefer small-scale things. They fear that bigness will lead to pride and the abuse of power. Small-scale life encourages informality and flexibility. The bureaucratic organizations and procedures of modern societies are completely missing in Amish life. Horse-and-buggy transportation and large families living close together encourage face-to-face interaction. Social networks overlap because the same persons are fused together by residence, kin, ethnicity, work, education, leisure, and worship-yielding a dense and compact social structure. Historically, Amish involvement in farming produced a homogeneous occupational structure, though that is changing with the rise of business.

The Amish church is organized congregationally. Commonly known as a district, an Amish congregation includes all the families living in the immediate geographic area. There are more than 1,400 congregations in North America. Some twenty to forty households comprise a district. Congregations do not use church buildings but gather for worship in the homes of their members. When a district grows too large to hold services in a home, it divides into two. The small size of the typical district facilitates a close-knit, intimate fellowship in which members come to know each other very well.

The church districts in a given geographic area comprise a settlement. As many as one hundred districts, or as few as one, may be found in a single settlement. Lancaster's Amish community ranks second only to Holmes and adjacent counties in Ohio, which host the largest settlement in North America. The Lancaster settlement has about 150 districts. Since 1970, various migrations out of Lancaster County have seeded nearly thirty new settlements in other parts of Pennsylvania as well as in Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, New York, and Wisconsin. Nevertheless, over the years only a small proportion of families have left the Lancaster area.

Amish church districts that share similar religious practices consider themselves "in fellowship" with one another and constitute an affiliation. Districts in an affiliation usually permit their ministers to speak in one another's worship services. In Lancaster County, the Old Order Amish are the largest affiliation. The more progressive New Order Amish and the Beachy Amish are two small affiliations that have two and five congregations respectively.

Each Old Order congregation gathers for worship every other Sunday. A bishop, two ministers, and a deacon preside over the three-hour gathering and serve the church without pay or formal theological training. Leaders exert considerable influence. Bishops preach and teach as well as administer the rites of baptism, communion, marriage, discipline, and excommunication. They also are expected to model the virtues of an obedient Christian life to which the church calls all its members.

The practices, teachings, and taboos of the church are known as the Ordnung, a word without a simple English equivalent. The Ordnung defines the expected conduct of members. The "understandings" of the Ordnung include general principles, such as modesty and nonviolence, as well as specific applications, including prohibiting television and wearing prescribed styles of clothing. Generally unwritten and passed on by oral tradition, the Ordnung is a body of communal regulations that cultivate group identity, cohesion, and order. The Ordnung articulates the moral order of the community, and its practice defines the very essence of Amish identity:

# Examples of practices prescribed by the Ordnung: the color and style of clothing men's hat styles
# the color and style of buggies horses or mules for fieldwork
# steel wheels on machinery
# the Pennsylvania German dialect worship services in homes
# unison singing without instruments
# the menu of the congregational meal
# marriage to church members

Examples of practices prohibited by the Ordnung:
# tractors for fieldwork
# ownership and operation of automobiles
# electricity from public power lines filing a lawsuit
# entering military service
# owning computers and televisions pipeline milking equipment
# high school education
# jewelry, wedding rings, and wrist watches
# divorce

Slowly changing over the years, the Ordnung is the social glue and guiding principle of the Amish community. Church leaders, especially bishops, play a major role in persuading members to follow the Ordnung in their daily lives. The general contours of the Ordnung-horse-and buggy travel, distinctive costume, the Pennsylvania German dialect, the taboos on electricity and high school-are followed in all church districts in the Lancaster settlement. Some other practices, however, vary from district to district-access to telephones, the size of businesses, the use of power lawnmowers, and the style of furnishing in homes. Ordained leaders in the Lancaster area confer twice a year, hoping to promote a common Ordnung as much as possible.

When baptized members overstep the boundaries of the Ordnung-by buying a car or wearing jewelry, for example-they encounter the discipline of the church. Excommunication faces all those who persist in flouting the guidance of the Ordnung. Excommunicated members who refuse to change their ways are shunned. Members may not eat or conduct business with former members who are under the ban of the church. Restoration is always possible for those who are willing to humble themselves and return to the church, but for the unrepentant, shunning continues until death.

