..........

  We do seem to go through cycles of communication and not. I believe we'll continue in that vein until we make factual and important decisions, through consensus, but first we will need to determine how and who will make our decisions. That is something to consider for the moment.

It has been suggested that we have a committee, a subset of those interested, to form an ad hoc group. I would like people to consider options on that concept. The issue has become how do we decide how we make decisions and choices.

Using our chat feature or some other means is an idea we've discussed before.

I'd be willing to coordinate a timed convergence. I would think that a weekend evening would be the best but we should each consider what time slot each of us would be possible. Then if I, or someone else, coordinates, that person would let everyone know when the "first attempt" is scheduled for.

I am making this suggestion after several comments and letters have been received.

So, by January 20th, nearly a month from now, I'd like to know which subscribers to the YahooGroup or the COL's emailing list would like to form, along with me, an steering committee, for want of a better term. The invitation is open not only to those who have been participating of late but those who have the interest and are willing to make the commitment to the time. I think we'd begin with a monthly meeting, an idea that will change.

So I am asking that those interested please email me; let me know of your interest, what day of the week and or time would be best for you.

After a time I'll have a subset of persons and we'll plan our first "community meeting."

Community of Light

We want to co-create a community in a rural area, grow a good portion of our own food, create a profitable cottage industry, and so be self employed. We want keep well the land that we live on and engage in right livelihood. We also want to contribute to the community around us and so benefit our society. Ideally, we would want to be near enough to a good sized town maybe some 50,000 or so, a college community would be something to consider. We could each use our talents, abilities, or professions to provide for ourselves as well as whatever "cottage industry" would be.

You are all welcome to express your ideas about what our community should be. We are, after all, the persons who will make it up.

There are a lot of ideas that we've discussed but I want everyone to know that what is or has been in issues are meant as working concepts. This whole idea is a work in progress and so let us know what you think.

If you have not been to the Community of Lights web page we now have a listing of communities that are forming. It may be educational to visit some of those sites to see what's new in the community universe See the links at: Community of Light

Thanks, Dan and Wendy

Email Address: creative1@creativeideasforyou.com

Alexander & Laurie .......... afederowicz@tampabay.rr.com

Pete .......... aquapete@earthlink.net

This person will advise when he has a new email address. He has skills and interest. He says he likes our idea of establishing a dialogue among six to twelve people in a chat room and would be happy to participate in such a dialogue.

From: Sterling Stipe .......... sstipe2021@hotmail.com

Compassionate Agnostics Save Humanity, the title of a brief paper sent to me has some interesting ideas about what agnosticism is and how it might be a force to help in this troubled world of ours.

From: gary garber .......... garbs0212@yahoo.com

Glad you still keep the dream alive...... Any news of a gathering of the community folks which you have been in contact with? Wouldn't YOU like to see the faces and hear the voices and see if we all get along?

Dan replies: Yes, we're heading in the direction of getting together online! At least as a start.

From: John S .......... vintrest@yahoo.com

Wrtes, in part, "Life is short and my enthusiasm for and knowledge about intentional communities finds very few channels with which to share with others." He hopes to join in in our proposed group discussions for realizing our community.

From: Sasek, J. .......... jan.sasek@hp.com

I visited your website from the Communities Directory. I am 65 years old and about to retire (after 35 years in the field of Information Technology) and I am interested in joining a community such as yours.

Any information/direction you can provide me will be much appreciated.

Dan replies: I send her the "form letter" I usually use but if anyone wants to write her with additional information, I think it would be welcome.

HOW THE WORLD IS CONSPIRING TO SHOWER YOU WITH BLESSINGS

from Secrets Of Pronoia by Rob Brezsny (Pronoia is the antidote for paranoia)

Thousands of things go right for you every day, beginning the moment you wake up. Through some magic you don't fully understand, you're still breathing and your heart is beating, even though you've been unconscious for many hours. The air is a mix of gases that's just right for your body's needs, as it was before you fell asleep.

You can see! Light of many colors floods into your eyes, registered by nerves that took God or evolution or some other process millions of years to perfect. The gift of these vivid hues comes to you courtesy of an unimaginably immense globe of fire, the sun, which continually detonates nuclear reactions in order to convert its body into light and heat and energy for your personal use.

On this day, like almost every other, you have awoken inside a temperature-controlled shelter. You have a home! Your bed and pillow are soft, and you're covered by comfortable blankets. The electricity is turned on, as usual. Somehow, in ways you're barely aware of, a massive power plant at an unknown distance from your home is transforming fuel into currents of electricity that reach you through mostly hidden conduits in the exact amounts you need, and all you have to do to control the flow is flick small switches with your fingers.

