Gaia Community: Porena Pomilio's Blog

Talking stick...an amazing tool!

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 13:16:20 -0000

One thing that has positively surprised me about our community development is the use of the talking stick in our on-line meetings. In the beginning we had an actual stick, we tried a prayer wheel and a sparkler which we rezzed (made appear in our hand) when it was our turn, and it went round the group clockwise. We sat in a circle. We could only talk when the stick was in our hands, so to speak.

When we started this, it was just me explaining patiently ”pass the stick to the person on your left”. All of the questions came up. ”Why cannot I answer that question directly?” ”When can we discuss this?” ”Why does everybody have to speak?” ”Why use the stick anyway?”

We also had some difficulty in SL’s instant messaging knowing what to write. Nowadays we write something like: ”passes stick to Cal” although maybe one day we will find a way that uses less keyboard tapping like “<” or “>”.

Some interesting observations, my own reactions included:

People do not seem in general to be used to listening to each other. But it is so worth it. One round or two of the stick brings up the most diverse aspects of a situation and gives a good idea of where someone is coming from.
Once you introduce the talking stick idea, people like it. Now there are several meeting conveners who are comfortable starting off meetings like it.
It completely changes the feeling of the meeting to one of focus. I have rarely experienced such a feeling in online meetings. You feel everyone is THERE.
It is not hard to see practically how the stick can be used at different stages of a meeting:

1)      To get started off.
2)      To hear everyone’s ideas on a problem.
3)      To ensure everyone’s reaction to a proposal is noted.

All the convener needs to do is to type “I propose we take a round with the stick on this. Any objections? OK <.”
I thought that we all had a long way to go before our community was able to make consensus decisions, that we would need all kinds of training and that we would all fall out many times before it started to be part of our culture. Maybe this WILL come, but for now I just love these people and the feeling we have created in this virtual world.

Learning from our first meeting

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:11:19 -0000

WHAT I WANTED TO LEARN
I wanted to learn how to participate effectively in circle meetings
WHAT I DID
I suggested using the talking stick and facilitated its use
WHAT HAPPENED
What went well
- people started to get the hang of it, and most managed to express their intentions for the meeting and their participation
- we started to see we need a "culture" of handling the stick for text conversations. For example a sign for when we hand the stick on
- we also need a stick of some kind, I guess you wear it from your inventory when it is your turn
- We had some good input from Any1 who was there as an advisor
- acceptance of talking stick seemed to be high
- Mias reporting managed to get the positive out of the session even if at the time there was a feeling of chaos
What went not so well
- Any1s input came during the circle exercise
- as we were new, there was some "scuffling" with the stick
- the stick question posed was not so succinct - was it about the meeting or participation in general?
- it was not always easy to see when people were answering
- concentration felt low

WHAT I LEARNED
- You need
--- A stick and handling routines agreed
--- Succinct first question
--- A Stick facilitator
--- It could be an effective method for sharing both feelings and points of view
--- the group to concentrate and focus
--- a good reporter is worth gold

HOW WE CAN APPLY THE KNOWLEDGE
Introduce the stick for the next few meetings as a test
get agreement on how it will work and get the facilitator to stick to it
if it works, make it part of routine
invite a reporter to summarise for those not attendning

THE REFLECTIONS I HAD
How come, professional, educated, computer savvy, intelligent people like us get into a bit of a pickle when we meet more than a few to have an important meeting?
It think it may be because, despite the thousands of years of development of culture, the culture of individuals coming together like this has not been developed. In fact, I believe the skill has been lost. Our forefathers had nothing of the tools we have today. They came together with maximum something to sit on and a camp fire. And they were dependent on each other and peace with neighbours. And they developed ways, maybe the talking stick was one of them. As civilisation developed it was an advantage to the ruling classes that individuals were NOT able to come together. How dangerous are self organised groups to business as usual? I believe we are embarking upon important work and we have to take baby steps. Agriculture started 10,000 years ago as the EMPIRE started to develop. That's 10,000 years of unlearning. All experienced in one evening round the campfire. AMAZING. Thanks to MIA we saw the positive thread as well.

