The Un-Intentional Community...

by Tim Che'

Over the years, we have been invited to join many different kinds of

'Intentional  Communities’ 

and have even played with the idea of starting our own.  It sounds terrific on the surface... living, working and growing with 'like-minded' people,  sharing love and life!

We were really considering one choice in particular, because we really liked the people involved. When we got serious with them and sat down... our excitement dissipated as they brought out the contracts and rules and expectations and abdication of authority to the group. To us, it still seemed that something was "OFF" a bit. Definitely a step in the right direction from what we have in modern culture and certainly a much lovelier version of what exists basically everywhere, which is nice...

but is it Really better?

It was not our idea of what a 'new' kind of community living would be like. Of course, we really do not have an idea of what the new model is because if we could recognize it, it would not really be new, would it?

We do feel that the new would come together organically and naturally,

It would be an Un-Intentional Community

It would also come out of the state-of-consciousness of 'allowance'  and the powerful assurance of each individuals ability to be its own source of love, appreciation, health, finances, security etc.

In such a group of people, who fully realize that they, alone, are the true cause of the
phenomena of their life, there would be no need for all those aforementioned control systems.

It's appearance would be a 'happening'... an unplanned circumstance with a mysterious future.

The result of spiritual adults attracting and congealing the goodness and harmony that they, themselves, have achieved.

This would be a community unlike any in existence, with no reference points to model that we have ever heard of.

The participants would understand all relationship as self-revelation (ref. http://lifestyleluminaries.blogspot.com/p/we.html)

So,  perhaps it is time to put our Imaginations creative powers to the test and search our consciousness for the feeling... to capture the mood of such a deeply inspired aspect of the all-that-exists in the eternal realms.  After all,

"He who does not imagine finer and better lineaments than that which he already knows, does not really imagine at all" (William Blake)

It seems that wherever you are and whoever your with, IS your community. So...

"Love the One Your With"

You will have to Love yourself first, of course. And if you don't, you will likely embrace a community, of some kind or other, which is the outcome of others seeking safety, security, affection, adoration, connection and all the things you don't need if you truly Love yourself.

The "Family" is another type of "community" that, in it's contemporary expression, is a catastrophic idea. Now, please understand that the writer grew up in an unusually 'ideal' "family" situation, but over the years has seen that most "Families" are VERY dis-functional. Full of drama created by immature souls and sound asleep from education, media, science, entertainment, religion, politics and sports etc...

It is sad to see people attached to getting their needs met from external forces like the modern family. "Family", in today's world, typically does not create independent individuals who are self full-filled and spiritually mature.

On the contrary, it seems to breed identity-dependent, emotionally-needy, narcissists, lost in a world of materialism. You may be attached to the idea of "MY family", but you may be unaware of the violence in that notion.

 After all, I may love "My child"... but what about the child 'over there'? across the street? or across the battlefield? Can you say

"The Hatfield's & McCoy's"?

I have heard well-meaning and very spiritual people say things like, "Mess with MY family and I'll F***ing kill you and everyone involved".... Really?

Is that the best we can do?

In todays world, "Family" seems to identify and separate individuals and does not grow them up into awake, loving, self-fulfilled people. Perhaps  it's value may be in providing the contrast that is necessary for that spiritual growth. I am generalizing all this, of course,  to make a point and ask a question...

Is there a model of "Family" or "Community" that can get us closer to a model that would, by default, raise human beings into spiritually mature and completely empowered adults?

There is a fantastic book called "Mutant Message Down Under" that is definitely required reading to

understand alternatives to modern views... read it and think about it. It is not just about the notion of families. It's about a completely different definition about what it is to be a human 'being' in the world.

Another great source for alternative ideas is the "RINGING CEDAR SERIES"

9 books that will radically change your views on just about everything in the world! Both of these books are controversial mainly because they shake the foundations of EVERY religion, science, philosophy and cultural norm, but also because they are presented as factual accounts. You could say the same thing about the bible.

Fiction or not, what can we learn? 

Now... here, Krishnamurti responds to a questioner who is clearly on a different level of consciousness and does his best to invite him to a higher level of understanding than the question implies...

Question: Instead of addressing heterogeneous crowds in many places and dazzling and confounding them with your brilliance and subtlety, why do you not start a community or colony and create a reference for your way of thinking? Are you afraid that this could never be done?

Krishnamurti: Sir brilliance and subtlety should always be kept under cover, because too much exposure of brilliance only blinds. It is not my intention to blind or show cleverness, that is too stupid; but when one sees things very clearly, one cannot help setting them out very clearly. This you may think brilliant and subtle. 

To me, what I am saying is not brilliant: it is the obvious. That is one fact. The other is, you want me to found an ashram or a community. Now, why? Why do you want me to found a community? You say that it will act as a reference, that is, something which can be pointed out as a successful experiment. That is what a reference implies, does it not? - a community where all these things are being carried out. That is what you want. I do not want to found an ashram or a community, but you want it. Now, why do you want such a community? I will tell you why. It is very interesting, is it not? You want it because you would like to join with others and create a community, but you do not want to start a community with yourself;

you want somebody else to do it for you,

 and when it is done you will join it. In other words, Sir, you are afraid of starting on your own, therefore you want a reference. That is, you want something which will give you authority of a kind that can be carried out. In other words, you yourself are not confident, and therefore you say, `Found a community and I will join it'. Sir, where you are you can found a community, but you can found that community only when you have confidence. The trouble is that you have no confidence. Why are you not confident? What do I mean by confidence? The man who wants to achieve a result, who gets what he wants, is full of confidence the business man, the lawyer, the policeman, the general, are all full of confidence. Now, here you have no confidence. Why? For the simple reason you have not experimented. The moment you experiment with this, you will have confidence.

 Nobody else can give you confidence;

no book, no teacher can give you confidence. Encouragement is not confidence; encouragement is merely superficial, childish, immature. Confidence comes as you experiment; and when you experiment with nationalism, wit even the smallest thing, then as you experiment you will have confidence, because your mind will be swift, pliable; and then where you are there will be an ashram, you yourself will found the community. That is clear, is it not? You are more important than any community. If you join a community, you will be as you are - you will have somebody to boss you, you will have laws, regulations and discipline, you will be another Mr. Smith or Mr. Rao in that beastly community. You want a community only when you want to be directed, to be told what to do. A man who wants to be directed is aware of his lack of confidence in himself. You can have confidence, not by talking about self-confidence, but only when you experiment, when you try.

 Sir, the reference is you

 so, experiment, wherever you are, a whatever level of thought. You are the only reference, not the community; and when the community becomes the reference, you are lost. I hope there will be lots of people joining together and experimenting, having full confidence and therefore coming together; but for you to sit outside and say, `Why don't you form a community for me to join?', is obviously a foolish question. - Krishnamurti, J. Krishnamurti The Collected Works, Vol. V