Intentional communities. Your opinion.

[Sand Dancer]

I have been interested in them for years, and have decided to look into living in one if my husband passes before me. I think they are a great alternative to cities. People are invested in each other and often the environment. Do you have any near you? Any experience with them? What is your opinion of them?

 

[Father Heathen]

I've read about some of them. A lot of them seem rather cult-like and religion/ideology centric.

 

[Sand Dancer]

Some are religious and some are not. I just received a guide explaining them all but you can also access them online.

 

[Left Coast]

I have been interested in them for years, and have decided to look into living in one if my husband passes before me. I think they are a great alternative to cities. People are invested in each other and often the environment. Do you have any near you? Any experience with them? What is your opinion of them?

To avoid me having to Google, can you give a brief overview of what an "intentional community" is and how it's different from typical modern living? Is it like the kibbutzes in Israel?

 

[Sand Dancer]

There are different types, but they are generally where you buy a house but the community area is owned by the group. There usually is a common house where people eat meals or attend events together every so often. They make decisions by consensus. Sometimes they have a garden. They either work in the community or have a business on the property. A kibbutz would be one type.

 

[Revoltingest]

What is your opinion of them?

Too much human contact for me.
All that socializing....ugh....difficult.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

It'd feel awkward if it didn't work out and you had to break up with an entire community.

"It's not you. Or you, or you, or you... yeah, it's just me. peace"

 

[JustGeorge]

I want to live at East Wind.

My husband says no.

 

[PureX]

I have been interested in them for years, and have decided to look into living in one if my husband passes before me. I think they are a great alternative to cities. People are invested in each other and often the environment. Do you have any near you? Any experience with them? What is your opinion of them?

I wish there were more variations than just those set up by developers for the 'oldsters' and the 'richsters' to live in. I would like to see young people get together and try setting up alternative communities for themselves. And creatives doing the same. Maybe based on 'tiny housing' and some kinds of small scale cottage industry. As capitalist greed is driving more and more people to the fringes of society and beyond, alternative sub-societies are going to spring up. They already are happening all over the country, but unfortunately, so far, they are more the result of poverty and illness than intent; which is not a recipe for success.

 

[Sand Dancer]

I want to live at East Wind.

My husband says no.

Mine would too. That's why it is only an option if he predeceases me.

 

[Sand Dancer]

I wish there were more variations than just those set up by developers for the 'oldsters' and the 'richsters' to live in. I would like to see young people get together and try setting up alternative communities for themselves. And creatives doing the same. Maybe based on 'tiny housing' and some kinds of small scale cottage industry. As capitalist greed is driving more and more people to the fringes of society and beyond, alternative sub-societies are going to spring up. They already are happening all over the country, but unfortunately, so far, they are more the result of poverty and illness than intent; which is not a recipe for success.

How did you find the poverty and illness part of it? I am going to try to get involved in promoting them, but only for the right reasons.

 

[Orbit]

Intentional communities (called "communes" popularly in the 1960s and 1970s) have been around a while. The ones I read about often didn't last long, but some have been around since the 60s.

 

[JDMS]

Intentional communities (called "communes" popularly in the 1960s and 1970s) have been around a while. The ones I read about often didn't last long, but some have been around since the 60s.

I was familiar with the term commune but I had to read the other replies here to figure out this was another term.

 

[JDMS]

Too many people and potential bickering for me. But a cool concept for the people who work well in these types of living situations.

 

[PureX]

How did you find the poverty and illness part of it? I am going to try to get involved in promoting them, but only for the right reasons.

Most cities, now, have whole tent and RV encampments created by poverty, addiction, and mental illness. As the rich get richer under capitalism the people at the bottom are being pushed out of "mainstream" society all together. And since the mainstream society is not yet willing to euthanize them or able to deport them to some far away foreign land never to be seen again, they have taken to living in alternative communities wherever and however they are able. Usually right in the middle of the cities that no longer have any use for them.

But there are many, many millions more poor people living in shacks and abandoned and falling-down structures all across America. We would be shocked to discover how much of this is going on out there if we were to actually see it for ourselves. But no one in the mainstream of society wants us to see it, or to even acknowledge that it's happening. Much of the United States has already become one of those "third world s***-holes" Trump was disparaging. Nearly every small town in the country now days has 50% of it's population living well under the poverty line; averaging maybe 8 or 9k per household. And most of these towns have lost half their population in the last 30 years.