IDEAS FOR NEW LEARNING
Keep trying and reflecting in the meetings. Maybe find some references to how our forefathers worked together before EMPIRE

Experiment:social networking sites support IC development

Tue, 27 May 2008 07:41:24 -0000

We just set up a NING.com site to support the development of the Island Community in Second Life. If you would like to join us you can apply there!

Links:

The community ning site
Mira and Harps' Second life diary

Connecting peace and sustainable development

Thu, 22 May 2008 09:00:19 -0000

Sometimes I can’t get things out of my head. It may sound like a long shot, but as I stepped onto the plane to Berlin to attend a Words of Peace conference with Prem Rawat, I couldn’t help my intuition that peace and sustainable development were linked somehow and that maybe the journey and time with him was going to provide some insights.

Landing in Berlin for the first time in my life, old images of the war, the division of the two countries and itsuniting cropped up. But there was no wall, no division. strained to work out if I was in the East or West, but no. Just people. This is the way it should be. No divisions. No wars.

War in itself is not sustainable; it destroys environmental, infrastructural and mineral assets for future generations. And just looking after your own nation is not sustainable either. If the planet goes so does your nation.

Already in the video sequences at the start of the event I started to realize the core of the issue. It is about understanding who you are, your own core. The better we know what we are here for the better we can arrange our life on Earth to fit.

In fact understanding who you are, what life is, is a central theme of his message. He contrasted his message with two other schools of thought. One where you are meant not to enjoy or appreciate your life here on Earth, but to follow a certain code in order not to suffer in a life which comes after death. Another says your life now is a result of actions in your previous life and you cannot change it. Prem Rawat’s message is simpler: life is a gift, every breath is a miracle and you not only want to enjoy every moment of your life, but it is perfectly possible.

He talked of those who promote democracy as a way to peace, but commented that in one democratic country most people did not want the Iraq war and they went to war anyway, and in that same country they have the highest percentage of people in jail.

A session the second day focused on the techniques of inner peace that he teaches. I was reminded by something he said earlier: that do not let the situation of the world get at you. The key to peace is inside you, focus on that, on enjoying what you have.

Having spent a very pleasant break in the Berlin sunshine with a sandwich, cappuccino and convivial company of acquaintances new and old, I went back to a questions and answer session having let go of that question that was initially burning in me.

To my surprise, the second or third question was about world peace. I started to form an understanding. When you understand the value of your own life you understand that you cannot abdicate responsibility to leaders. The result of this mass abdication we can see in that there are more educated people on the planet than there have ever been. And yet there are more wars and more people starving. Some of the best educated people are also those who are cheating the most.

A sustainable, world living in peace, dignity and prosperity will come from each individual realizing the value of life itself for themselves and taking back the responsibility abdicated to leadership.

As each individual sows seeds of acting with kindness and dignity, these seeds will grow to a greater world consciousness.

Because life is a gift, receiving the gift with appreciation and giving back in dignity through living with kindness with the people of the planet is the way to live. Ideas of ownership, taking what you want by force or deceit, from the very people who looked after you and made your education possible, is surely no recipe we would like to hand over to future generations.

Rather, the understanding that peace is possible for all, and with it will come prosperity and the opportunity to enjoy the gift of life to its fullest.

Swedish Eco-village veteran shares valuable advice for ICs

Fri, 16 May 2008 06:50:26 -0000

Interview with Mia Torpe

Back in the 70s Mia and a few others decided to create an eco-village in a suburb of Stockholm. She still lives there, and is today environmental manger for a large housing organization. Her experience is invaluable for all would-be Intentional Community residents.
Here are some highlights of the advice she gave in a recent interview I did with her.

