This Crisis Calls for a Real Community Movement

Living off the land and in community is the most harmonious way to live with each other and Mother Earth

I have been having lots of conversations with friends recently about community, which motivated me to write this blog.

I have been very fortunate on my own journey in that, in the process of creating a meaningful life for myself, I have unconsciously stumbled upon and experienced real community. But I've worked hard to create the life I have now, and hard work also creates good luck, and so I feel I have both been pulled to and earned the community I have found.

The coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe, threatening to unravel the fabric that the international community has worked so hard to create, is catalyzing a revolution that has been in the making for decades. This is not a one off event - this is a wake up call that if humanity doesn't change its relationship with Mother Earth she will push back with larger, more disastrous events in different forms, whether that be rising sea levels, famine or hurricanes.

And with the global fabric being threatened, those long distance connections unravelling, humanity needs to shorten those connections. I'm not at all suggesting that we halt technological progress, sever global connections and go back to living like Stone Age homo erectus. I'm suggesting that in the process of globalizing our culture, we as a species have forgotten how to live local, and forgotten that that is the most harmonious way to live with Mother Earth. Yes, we are moving forward with a digital globalized world, but it is also imperative to restore and reincorporate aspects of living in more ancient time-tested ways to restore our balance with gaia.

This is where community comes in. Community is local. It is sustainable and harmonious with Mother Earth. But it is so much more. Community provides more meaning and deeper sense of fulfilment and happiness in members' lives. And in these times, it provides greater resilience against disastrous events.

I wish I could say more about the communities I have found, but at this point I can only speak in more general terms: in these communities, the land is subdivided and legally structured so that ownership is divided fairly equally. The land has access to freshwater and large gardens. And the wholesome folk who call it home are made up of generalists - builders, food growers, artists, musicians and healers. All in all, possibly the most magical and inspiring group of people in this part of the world which I have been roaming on and off for the past 5 years.

And the story that brought them together is similar to my own story of finding them - one of individuals working hard to create a meaningful life for themselves, and in the process unleashing a series of fortunate events, one could say coincidences, culminating in finding each other in the right moment under the right circumstances for the community to come together.

Hopefully my story continues to intertwine with theirs. I feel extremely blessed that I just arrived at said community yesterday, and I can't imagine being anywhere else to ride out this crisis.

One of the many lessons I've learned along my search for community is that it's a really, really long and difficult road, a daunting lifelong process. It takes a lot of inner work, setting your ego aside to make compromises, time, energy and money investment and lots of mistakes and obstacles. A lot of friends talk about it, and wish they could find a magic bullet solution to finding a community, but the truth is only 1% of people will ever magically stumble across the community of their dreams.

The community I described above physically came together on the land last year, but from the stories I heard, its conception could go back years, possibly decades in the making. It started with friendships in the distant past that built up trust and connection, setting intentions and having discussions about community. That trust and connection eventually solidified into a strong unshakable core with a strong vision that can't be unravelled by adversity or watered down by outside individuals.

One of my dearest friends here began her own search for community with strong intention 10 years ago! Her search began touring established intentional communities in tropical countries, and eventually brought her back home to a newer but more local and viable longer term solution.

So if you want to start a community, set a strong intention and vision, then start having conversations with friends that you want to have as part of your community. That simple act will get the ball rolling, and after years, maybe decades, of hard work creating a meaningful life for yourself, solidifying that strong unshakable core with future members, you will achieve your goal of starting a community. Co-owning land, growing food, educating and inspiring the greater community around you. Living harmoniously with Mother Earth.

If this is too daunting of a task, start manifesting community in smaller ways. During this pandemic, our lack of resilience is glaring - local businesses and artisans' livelihoods are threatened. It's a likely outcome from this pandemic that corporations will consolidate even more of their power, further threatening to undermine the strength of community. Buy local - buy from your friends who make art and jewellery instead of from Amazon, shop at local markets for local produce instead of for tropical fruits at a large grocery chain. Garden, learn about permaculture. Replace face book time with quality face to face time. Replace Netflix time with creating art and music, or nature time.

Years from now, when you look back, hopefully you will see coronavirus as a tipping point catalyzing changes that bring you towards community in your own life and, from a global perspective, see it as a tipping point catalyzing a real community movement.

Can't wait to get our garden going!