[Operator]

Hi Baggywrinkle,

On this issue it's easy for me ... I am on an island and I am quite sure there's no other local in this forum.
So starting a community can be done directly I don't need the internet for that.
I happen to know quite a few people that started their own business and among them there are typically some hands on people.
Some of them are in trading business with the US. It was not difficult to wake them up. They realize business may fall back
anytime so they are keen on alternatives ...
The internet for me serves to learn about certain stuff and get to know what's going down at the moment.

So finding the right people is no problem ... the problem will be like Michael StClair said about "one rotten apple in the basket".
I don't mean to look down on people but there are quite a few lazy ignorant types who will panic the day they can't drive their SUV's anymore.

We will probably face other problems like logistics. There is hardly any food production on the island so here's a good point to start.
On the other hand being on an island might be an advantage as well. In case of a pandemic we're more naturally isolated.

And I also agree with you that it's not a black and white thing when making changes. One needs to make the steps gradually.
Although it requires discipline probably. E.g. of course we still have running water from the tap here and I need water for growing my veggies etc.
I already try to go in great lengths of storing as much rainwater as possible to get the hang of this. Learning is a great deal
about doing, failing and adjusting. One should NOT wait until you have to rely on it completely.
So although all the easy stuff is still around you need to keep focusing on being less dependent from it.

And by itself that's a wonderful feeling ....
Fortunately I have great neighbors, they support it completely and tend to follow the example.
There's a small community rising almost by itself just like that ... I even start to feel that it might be a good thing happening to us.
If it not were for the ugly things that may potentially happen as well ...

Cheers

After investigating sites in Kansas and Iowa, the True Inspirationists selected a location along the Iowa River valley about 20 miles west of Iowa City, Iowa for the relocation of their community. This site offered extensive timberland, quarries for limestone and sandstone and long stretches of prairie filled with rich, black soil. Construction of the first village began in the summer of 1855 and the new settlement was named "Amana," meaning "believe faithfully." Community members moved to Amana over the next ten years as they gradually sold parcels of the Ebenezer property. A new constitution was adopted as the Community of True Inspiration took on the legal identity of the Amana Society. This new constitution essentially retained the communal system which had been developed in Ebenezer.



All members of the community shared in its economic success. The community provided each family with a home and all necessities of life. No one received a cash income. Rather, everyone was given an annual purchase allowance at the general store where goods were priced at cost. Medical care was provided free by the community. In return, each person was expected to work and was assigned a job by the community Elders based on the needs of the community as well as the talents of the individual. Nearly all women, starting at about age 14, worked in the communal kitchens and gardens. Women also tended to laundry, sewing and knitting and a few worked at the woolen mills. Men's jobs were far more varied. Young men might learn to work in one of the many craft shops, in the mills, or on the farms. Some men were sent outside the community to be educated as doctors or pharmacists.



By the 1860s the Amana Colony, as it came to be known, consisted of over 20,000 acres of land on which seven villages had been established. The villages were spaced just a few miles apart, roughly in the shape of a rectangle, and were named according to their location: West Amana, South Amana, High Amana, East Amana and Middle Amana, in addition to the original village of Amana. The town of Homestead, little more than a few buildings, was purchased by the Inspirationists so that they could have a depot on the new railroad line.

Amana villages each consisted of 40 to 100 buildings. The barns and agricultural buildings were always clustered at the village edge. Orchards, vineyards and gardens encircled the villages. Typical houses were rectangular two-story buildings of wood post-and-beam construction, brick, or sandstone. Each village had its own church, school, bakery, dairy, wine cellar, craft shops and general store. There were also a number of communal kitchens in each village where groups of about 30-40 people ate their meals.


Although all Amana villages are similar, each has its distinctive aspects. The original village of Amana, for example, is reminiscent of a German town with its meandering main street and side streets. On the other hand, the last village built--Middle Amana--displays a very American square block layout. South Amana is known for its predominance of brick construction--boasting even a brick granary and chicken house; in West Amana and High Amana sandstone buildings prevail. Tiny East Amana was not much more than an agricultural outpost, while Amana hummed with industry. The railroads' influence on the villages is evident in Homestead's single street and the bipartite nature of (upper and lower) South Amana.

