08-29-2009, 03:20 PM
I would like to hear other people's perspectives on this topic as well. I have been seeking a "like-minded community" or group to participate with since '05, but have basically had no luck with it. I have met a number of people who were in the beginning phases of establishing a community, but there was always the big issue of "we just need to find some investors, then we can REALLY start getting things going..." Also, the personalities I encountered in these groups were often pretty imbalanced, with a lot of dogmatic New Age spiritualism that didn't necessarily resonate with me at all. Also they were frequently twice my age, and had a tendency to address me like I was a kid and they were the "guru". I visited a few different communities in California, and found this was a pattern at each of them. I have also observed that many of the communities disbanded within a few years.
For many years I've felt that it is very important for us to manifest self-sufficiency in our personal lives, and to find community where we can work together to create sustainable housing, gardens and energy production. I have refined my own lifestyle such that I have very low-cost (from my perspective) needs for food, clothing, shelter and entertainment, but I have no $capital$ to make any kind of investments with, for example building supplies, gardening supplies, renewable energy devices, etc. I essentially feel that I NEED to connect with a community to ever get involved in these sorts of things, simply because I have not been able to afford to do so on my own in the past five years. I have almost nothing in the way of resources to offer except my computer tech support skills and maybe cooking, or physical labor.
As I've said before, I live in a tiny town near a couple other tiny towns out in the middle of nowhere in Northern California. I moved up seeking community specifically. Although there is a relatively vibrant New Age community around here, particularly Mt. Shasta, I do not get any impression of community building happening anywhere around here. I have more of an impression of hermits or very small groupings' living deep in the woods, making their own little "ascension forts" where they are planning to wait out the chaos they assume will engulf the cities and more densely populated areas by 2012. I don't really want to get involved with people who live from that mentality, but I do feel reliant on my "other selves" to present me with an opportunity to get involved in community, and so far I have been let-down by my experiences in that search.
T
For many years I've felt that it is very important for us to manifest self-sufficiency in our personal lives, and to find community where we can work together to create sustainable housing, gardens and energy production. I have refined my own lifestyle such that I have very low-cost (from my perspective) needs for food, clothing, shelter and entertainment, but I have no $capital$ to make any kind of investments with, for example building supplies, gardening supplies, renewable energy devices, etc. I essentially feel that I NEED to connect with a community to ever get involved in these sorts of things, simply because I have not been able to afford to do so on my own in the past five years. I have almost nothing in the way of resources to offer except my computer tech support skills and maybe cooking, or physical labor.
As I've said before, I live in a tiny town near a couple other tiny towns out in the middle of nowhere in Northern California. I moved up seeking community specifically. Although there is a relatively vibrant New Age community around here, particularly Mt. Shasta, I do not get any impression of community building happening anywhere around here. I have more of an impression of hermits or very small groupings' living deep in the woods, making their own little "ascension forts" where they are planning to wait out the chaos they assume will engulf the cities and more densely populated areas by 2012. I don't really want to get involved with people who live from that mentality, but I do feel reliant on my "other selves" to present me with an opportunity to get involved in community, and so far I have been let-down by my experiences in that search.
T