1) Get a queue and raise the stakes as you go along. Just by asking for USD 10 as a membership fee meant they lost a few people. Then they raised the fee to a monthly one and lost a few more. They required that queue members worked in the association a minimum number of hours, and they lost a few more. From gathering around 4000 names they still had difficulty selling 45 apartments.
2) Start with subject working groups from the beginning. For eco-building so much knowledge is needed if you are to be able to give good input to the building contractor. They had 4-5 groups. These later on organized study circles in which attendance was mandatory.
3) Three levels of purchase. They offered apartments as turn-key, finished shell requiring kitchen, plastering, finishing and simple empty shell.
4) The apartments were slightly smaller than average, focus being on creating more common areas.
5) You all need a common vision that needs formulating clearly.
6) Every project is unique.
7) There was a lot of “like to have” talk from members. In the end, because everything costs, they made a list and voted on the five most important factors to include in the project. This system was very effective for coming to agreement.
8) Mandatory working days are still in effect.
9) Decisions were made by consensus as far as possible. They were able to use the church to host large gatherings.
10) Get books. Build a library of information.
11) If Mia were to do this again she would try to eliminate the need for heating all together and create a so-called passive heating system. She is worried energy prices will increase living costs dramatically.
12) Hold large information meetings. These attract members.
13) Create a communal area- even if it is rudimentary. They could just about afford an uninsulated "barn" to meet in, but they gathered there even when it was cold - drinking beer and socialising. It was well worth it.

Fast set-up of Intentional Community

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 08:32:13 -0000

AVBP accepted an assignment to invent a rapid process to set up intentional communities. I publish the results of the first session here...

Background

An intentional community is a planned residential community designed to promote a much higher degree of social interaction than other communities. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political or spiritual vision. They also share responsibilities and resources. Intentional communities include co-housing, residential land trusts, eco-villages, communes, kibbutzim, ashrams, and housing co-operatives.

Typically, new members of an intentional community are selected by the community's existing membership, rather than by real-estate agents or land owners (if the land is not owned by the community). Though intentional communities do not claim to be utopias in the sense of perfect places, many do attempt to live a different and better sort of society, and as such many draw on historical utopian experiments or ideas in utopian fiction.

Why now?

We are entering a new age. Although there have been many earlier warnings on the limits to our way of life, the signals are becoming more frequent and stronger. Within our lifetimes we are likely to see drastic effects of oil depletion, ecological deterioration and financial system collapse.

Where Business as Usual lets people down, the stronger the social cohesion, the better the chances of handling the crisis. We like to say that in the absence of financial capital, social capital will pull you through.

Yet the skills of creating social capital – being able to operate in a group as a group – are not common. The experience of intentional community start-ups is that members go through many personal development stages – joining a community is an exercise in personal growth.

So a platform is needed where individuals can come together to experiment in being part of an Intentional community.

In terms of rewarding relationships – the art of conversation and developing true loving relationships with others – we also recognise our culture of consuming popular entertainment and working alone have not provided us with the opportunity to develop deep, lasting, supportive relationships.

PREAMBLE

Two groups I am involved in to set up Intentional communities, one in Second Life and one in Real Life, have been going quite a while. The real life one has been going about a year. It is OK it’s taking time, we are learning, there is a lot of material to help that needs studying. However, we believe a lot of people get impatient with this, who would otherwise join an IC. There is a danger that the project simply runs out in the sand and there is no result.

Furthermore, as signs appear on the horizon to that we are entering a world changing for the worse, the sense of urgency will grow. It would be good to offer the possibility to people to join an IC fairly quickly.

First question: what is “quickly?” Well realistically, a study circle is ten meetings over ten weeks. We’ll take ten weeks as a maximum. Some courses, like weekend courses, stretch three weekends or six days of meetings. We can have that as a minimum. We are not looking to make it happen in an evening although I find that idea really appealing so I’d like to try that too.

The Quest: visit an advanced civilization that has methodologies in its culture for bringing people together to create IC. (Thinking about it, this skill seems to be missing or forgotten in our culture.) I want to come home with practical tools and ways to set up an IC rapidly – to achieve visible results to keep the initiative going.

Tapescript

I start in the departure area. I look up and admire the high glass roof. As soon as I sit down on a bench, the facilitator joins me. He wants a word

‘You finally understood this.’

‘Yes,’ I say, ‘this is a facilitation situation – a process that needs facilitation.’

‘Come on, lets take the train’ he says.

We go to the station and get a large cream coloured train with red stripes. We sit opposite each other.

‘Brief me’ I say,

‘It doesn’t work like that and you know it,’ he says.

‘Enjoy the journey, I’ll tell you when to get off.’