The Amana settlement pattern of seven villages allowed the Inspirationists to easily access all their farm land (albeit at the cost of inefficiencies due to the need for a multiplicity of machinery and craft shops). Just as importantly it avoided a large urban setting which they felt encouraged immorality. Still, the network of small villages maintained an overall unity and kept everyone close to the spiritual leadership.


The Inspirationists established mills and shops according to their old-world skills. Amana's woolen and calico factories were among the first in Iowa and quickly gained a national reputation for superior quality goods. The Inspirationists did not avoid the use of new technologies and in fact are known to have contributed innovations of their own to the textile industry. By 1908, the two woolen mills (in Amana and Middle Amana) were producing about a half-million yards of fabric a year and the calico factory printed 4,500 yards of its famous cloth each day. Two flour mills (in West Amana and Amana) processed the community's own small grains as well as those of neighboring farmers. Crops of potatoes and onions were shipped to Midwest markets. Profits from the mills and farms was used to purchase goods from outside the community.


Of course, for the Inspirationists all this economic activity was subordinate to their religious purpose, to live a godly and pious life. To assist them in this, church services were held 11 times a week: every evening, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday mornings, and Sunday afternoon. The Community also observed Easter, Christmas and other Christian holidays. In addition, the Inspirationists in Amana held several special services during the year. Of these, the annual renewal of the covenant between each member and the community, and Liebesmahl (Holy Communion) were the most important. Liebesmahl was actually held at times determined through inspiration until the death of Metz in 1867 and thereafter usually every other year. An Unterredung or yearly spiritual examination was held over several months with the Elders visiting each village in turn. Each member of the community came before the Elders and was questioned regarding his/her spiritual condition and admonished to lead a more pious life.

The church Elders, always men, comprised the leadership in the community. During the time of the Werkzeuge, Elders were chosen through inspiration. The Elders conducted the church services in each village. Some Elders were chosen as Trustees who managed the economic aspects and daily life of the villages. Up to this level each village functioned independently. Collectively, the villages were governed by a Board of Trustees, 13 Elders elected by the adult members of the community. This board directed the overall affairs of the community. Following the death of Barbara Heinemann Landmann, the last Werkzeug, in 1883, the elders and Trustees functioned for nearly 50 years without the support of divine authority. They showed a remarkable degree of flexibility to allow communal Amana to become one of America's longest-lived communal societies

At the turn of the 21st century, the Community of True Inspiration is approaching its 300th year of existence although the Amana of today differs from that of a century before. By the 1930s, the communal system in Amana had generated stresses which it could not resolve. Many community members found the rules associated with communal living to be petty and overly restrictive. Regulations governed most aspects of daily life including dining, dress and leisure activities. Many young people wanted to be free to play baseball, to own musical instruments or to bob their hair in the new style. Families wanted to eat together at home rather than in the communal kitchen dining rooms. Although members received an annual spending allowance, many people felt theirs was inadequate and were frustrated by their inability to enjoy more material goods. Increasingly the elders were unable to enforce the rules.

In 1931, the community found itself in a crisis. In addition to the social strains of communal living, the community had suffered several economic setbacks in the previous decade. The Amana Society had lost an important source of revenue when its calico print works closed after World War I. A fire in 1923 extensively damaged the woolen mill and completely destroyed the Amana flour mill. And the national economic depression had shrunk the market for the Society's agricultural products.

The Elders presented the membership of the community with a choice: either they could return to a more austere and disciplined life or they could abandon the communal system. Significantly, dissolution of the church was not considered as an alternative. But most members also recognized that their community had changed and that they were probably incapable of returning to the strict life of early communalism. Many people no longer equated their faith with the social mores dictated by the Community. Furthermore, many members felt that communalism itself was no longer a viable path

On June 1st, 1932, the members elected to retain the traditional church as it was, and to create a joint-stock company (Amana Society, Inc.) for the business enterprises to be operated for profit by a Board of Directors. This separation of the church from the economic functions of the community--the abandonment of communalism--is referred to by Amana residents still today as "the Great Change."

