Joanna's Shambhala Warriors
Compassion and Interconnection of all life
Joanna's Shambhala Warriors attended a workshop with Joanna Macy on April 26-27, 2008. We wanted to stay connected.
GROUP DETAILS
Created: May 05, 2008
Updated: Oct 23, 2009
Membership: Invitation Only
Semi-Private
Ecovillages
Edit this Page
Twenty or so people circled up to discuss what works and doesn’t in terms of intentional communities.
Nancy Goddard from La Tierra, formed many years ago when a group of friends with a common spiritual practice purchased land and four houses, said it helps when the community isn’t too big. “Too many meetings can suck out the life force.” Need a good structure that everyone agrees on. La Tierra allows a supermajority on some decisions and gets a “reading” from members before calling for consensus.
Someone commented: “Only 10% of ecovillages survive more than 7 years.
Someone else recommended Diane Leafe Christian’s books—Finding Community and Creating a Life Together.
A woman from a Emerald Earth noted that the process of communication/consensus only works if you deeply believe that it leads to better decisions. She suggested spending time getting to agreement on deeper issues like that instead of focusing on the rules around consensus. She suggested that people who are doers and people who think they are right
have a harder time than others.
Another suggestion: People need to hold both the will to suceed and a willingness to compromise.
“We train people in our community that blocking is a rare thing.”
A man offered a different perspective: instead of rules, make people so happy that they are less reactionary.
Jeff G….something was referenced as having said that if each person in a group has a shared understanding of these basic things—core beliefs, purpose, long term and short term goals, and desired state of being—the community tends to be successful.
Nancy Goddard from La Tierra, formed many years ago when a group of friends with a common spiritual practice purchased land and four houses, said it helps when the community isn’t too big. “Too many meetings can suck out the life force.” Need a good structure that everyone agrees on. La Tierra allows a supermajority on some decisions and gets a “reading” from members before calling for consensus.
Someone commented: “Only 10% of ecovillages survive more than 7 years.
Someone else recommended Diane Leafe Christian’s books—Finding Community and Creating a Life Together.
A woman from a Emerald Earth noted that the process of communication/consensus only works if you deeply believe that it leads to better decisions. She suggested spending time getting to agreement on deeper issues like that instead of focusing on the rules around consensus. She suggested that people who are doers and people who think they are right
have a harder time than others.
Another suggestion: People need to hold both the will to suceed and a willingness to compromise.
“We train people in our community that blocking is a rare thing.”
A man offered a different perspective: instead of rules, make people so happy that they are less reactionary.
Jeff G….something was referenced as having said that if each person in a group has a shared understanding of these basic things—core beliefs, purpose, long term and short term goals, and desired state of being—the community tends to be successful.