We enter a tunnel, come out the other side, and the train stops.

‘Come on, we are getting off,’ he says.

I recognize the place immediately; it’s the Center of Relocalization from earlier visits. The center is municipally- backed with the purpose to inform and assist inhabitants to switch to a more localized life style.

A meeting is going on. We enter and sit down. People are sitting in rows listening to a person up front giving a presentation.

I get the feeling they have been invited here because of Intentional Communities.

The presenter is asking people what they believe about the future and about the world situation. Of course, I personally believe communities need to relocalize. Someone is talking about the whys and wherefores of relocalization. And why you need to be a certain number of people.

This meeting is one of many that the Center of Relocalization holds regularly. I get the feeling that the center has simply put out an advertisement that they are holding the course, and had some explanatory texts on their web.

The presenter shows a diagram of the area and what needs to happen. People here seem to be on the same page. THAT something needs to happen is accepted. THAT it is better to do it with others is what is being discussed.

‘Is it right,’ I ask the facilitator, ‘that these people have been invited?’

‘This represents the first step for them – an information meeting. They will be asked to put their hand up if they want to go further.’ He says.

‘This guy is one of my best facilitators.’

The presentation ends. Seventy eight percent put their hands up and want to carry on. Each takes a card with contact details and instructions as to what to do next. They are walking away. The next step is to go to the pond. I stroll over with the facilitator – about 30 of us gather there. The rest leave. This is a chance for us to get to know each other. Coffee and sandwiches are served and we walk round introducing each other.

I mingle too. I notice a majority of guys – fewer women.

‘Hi,’ I say to one of the participants

‘How come you are here?’

‘Its obvious. I don’t want to be alone – so much happening in the world I want to be part of a group working on this problem.’

‘What do you do?’

‘I’m a panel beater. You?’

‘I work with facilitation - I’m with this facilitator.’

As I point out who I came with, the guy looks at the facilitator with some respect.

The facilitator is grabbing a megaphone and is in the process of taking charge.

‘We need to go to the next stage,’ he says. ‘We need to take the next step, which is talking about land - estate’. He walks over to a large billboard divided up into smaller squares.

He explains: ‘you have to buy it all – you each buy a share of the land – it is your share. You all work together to solve the situation’. And then the group allocates a house or plot of land for your use within the framework of rules.

The facilitator then points out that there are three areas ready for sale today in the municipality.

A representative then presents the land option in detail. They are really talk each one up; ‘this one is beautiful, this one has existing houses, this one is large….etc’

The facilitator explains: ‘If you DO want to form a group you have to choose one of these places’.

A discussion goes on – people walk around debating the alternatives. I ask the facilitator about the sequence here… why the group should acquire land early on in the process.

He replies that man is territorial – it is so much in the blood – we have to have a common object. It is difficult to form a group without a shared resource like a building or land.

They form “buzz” groups of three in each. I overhear ‘If we don’t have the houses already built we have to build everything from scratch. Another says, ‘I’d rather build the houses myself’. A third replies they could camp in the summer.

They switch groups, one remains, the two who move report from their previous groups. Then they switch again.

The general feeling is it doesn’t matter too much which of the areas are chosen - they trust the municipality – what is important is that they get started.

The facilitator stands everyone in a circle. He asks for a show of hands. It is between option one and two. He asks for people to present their thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of each. A new round of voting takes place and they put their hand up but it is still fairly 50 -50.

One person comes with a suggestion: ‘Actually it doesn’t matter as long as we are agreement’. He proposes we go for number one and just do it. The facilitator asks is anyone is against the proposal. Two put their hands up and say why they are against it. But they are not swaying the rest so they are left with choosing to come anyway or leaving the group. One leaves, one stays.

The group has decided on the land, now they have to go and buy it.

I whisper to the facilitator, ‘surely this can’t be right – they can’t buy the land before they work out what they are going to do with it!’

‘Do shut up,’ says the facilitator in an unusually rude outburst, ‘this is OK!’

They go over to a table, the bank are offering a loan to them to buy their share.

I didn’t like it, but I see the group needs something concrete like land. They still have opt out clauses in the contracts and no money has changed hands so I suppose it doesn’t matter too much.