Today, the Amana Society, Inc., corporate heir to the land and economic assets of communal Amana, continues to own and manage some 26,000 acres of farm, pasture and forest land. Agriculture remains an important economic base today just as it was in communal times. Because the land was not divided up with the end of communalism the landscape of Amana still reflects its communal heritage. In addition, over 450 communal-era buildings stand in the seven villages--vivid reminders of the past.


The most widely known business that emerged from the Amana Society is Amana Refrigeration, Inc. This national leader in the production of refrigerators was founded by an Amana native, George C. Foerstner at the time of the Great Change. The first beverage cooler, designed for a businessman in nearby Iowa City in 1934, was built by skilled craftsmen at the Middle Amana woolen mill. In the decades that followed, the mill became the site of this large, now private, plant producing refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, and in 1967 introduced a new product--the Amana Radarange Microwave Oven. Today, the 19th-century woolen mill smoke stack still rises over the modern plant.

The Amana Church continues to be a vital part of the Amana community. A visitor to Amana today would do well to visit an Inspirationist cemetery. Surrounded by pine trees to symbolize eternal life, the cemeteries continue to express the Inspirationist ethos of equality, humility and simplicity. As they have been for over 140 years, members are buried in order of death with plain, uniform headstones. Like the cemeteries, the Amana churches are much as they were when built 125 years ago. The building exteriors are unpretentious; no steeple or Interior of the Community Church Museum, which still retains its unfinished wood floors, plain pine benches and unadorned walls
colored-glass windows declare that the edifice is a house of God. Inside, the unfinished wood floors, plain pine benches and unadorned walls echo the tradition of humility and piety. Men still enter and sit on one side of a central aisle; women on the other. Worshippers come early for quiet contemplation. English language services were introduced in 1960, but in both German and English services the order of worship has changed little over the years: a reading from Scripture; a reading from a testimony from Rock, Metz or Landmann; hymns that would be recognized by a congregation of a century earlier.

Organizational Structure of a Hutterian Community

Hierarchy
In every Hutterite colony, the minister (predigor) or spiritual leader is also the chief executive and he, along with an advisory board, makes the day to day decisions.

The ministers duties include conducting church sermons, marriages, baptisms, funerals, and disciplining members of the church.

The advisory board consists of the minister, the colony manager, the farm manager and two or three witness brothers (deacons) who are elected for life. The advisory board acts as the board of trustees or the directors of the church corporation. They make decisions regarding changes related to the day-to-day operation of the colony, economics, job positions and colony discipline. The actions of the council are in turn directed by the whole congregation, and the councilors themselves are subject to the Church.

The colony manager (hausholtor or wiet) receives and pays all bills, does the banking and is in reality the manager of the colony.

The farm manager (weinzedle), also known as the work distributor, supervises all field work. Under his jurisdiction are all workers over fifteen years, who have not been appointed to specific jobs by the colony.

The witness brothers (zulbriedor), besides acting as advisory board members are generally employed, like all other members, managing one of the colonies numerous activities.

All the other members of the community take part in the making of major decisions.

Decision Making
Major decisions like appointing new members to the advisory board are made by all the male baptized members in the community. Every brother votes and the person with the majority of the votes is expected to take on the elected position.

Election of Ministers
The election of a ministers is indeed a very important and solemn affair, overseen by the Elder and the Church and affecting everyone on the colony. This ceremony is modeled after the selection of a replacement Apostle as described in Acts.

First off, every member of the afore-mentioned advisory board nominates two members that they think are suitable for the job. Anyone with two votes is nominated. The nomination process usually occurs the Sunday before the actual ceremony.

The minister election ceremony (predigor stimmung) is attended by many visitors, and usually by the Elder of the Hutterites. A special sermon is delivered and a special prayer is prayed to ask for God's help and guidance in the matter. Then all male members of the community (and visitors) votes for one of the nominated brothers by telling the senior ministers leading the service their choice. Anyone with five or more votes is deemed "nominated". All the nominees' names are placed in a hat and lots are drawn by the Elder or some other senior minister. The person on whom the lot falls becomes the new assistant minister of that colony.