The number of people in need of some alternative social order is massive. But so far there have only been a few reasonably successful sub-communities set up that I am aware of. I saw a documentary on one in Hawaii that was working well, but didn't control the land it was occupying. And someone was trying to set up a tiny home community in California aimed at homeless vets. But the cost outlay and the oversight required was expensive. So how functional it was ever going to be was questionable. And of course. all the rules of regular mainstream society are designed to thwart exactly this kind of alternative living. So that's a constant problem.

 

[Sand Dancer]

I was familiar with the term commune but I had to read the other replies here to figure out this was another term.

It was an umbrella term, but they are more multifaceted than that now, and very few are actually true communes.

 

[Sand Dancer]

Most cities, now, have whole tent and RV encampments created by poverty, addiction, and mental illness. As the rich get richer under capitalism the people at the bottom are being pushed out of "mainstream" society all together. And since the mainstream society is not yet willing to euthanize them or able to deport them to some far away foreign land never to be seen again, they have taken to living in alternative communities wherever and however they are able. Usually right in the middle of the cities that no longer have any use for them.

But there are many, many millions more poor people living in shacks and abandoned and falling-down structures all across America. We would be shocked to discover how much of this is going on out there if we were to actually see it for ourselves. But no one in the mainstream of society wants us to see it, or to even acknowledge that it's happening. Much of the United States has already become one of those "third world s***-holes" Trump was disparaging. Nearly every small town in the country now days has 50% of it's population living well under the poverty line; averaging maybe 8 or 9k per household. And most of these towns have lost half their population in the last 30 years.

The number of people in need of some alternative social order is massive. But so far there have only been a few reasonably successful sub-communities set up that I am aware of. I saw a documentary on one in Hawaii that was working well, but didn't control the land it was occupying. And someone was trying to set up a tiny home community in California aimed at homeless vets. But the cost outlay and the oversight required was expensive. So how functional it was ever going to be was questionable. And of course. all the rules of regular mainstream society are designed to thwart exactly this kind of alternative living. So that's a constant problem.

Those are impromptu areas of desperate people, not what I am talking about at all. The guide I am looking at is by The Fellowship For Intentional Community. IC dot org.

 

[Left Coast]

There are different types, but they are generally where you buy a house but the community area is owned by the group. There usually is a common house where people eat meals or attend events together every so often. They make decisions by consensus. Sometimes they have a garden. They either work in the community or have a business on the property. A kibbutz would be one type.

Sounds attractive, I'd be open to the idea. Like an entire community co-op, essentially. Though I'd want to know the fine print before signing and would want to talk to plenty of people who actually live in the community to get a sense of what it's like first.

 

[PureX]

Those are impromptu areas of desperate people, not what I am talking about at all. The guide I am looking at is by The Fellowship For Intentional Community. IC dot org.

Those are still pretty rare. About the only examples I can think of are people setting up tiny homes on very small plots of land with some shared utilities sort of like in a mobile home park, but with some land ownership. The idea being that people who are not wealthy can live safely and well in a like-minded community by living 'small'. Those tend to be in the south because of the climate, and because of less government interference. I have also known groups of artists to pool their money and buy old abandoned factory buildings in the city to convert to live-work art studios, but that was before the developers realized there was a pile of money to be made converting those buildings into hipster "lofts" for the yuppies.

Again, one often finds themselves up against a pile of laws and ordinances put in place by for-profit developers and their cohorts in political office to stop the idea of any "self-made" intentional communities from happening. Money is control and control is money. It's how the mainstream operates.

If you already have lots of money, why bother with this idea? Just buy into a 'gated community' and you're set. Seems to me these are alternatives for people that aren't wealthy. Because no one wants to serve their needs these days. Every builder wants to build "McMansions" because that's where the big profits are. No one wants to build small, efficient, affordable homes for people that aren't rich.

 

[Exaltist Ethan]

I like the idea of community but not communitarianism. I like having private property, and always having the option to be alone if I need alone time. I'm assuming these "intentional communities" are similar to how the Amish or Hutterites live. Personally I don't like the idea of completely individualized living that most communities have, but I don't like the idea of these communities either. We need to have a happy medium which people can choose at any point to be with others or be alone.

I used to live in supportive housing which offered access to both types of living at nearly all times, but since then I moved into a new complex which offers better apartments but lacks the same access to community. There is a community room in my building but since COVID has been closed most of the time. I'm still waiting for the green light by the managers which they will re-open it back for residents who want to spend time together in there. I was told there would be Wi-Fi and a TV in there to watch. I just hope there will be a few people in there when they reopen it and I won't be the only one there.

In short, I need access to both individual and community living. It's hard to live without direct access to both.