Now they are asked to go to the decision ring, which consists of a circle of stone stools. They are sitting in a circle.

The facilitator again.

‘Now you need to elect democratic representation. I will hand over the running of the group to you. ’

So what he is looking for is volunteers. The group needs a legal board to represent it. A chairman, a secretary, a treasurer and three or four others ...deputies.

‘Who would like to put themselves forward or who would you like to suggest?’

The committee can choose their own chairman if they want to. Someone has been treasurer before and are happy to do it, so they volunteer. Someone has been on committee before, they step forward.

The facilitator takes care of the group decision to elect the committee. He points our that the committee is only for the set up period and a new one can be chosen later when the community is established.

For each candidate he asks if anyone is against and for their reasons.

It all goes fairly smoothly.

‘So,’ he says, ‘we finally have a formal organization. The minutes and complete set of documents to register the organization have been prepared by the facilitator’s organization. They are ready to be sent off to the authorities.

‘Time for a break again,’ says the facilitator. Group members walk around, discussing the place.

‘Impressive work,’ I say to the facilitator. ‘You haven’t seen anything yet,’ he replies.

He ushers the group round a large circular sandy area that looks like it may be a circular car parking space. He gets a stick and draws a large circle, which he divides into several sections.

Each of these sections has to do with setting up the community. He draws a heading in each section; housing, farming, water, social development, energy and recycling. This reminds me of the five stresses of Porena. I think to myself that of course the five stresses are addressed. He describes each of the areas then asks people to walk around and think about which aspects they would like to be involved in. They are to volunteer with their feet. They should think about their first and second choices.

He puts a number in the sections for how many are needed. Housing needs fifteen. People shuffle around some go from first to second choice.

Very quickly, all the numbers are made up.

The facilitator: ‘make sure you get to know each other, and choose one representative for your group’.

They stand in circles to choose their representative.

We have a committee and five representatives from each of the areas that need to be worked on.

The facilitator calls on us to walk up the hill towards a beautiful pavilion.

We will sit here just for five minutes. The idea here is to be silent, to still our thoughts and let everything catch you up.

I notice what a lovely day it is. I feel the sun shining on my face, and the breeze blowing in my hair. We all sit and close our eyes.

Just calming down, taking a break. It’s difficult to be silent as there are so many questions. I sneak at peak at the others who seem to be struggling as well. However, I suddenly feel the power of the group in the silence, Because we are all quiet together, because we are coming together and all have one purpose we can feel it.

The facilitator says; ‘look, we can’t go any further today - if we go too fast we will lose you.

A lot is happening you need to reflect on. However, until next time in your groups you need to complete a task. You have to dimension – quantify, each area for how much do you need of what and when. The group is made of 30, and can grow to 50 families. Those of you here who have partners at home should talk it through with them. Then there is the loan application, the bank will be contacting you.

The organization is formed, the land is allocated but not turned over to the group, everyone needs to talk it though with their spouses. And we will see you back here next week for the weekend course.

I go and thank the facilitator for showing me all this.

He says there is some worked involved in working it all out and shows me a manual, a compendium of possibilities of calculations, general experience of working with these groups before. There is a database of experience the compendium is taken from. And they follow how each group is doing.

The bank is essential. In this case the local municipality, who understood the importance of relocalization and forming communities, have engaged the bank to help. The municipality assigned the land and gave the bank the task of liaising with the facilitator group and the Center of Localization.

I borrow the facilitators eyes. One thing is that the moving around the group does is to get members thinking about estate together. I t helps them visualize what it will be like on their own land. And providing some basics like eating together is symbolic. Then there is the sitting down to make formal decision. Being silent together is something very powerful. In the silence the purpose can be felt. This is not religious.

I leave the facilitator’s eyes.

‘I’ll see you next time,’ he says.

I leave and get back on the train.

Things that surprised me

It is so obvious that the group needs to be agreed on the “what” of the gravity and urgency of the situation. The possibility that community is the answer to “how” is what needs to be got over.

Both the sand circle and the moments of silence were quite profound solutions.

That the local municipality and the bank had got together with the center and its facilitator group.

