Blake and I have been living together for over ten years. We are not friends. We are family. We took the place in each other’s lives that was filled only with the absence of belonging. And since then, we have added 7 members to our family. They are people from all over the world. Besides a common vision for positive world change, the web that weaves us together is the burning desire for a community to depend on and a group of people to call home. Throughout our lives, we were the people who had nowhere to fit in. Sometimes just for fun, we call ourselves “the island of misfit toys”, after the characters in the story Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer. Conflicts arise and conflicts are solved, but the ebb and flow of each of us, is held by the steadiness of our love for each other. And so, it is simply the most natural progression to embark on a mission of bringing other people closer to that same sense of belonging, which has been ours for so long.
Two weeks ago, I was in the kitchen cooking and Blake ran down the stairs so fast that he almost fell. He grabbed me by the elbows and said “Oh my god, Intentional Community Expos”. He did not need to elaborate. I already had the vision. Perhaps the very reason that our lives have played out in the way that they have was the inspiration for this next step in the direction of our common purpose.
I don't know if I will be the one to create this vision, but it is my vision that one day, intentional community expos will be so large that it will be difficult to see all of the booths participating in the event. They will be centered around one idea… The idea of intentional community. I realized today that the acronym for these expos would be ICE. It is a beautiful synchronicity, seeing as how when I was 18 years old, the very first tattoo I ever commissioned, was the word “ice” in kanji on my left wrist. There is no end to the amount of humanity changing ideas that could be a part of these expos, but some examples of the booths that will be set up by people at these expos are:
Ideas for conflict resolution in communities
New systems of exchange (monetary and non monetary)
Ideas for building self-sustainable communities
Products that apply to community living (such as clean water filtration, eco houses, organic farming, free energy devices etc.)
Existing communities looking for new members
People looking to start new communities
Etc.
It would be amazing to have a booth set up at each expo called Community Maker. Community Maker would be like an on-line movement. It would be a place to go to find a community to become a part of and/or a place to find new members to join your community. It would be a place to find a sense of belonging. It is my vision that the connections made on Community Maker would transfer from the computer to real life. Community Maker would be a place to start or join communities anywhere around the globe, so that we can unite as people.
I do not often talk about the energies that are against positive world change and that profit from the disintegration of mankind. But I will tell you today that the vast majority of the people who are in charge of the modern world (the mainstream) have divided us. It is as true today, as it was when it was said “divide and conquer”. Divided we are weak, united we are strong. The for profit corporations that now run the governments of our world, financially benefit from our weakness. They benefit from us being powerless and they have convinced us that our fear is our ally. They benefit from us being as divided as we can be. They divide us with religion, they divide us with race, they divide us with gender, they divide us with money, they divide us by countries and cities and counties and neighborhoods and single-family houses. Now, the only way most of us can satisfy our need for interpersonal connection is via the computer. It benefits these people who are against positive world change to keep us this divided, feeding off of the crumbs of cyber-relationships. But we are going to use technology to put us back together again. To reverse the process of division and help people form actual physical communities.
This movement is beyond us; it is called for by the people of this earth. And it is not a movement to be pigeon holed into the new age realms of thought. Look around this earth. The industrialized countries are the unhappiest countries in the world because they lack community. We suffer and die because of separation. We are being controlled by separation.
We are social beings. We crave contact and connection. In fact, we die without it. Events like the columbine shooting happen because of it. And so, it is time to erect a new human society. To create a united world. We are not ready for true socialism. Nor can socialism ever be forced on anyone. The step in between where we are now and a united humanity is community. These communities that are needed, are not just new age communities. You do not have to be a hippie to join them. They are for anyone who wants a place to belong.
Imagine a world where people who were just getting out of jail, were absorbed into a supportive community of people recovering and starting fresh; instead of a world where they are released into a society that will exile them and label them forever for their crimes. Imagine a world where combat vets returning from war could form a community of fellow men and women who understand each other and who do not fear the aftermath of war, a supportive community that can facilitate healing. Imagine a supportive community of medical students, enabling each other to make it through med school without breaking down, dropping out or loosing their compassion.
Most of us have no idea what it feels like to belong. Many of us either don’t fit into the families that we are born into, or we don’t even have a family to belong to. We feel alone, even in the company of other people. We all long to be understood yet secretly harbor the idea that something is wrong with us and that we can’t be loved for who we really are. It is time for all that to come to an end. The end has come, not just for the current system that is in charge of the way that our world is run, but for the painful isolation that has become such a normal part of our modern lives. And it is my personal mission and personal joy to lead this change, along with the people who have given this precious sense of belonging to me.