Community of Goods
Hutterites live in community, that is they share all of their possessions; ; The idea of Community of Goods stems from many examples found in the bible, including the following:

And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily, with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favor with all people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. (Acts 2:44-47)

And the multitude of them that were believed were of one heart and of one soul; neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked; for as many as were possessors of land or houses sold them, and brought the piece of the things that were sold, And laid them at the apostles feet; and distribution was made unto every man according as he had needed. (Acts 4:32-35)

However, many other examples exist. For example, throughout history, God has always "separated" His people from the world as evidenced by the Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. Jesus himself lived "in community" with his apostles. All of these examples point to God desiring His people to live separate from the world, to help & support each other, usually in some form of community.

People often ask to what extent Hutterites share their possessions. No, Hutterites, don't share their toothbrushes and the like. All Hutterites keep some personal possessions which include personal effects. In addition, homes are private and household items within them are considered personal, although the colony may have provided them to begin with. But the homes, garages, barns, fields, vehicles and machinery, successes and failures are all jointly owned and considered "ours".

The Hutterian Brethren or Hutterites are a religious group originating from the Reformation of the 16th century (www.hutteritehistory.org).

It is interesting to note that the Hutterites and Mennonites (and thus the Amish) share common roots. Both of these sects are Anabaptists and both of these movements trace their beginnings to the same period of time, to the same occurrences, during the Reformation.

Their roots are found in Switzerland where a group of Bible students came to the conclusions that:

*

baptizing babies is not biblical.
*

the Bible requires the separation of church and state.
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a Christian should not wield the sword (pacifist)
*

the Lord's Supper is symbolic of the suffering of Jesus, and should be done in remembrance of him

These 4 points became the basis for this movement. The followers of this movement are known as the Anabaptists or re-baptizers. They are called rebaptizers because they were baptized a second time, in adulthood.

The religion of the Hutterites is unique in their belief in the community of goods in which all material things are held in common. This idea is gleaned from the teachings of Jesus, where he explained to the rich young ruler what he needed to do to receive eternal life (Matthew 19); from the fact that Jesus and his disciples shared everything (John 12); from the early church where the apostles and their followers held all things in common (Acts 2: 44-47). Hutterites believe community of goods is the highest command of love.

All members of the colony are provided for equally and nothing is kept for personal gain. Hutterites do not have personal bank account; rather all earnings are held communally and funding and necessities are distributed according to one's needs.

Hutterites attend a 1/2 hour church service almost every day besides a 1 to 1 1/2 hour service every Sunday and common religious holiday. In addition, special services are held for baptism, marriages, Christmas, and Easter

Each Hutterite colony has to provide for between 60 and 160 persons. Almost all Hutterites are sustained through agriculture. Most colonies are crop producers and have fair-sized farms. They also raise a large amount of livestock. In addition to agriculture, manufacturing is gaining a lot of momentum on colonies. Diversification is becoming more important, due to high start-up costs associated with farming and often low commodity prices.

Every person on a Hutterite Colony is assigned a job. Some assigned jobs include carpenter, chicken man, farm boss, etc. Each person is in charge of his compartment, usually with one or two helpers.

In recent years, due in part to high start-up costs associated with farming, many Hutterite colonies have turned to manufacturing to supplement their income. Colonies manufacturing items like hog feeders, barn ventilation systems, coal boilers, plastic farm equipment, metal cladding for buildings, and other items.

Hutterite colonies are often self-sufficient, raising much of the food that is consumed. Different kinds of farm animals and poultry are raised, such as hogs, cattle, broilers, geese and ducks. Surplus animals are sold, but not before feeding the members of the colony.

Hutterite colonies are almost exclusively farming communities, though many have diversified their operations in the last 10 to 20 years. Some farm very little land, but most colonies farm on average about 4000 acres. Crops planted vary according to soil types and climatic regions, as one would expect. Wheat, barley, oats, and canola, along with corn, soybeans, peas, and flax are grown.

Because most Hutterite colonies also have livestock (either poultry, hogs or beef), grain grown is often used for livestock feed. Many colonies have feedmills in which they mix their own feed for their livestock.

Colonies have had to adapt to changing and challenging farming conditions over the past many years. Highly technical equipment, such as global positioning systems (GPS) coupled with auto-steer are utilized regularly.

Brought to you by the founders of Project Camelot, this new project has been created in direct response to the demanding needs of current times and current events.