The need to actually speed ahead with the land allocation – I had never realized how important that is to people.

Learnings that struck me as significant

The facilitation structure helped the group to come together – first sitting together listening, then social mingle, then group decision, voting, consensus and then creating a formal organization and finally volunteering.

If you have the land it’s a lot easier to create the group – something inbuilt in humans.

In the silence is the purpose.

The need to go fast but not too fast – humans have the need to reflect.

Deliverables encountered

File/Database of knowledge
Descriptions of land available
Large presentation
Sand circle
Circle of decision, formal meeting place
Contract to buy part of land
Ready-to-complete documents of incorporation

Things I could use today.

I think in forming the intentional community I am working with just now, I will encourage them to get land as soon as possible. But also to consider all the opt out possibilities along the way.

The moment of silence… could be used in all groups.

The volunteer circle could be used at meetings in all volunteer situations.

Other reflections

Of course I asked to see a culture where ICs were common, I did not specify any conditions like in our world today. Especially, today there is no perception of urgency or gravity. I also like the idea that land is already available. How this could be applied to our situation today is something I would like to come back to, after the next follow-up sessions.

Our RL community conference

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:44:47 -0000

Our real life Intentional Community board met over Easter in a two day conference. The aim was to get to know each other better, to agree and align our vision and work on practicalities.

I have heard it is best to get an outside facilitator in. We have several members who have been trained to be "focalizer". We took exercises from the Book ”Creating a life together”.

We also used the talking stick (only the one with the stick talks, passes on to the next when done) and did open rounds of reflection during the day. We are getting quite good at this .. in balancing ”air time” and depth.

It took awhile, we looked into ourselves about where we got the idea that being part of a group could be rewarding. We looked into the values and situations that were part of the group experience.

We added our concern for Mother Earth and finally started to write a vision statement.

Whilst this all takes time, I feel it was worth going through more touchy feely stuff. Partly because we got to know each other on another dimension, partly because it demonstrated how in line we are with other.

We cooked and cleaned together, and in the evening had fun with singing and dancing.

I can recommend any group starting out to do this, it builds understanding and good feelings that will help you later.

Amazing Second Life club Koncept

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:17:00 -0000

The underwater club, visually and conceptually engineered by Second Life resident Midori Rotaru is one of the most amazing SL places I have visited. An ever-changing blend of decor, dance and music Rotaru changes the club as others change overcoats. Tasteful, effectful, even moving, Midoris " electronic spaces" make one of the most exciting visits - populated with dancers who love to dress outrageously and extravagantly. These people have minds and tongues as colourful as their costumes. This has to be SL ART at its best. Go there! Look for Koncept!

Checklist ... Are we ready to roll out our IC?

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:01:49 -0000

This is the checklist we have been using to check our own Second Life Community is ready to roll out. I publish it as it may be useful for other groups. /Max

INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY PREPAREDNESS CHECKLIST

GOALS

Vision in place, agreed
Limitations and scope agreed and defined

FINANCE

Financial plan in place
One year business plan complete

RULES

· Written and agreed as to how group will function

ORGANISATION

· Legal organisation in place

· Formal division of duties complete

ESTATE

Procurement critera clarified
Ready to buy

SET UP PROJECT

Project organisation in place

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Decision models in place, agreed
Group decision making functioning in practice

MARKETING/RECRUITMENT

Queue system set up
Prospectus publsihed in final draft
Brochure

Prospectus for an IC on Second Life

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 23:34:56 -0000

Intentional community

Background

Why now?

So a platform is needed where individuals can come together to experiment in being part of an Intentional community.

Why Second Life

Second life affords several community making tools and at the same time provides a ”safe” place of experimentation: violence free, minimum financial risk, and no compunction to live with people you cannot get on with.

Second life offers group tools like messaging and group notices, group chat, the ability to meet, a voting system, and a financial system for sharing fees.

fig 1. Group land finance system

fig.2Group voting system

Our aims.

Based on the idea that we can all learn how, by coming together, we can create a richer life using far less resources – we would like to start a SL IC to promote this learning and development.

What we want to establish

A group which owns and Island dedicated to experimenting with the human skills needed for people to come together in IC s. The Island would also function as a place for people outside the group to get an introduction to IC.