Our goals:

• To provide important information and resources to enable individuals and communities to function optimally in what may be troubled times ahead.

• To support aware individuals in networking and forming groups as they wish.

Our philosophy:

• As stated by George Green in the Project Camelot interview Messages for the Ground Crew, there exist individuals and groups, all over the world, who have an important responsibility and role to play in the preservation of civilization regardless which scenarios may play out.

• These possible scenarios - which include planned financial collapse, war, and population reduction by covert means - can be prevented and changed by the united intention of many concerned individuals. Many of us are working to prepare and awaken others. We know that our efforts to create a new tomorrow will not be in vain. We acknowledge the Ground Crew all over the globe - including (we are confident) ethical and principled individuals within military and intelligence circles worldwide.

• We believe it's prudent to make contingency plans. This site is created to help you do that.

Those are the stated goals of the Avalon project by the founders. What you do with it, if anything, is up to you. You may wait to join someone else's parade or create your own. Or you may do what you have always done.

Why are you here? What does Avalon offer that ATS or GLP doesn't already offer?

Why reinvent the wheel. Why NOT learn from other's mistakes. Perhaps you will not create the perfect utopian society, but you will never know if you don't give it a go.

It's up to you.

[Shellie]

bump

[asteram]

This is a good thread, Baggywrinkle. I appreciate it.

Truth be told, I don't resonate at all with any of the communities described here so far. I'm sure they work for those who "fit" within them but I wouldn't. The intentional communities from the seventies and eighties have been too much corrupted by the Marxist/Protocols/Tavistock propaganda, feminism, gay rights, egalitarian communism etc. There appears no room for individuality and the rewards therefrom. All men are equal in the eyes of God, perhaps, but all men are not created equal by any means.

I'm reminded of a community barter system that I read about when I lived in the Seattle area. The idea was that all members bartered their time hour for hour. In essence, the person who spent two hours mowing a lawn could trade for two hours of an engineer's or architect's or skilled craftsman's time. How could this work? Well, IMO, it couldn't and I'm sure it didn't. People who have spent a large portion of their life learning advanced skills will not be willing to trade hour for hour with those who have either been to lazy or are not intelligent enough to acquire advanced skills.

As noted in your post on Twin Oaks "failure to attract or retain people with specialized skills slows us down." Indeed, and this has been the downfall of every communistic/communitarian experiment ever done. People who accomplish more need to be rewarded more or they lose motivation. This reward historically has been monetary, but it needn't necessarily be such. Respect, free time, having the community provide them with a certain level of abundance that reflects their contribution----there must be some reward.

One huge problem is exemplified by the contrasting of the authoritarianism of the religious communalists and the freewheeling "democracy" of the intentional communities. Some of us chafe under any form of authoritarianism, and many decisions should not be made by majority vote of a community either; they need to be made by those with knowledge and expertise. Those decisions need to be in the hands of people who have the best interests of the community as a whole in mind and not every member of a community will have the intelligence, knowledge, and wisdom to make them.

Another observation is where does an eccentric individualist, such as yours truly, fit in? When I work I am focused and work very hard, often eighteen hours a day. What I work on changes from month to month, year to year, project to project, and is determined by what inspires me at the time. One year it may be building stone walls, another year it may be writing, right now my focus is agriculture. When I reach a conclusion or a stopping point on a project, I need a break for a few weeks or sometimes months. I may head into the wilderness with a backpack, fly off to a tropical beach, or just hole up at home and drink rum all day for a week or two while I recharge my internal batteries and get ready for what's next. How would either the democratic egalitarian intentional communities or the religious communities find room for that? Even our present individualistic society has a hard time allowing me that freedom.

I'm quite sure that the group/tribe/community and the "family business" are what the future holds for us. I know it because I have not only seen it but I have been there, walking around the community and talking to people; I have been to the future and it is very, very good, but I won't get into details about that here. The point is that there was no coercion or need for such, nor was there foolish egalitarianism. Some people have more ability, intelligence, and drive than others. Treating everyone as an equal before the law is one thing; I believe ethics and morals are essentially universal. Treating all people as true equals, or pretending that all contributions are equal will not work.