The project

We form a central group which works on its prospectus, shared vision and mission. The group buys land and starts to form it along the lines of its mission.

As more people join the group and as more interest is shown in the activities of the group, more land will be acquired and more functions added.

The suggestion we have now is to buy a SIM and divide it into 16 parts. Four of these are communal areas. Either the IC adds its IC components to the communal part, or the the IC takes one parcel to dedicate to the IC component.

In either case, the group owns the SIM together, and owns a communal, recreational and meeting part together as well.

The Land

Based on the Island created Mia and Cal we believe the best environment to stimulate conversation and community is one with aesthetic, natural settings. Buildings are not needed.

Commerce

The only commerce that is appropriate is the selling of info materials to promote spread of the message.

Risk management

To be added

Organisation form

Group with shared ties

Next steps

Establishing shared vision

Engaging 8 couples, 16 individuals

Financial plan

Land purchase

Potential Partners

Etopia
The Commonwealth
Mystica Island

Benefits of joining the IC

Safe, cost effective way to learn IC skills and personal growth
Chance to spread important message to SL residents who tend to be more open than regular Internet users

Contact us

Email us at Gaia or leve a comment-

BACKGROUND INFO

Communities magazine

Egalitarian communities

Amish

Eco-anarchism

EcoCommunalism

Epistemic community

Jesus Army

World Brotherhood Colonies

New Vrindaban

Intentional living

Retreat (survivalism)

Missional living

House church

Parachurch organizations

Emerging church movement

2. NOTES:

Fellowship for Intentional Community. 1995. Communities Directory. 2nd Edition. Rutledge, Missouri, USA. ISBN 0960271449.

Fellowship for Intentional Community. 2005. Communities Directory. 4th Edition. Rutledge, Missouri, USA. ISBN 0-9718264-2-0.

3.. REFERENCES:

McLaughlin, C. and Davidson, G. 1990. Builders of the Dawn: Community Lifestyles in a Changing World. Book Publishing Company. ISBN 0-913990-68-X

Christian, D. 2003. Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities New Society Publishers. ISBN 0-86571-471-1

4- EXTERNAL LINKS:

Intentional Communities Database

Communities Directory, Online

Intentional Communities website

Intentional Communities Wiki

Fellowship for Intentional Community

Cohousing Association of the U.S.

Ecovillage Network

Diggers & Dreamers - the UK Guide to Communal Living

EcoNomads - Travelogue and photos of a family visiting intentional communities around the world

Directory of Intentional Communities and Ecovillages in Europe

Christian Intentional Communities on the web

Voices of Cohousing: Rebuilding villages in the city. - Documentary

Communal Studies Bibliography

The Farm Community - Intentional Community in Tennessee

Categories: Intentional communities | Types of communities | Intentional living

What can Second Life teach us about sustainability?

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:24:18 -0000

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Like Dave Pollard, writer of the excellent blog ”How to Save the World”, I too believe the on-line 3D phenomenon ”Second Life” (www.secondlife.com) can make a significant contribution to sustainable development. Here are a few first thoughts:

Simulation of technology. If you can think it you can make it Second life. And then walk around it, see it, see it in context, show to others. Second life could act as a showcase for all kinds of sustainable solutions – from sustainable towns through water cleaning systems to energy capture. These solutions could be presented in a compelling way – where you walk from insight to insight gathering new knowledge and perspective. There is already a sustainable Eco-village in SL called Etopia. They are doing some good things which I will come back later to.

My Avatar in SL, Max Wahlter tries out a bamboo bike in Etopia

The other area of interest in SL is the money system. It is interest-free, and works like many an ideal alternative currency. You simply pay for right of use. Just now about four USD will get you an account and 1000 Linden Dollars. You can earn money by selling your time or the things you make. All transactions are tax-free. SL is an ideal place to try out alternative currency approaches.