I read many posts on this forum where people are talking of creating a community and saying "all are welcome". Is this wise? I'm reminded of the "robe" quote above where the corporate model is mentioned. The corporation as we know it is a very bad and evil entity, being the antithesis of personal responsibility, but I do understand their allusion to the idea of a group diversified in skills and in far-flung locations working together towards a common goal. My point is, are all welcome? No, only those who have skills that contribute to the goals and purposes of the corporation.

I would suggest that those looking to form communities approach it somewhat as a job application process, from each individual's point of view as well as the overall goal of the community. The chaos is upon us, and we are called not just to survive the coming changes, but to come out the other side with systems and examples that do work, models on which to build the new paradigm. Yes we will all need food, water, clothing, and shelter during these times, but I would suggest that people find more specific goals and dreams around which to gather and work together. Come together with others who share your portion of the dream, rather than simply others who want to survive and have somewhat of a spiritual bent. A community focused on free energy, perhaps, or seriously investigating the human soul, or advanced computer technology, or cutting-edge sustainable agriculture, or fine craftsmanship. Find a focus, a purpose, and then attract others who are not only interested in doing that but have something of real value to add to the project. As I said, approach it as a mutual job application process, for lack of a better term. Decide what it is you would like to be creating, find or form a group with similar interests, and then use wisdom and discernment to decide who you want to spend the next years working and living with. It doesn't matter how nice and friendly someone may be if they have nothing to contribute, nor will you enjoy living and working with a highly skilled and knowledgeable creep. Creating the new paradigm requires focus and work; what is your part? What strongly draws you? What sort of "family business" would you throw your heart and soul into, joyfully?

Although I work almost entirely alone these days, in the past I have been involved in many enterprises that required me to "hire and fire" and I interviewed many prospective employees. The majority of them simply wanted a paycheck; they had no real interest in what the goals and purposes of the enterprise were. I could easily spot them by asking "what sort of work do you like to do?". Their answer was something like "Oh, I can do anything". I would dig a little deeper and ask "If you could do anything at all, what would you like to be doing?" Too often the answer was "I dunno", along with something that told me that if they could be doing anything their choice would be to do nothing. Those people I only hired for the most menial jobs, knowing they wouldn't be around long anyway. What I was looking for ( and still am looking for) are those with a passion for what the project is, those who would do it for free simply because they love the idea, the goal, the accomplishment. They need not be highly skilled or educated, but the passion and interest are essential.

This, I am suggesting, would be a wise path for us to take in forming our groups, associations, and communities that will be responsible for creating the new paradigm, the new world. By our accomplishments and contributions we shall be known.

[Gnosis5]

I like Ron Ferrell's philosophy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FzjQ-TWTP4

[EarthBowl]

"... are those with a passion for what the project is, those who would do it for free simply because they love the idea, the goal, the accomplishment. They need not be highly skilled or educated, but the passion and interest are essential.

This, I am suggesting, would be a wise path for us to take in forming our groups, associations, and communities that will be responsible for creating the new paradigm, the new world. By our accomplishments and contributions we shall be known." quoted from ASTERAM
************************************************** **************************************

I agree. the ties that bind a community together must come from a 'different inside place' than in the past.
Its a NEW paradigm not a repackaging of what hasnt worked. I dont 'know' how this will ' become' , but I feel a resonance as to its truth.

[Gnosis5]

I agree. For all of you who have done volunteer work and loved it, you will understand.

I am still piecing my passions together: I love animals and I care for my husband (who loves animals) and I love looking at being's past lives and helping them to understand. I love nurturing plants. I love researching alternative energies and off-grid communities on the internet.

It is a privilege when it makes sense to help someone for free, knowing that there will come a time in their life when the Universe might extract the same from them. Who knows, maybe I did something non-optimum to that person in another lifetime and I am making up for the damage, no extra charge As a fact, I have had the reverse done for me.

That is paying it forward.

love,
gnosis

[asteram]

How curious that I visit this site for the first time in six weeks and find the first replies to my long screed above.

Gnosis, unfortunately here in Venezuela the internet connections are spotty at best, and downloading youtube videos is seldom worth the dozen tries it may take. Could you describe Ron Ferrell's philosophy in your own words?

[asteram]

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