The same is true of social structures. In real life (RL) we can get into a bad tangle when our personal economies are involved with others, say when buying into an eco-village or starting a business with companions. In SL you can buy an island with your friends, build a shop and start from there. Should it fail you can always close the computer and walk away – and you will have participated in an experiment for just a few dollars that would otherwise threaten your entire economy. SL friends of mine, Mia and Cal are trying just this. See their blog on asecondlifediary.gaia.com. SL provides tools for collaborating like on-line chat, text and voice, group notifications and possibilities to show videos and powerpoints and distribute text and other material.

Maybe one of the least talked about sustainable aspects of SL is its ability to bring all kinds of pleasures without using one drop of fossil fuels. This is important because we are at a stage where our consumption levels clearly must drop radically. This is not going to be easy. We are used to so much material comfort and stimulation. We can experiment with weaning ourselves off material pleasures, going over to establishing rewarding relationships on-line with people from all over the world and playing on-line. Whatever your needs – be they paint ball, jazz, hang gliding or fetish sex – you can find all on-line in SL!

Looking for Land

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:08:49 -0000

Still thinking about the IC in Second Life. It is a common thing that groups looking to set up an Intentional Community start looking for land at an early stage. I don’t know why – maybe because they want to get going quickly – or maybe because they think if they find the right land the rest will fall into place.

My real life community did this. But we always found a reason why it was not right. We had not got the finance clear and we didn’t have an idea of what we really wanted to do – but we looked for land. We heard of a group of vegetarians who started looking for somewhere they could grow food together so they could live as vegetarians when they were pensioners – they were afraid the old folks’ home would not serve decent vegetarian food. That was way back in the 80s. According to my friend, they are still looking. They couldn’t find anything they liked. After a while we realized we should reevaluate – define what we were looking for and why. We should look into vision, finance and rules and criteria – and agree.

Second life is fun to search for land in – you can fly around and see it all from the air! So much you feel you would like to do – create a place of beauty.

Anyway. This is my idea of the main elements of an intentional community in Second Life.

PUBLIC AREA A Very Beautiful Place

Just an area of natural beauty with a lake, a beach, forests, water falls etc to walk around in and chill out – maybe walk with a loved one or a friend to have a chat. An open air dance area and large area for public meetings.

COMMERCIAL MARKET PLACE

Stalls selling things to do with IC – like books, contacts to trainers, facilitators, courses etc.

INFO AREA

An exhibition on what IC is all about.

MEETING AND TRAINING FACILITY

The main function would be to run IC information and training. Could also be sued for large meetings of the IC. I envisage facilities like a DVD screen and screens for showing Powerpoints and performances.

MEETING CIRCLES

If they wanted to , ICs in formation could meet here in a circle to make important decisions.

FIELD OF DREAMS

Modelled on the RL FINDHORN communitiy. We portion off land so residents can build their own houses close to our activities.

New Second Life Diary

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 02:34:03 -0000

I am so happy that my Second Life friends Cal and Mia have asked me join them on their experiment in Intentional Communities in Second Life. They have graciously invited me to live on their wonderful tropical island paradise for a while during the first phase.

Learning to live together in communities is important if we are to come through the tail end of the industrial era which started with the peaking of oil production per capita already in 1979. Of course we enjoy the fruits of progress – the irony is not lost on me we are playing this out on state of the art computers and high speed Internet connections – but the downsides carry with them the very factors that will make negotiating post-peak ramifications so difficult.

We have become used to being able to live without fending for ourselves and growing our own food. We have become used to having others make decisions for us – both at work where “management” decide or in society where it is political. Those of us who have tried to voice our opinion know what a struggle it is to get through. The tools required for living in a community where you are dependant on the community for the basics of life – food, shelter, clothing, etc – decision making, prioritization, division of labor, handling conflicts and handling rule breaking – are not commonly known or practiced.

It is my hope we can use this fantastic platform to create somewhere where people can come to learn these skills in order for them to be able to contribute to the development of their own Intentional Communities in real life.

The island here is fantastic, a reminder of what a wonderful gift this Natural world is – and more, what a gift it is to be able to love, life, each other, to love living, to love just breathing. The love Cal and Mia have for each other, I know, has already inspired many to think in new directions. I hope our little community can continue to grow and inspire, to bring hope that we can make through not just surviving but leaving a wonderful, sustainable, peaceful legacy for coming generations.

X Max.