You can walk! Your legs work wonderfully well. Your heart circulates your blood all the way down to replenish the energy of the muscles in your feet and calves and thighs, and when the blood is depleted, it finds its way back to your heart to be refreshed. This blessing recurs over and over again without stopping, every minute of your life.

Your home is perhaps not a million-dollar showplace, but it's sturdy and gigantic compared to the typical domicile in every culture that has preceded you. The floors aren't crumbling, and the walls and ceilings are holding up well, too. Doors open and close without trouble, and so do the windows. What skillful geniuses built this sanctuary for you? How and where did they learn their craft?

In your bathroom, the toilet is functioning perfectly, as are several other convenient devices. You have at your disposal soaps, creams, razors, clippers, tooth-cleaning accessories ˜ a host of products that enhance your hygiene and appearance. You trust that unidentified scientists somewhere have tested hem to be sure they're safe for you to use.

Amazingly, the water you need so much of comes out of your faucets in an even flow, at the volume you want, and either cold or hot as you desire. Its pure and clean; you're confident no parasites are lurking in it. Someone somewhere is making sure these boons will continue to arrive for you without interruption for as long as you require them.

In your closet are many clothes you like to wear. Who gathered the materials to make the fabrics they're made of? Who imbued them with colors, and how did they do it? Who sewed them for you?

In your kitchen, appetizing food in secure packaging is waiting for you. Many people you've never met worked hard to grow it, process it, and get it to the store where you bought it. The bounty of tasty nourishment you have to choose from is unprecedented in the history of the world.

Your many appliances are working flawlessly. Despite the fact that they run on electricity, which could kill you instantly if you touched it directly, you feel no fear. Why? Your faith in the people who invented, designed, and produced these machines is impressive.

It's as if there were a benevolent conspiracy of unknown people who are tirelessly creating hundreds of useful things you like and need.

There's more. By some improbable series of coincidences or long-term divine plan, language has come into existence. Millions of people have collaborated for many centuries to cultivate a system for communication that you understand well. Speaking and reading give you great pleasure and a tremendous sense of power.

Do you want to go someplace that's at a distance? You can from a number of ways to get there. Whatever mode of transportation you pick ˜ car, plane, bus, train, subway, ship, helicopter, or bike ˜ you have confidence that it will work efficiently. Multitudes of people who are now dead devoted themselves to perfecting these machines. Multitudes who are still alive devote themselves to ensuring that these benefits keep serving you.

Lets say its now 9:30 A.M. You've been awake for two hours, and a hundred things have already gone right for you. If three of those hundred things had not gone right ˜ your toaster was broken, the hot water wasn't hot enough, there was a stain on the pants you wanted to wear ˜ you might feel that the universe was against you, that your luck was bad, that nothing was going right. And yet the vast majority of things still would be working with breathtaking efficiency and consistency. You would clearly be deluded to imagine that life is primarily an ordeal.

THE EXPERIMENT

DISCLAIMER: This material may be too intense and controversial for some readers. It contains graphic scenes of peace, love, joy, passion, reverence, splendor, and understanding. You should therefore proceed with caution if you are a jaded hipster who is suspicious of feeling healthy and happy. Ask yourself: Am I ready to stop equating cynicism with insight?

Do I dare take the risk that exposing myself to uplifting entertainment might dull my intelligence?‰ If you doubt your ability to handle relaxing breakthroughs, you should stop reading now.

DEFINITION: Pronoia is the antidote for paranoia. It's the understanding that the universe is fundamentally friendly. It's a means of training your senses and intellect so that you're able to perceive the fact that life always gives you exactly what you need, exactly when you need it.

HYPOTHESES: Evil is boring. Cynicism is idiotic. Fear is a bad habit. Despair is lazy. Joy is fascinating. Love is an act of heroic genius. Pleasure is our birthright.

PROCEDURE: Act as if the universe is a prodigious miracle created for your amusement and illumination. Assume that secret helpers are working behind the scenes to assist you in turning into the gorgeous masterpiece you were born to be. Join the conspiracy to shower all of creation with blessings.

..........

A very easy way to give food to the hungry is to set the Hunger Site as your browser's home page. Check out the Hunger Site to see what it is about and how it works.

From: John S .......... vintrest@yahoo.com

Now...the "Dancing Rabbit" part. One group I belong to had a posting by a member who mentioned an intentional community in northeastern Missouri called Dancing Rabbit. Out of curiosity, since I live in northwestern Missouri (about 250 miles away) I checked out the website for the community: http://www.dancingrabbit.org/index.php

In my opinion, these folks, now almost a decade into ecovillage community building, have done it right. From an ideological-environmental standpoint, the Dancing Rabbit members seem to mirror the values expressed in the consensus surveys Dan had conducted and tallied. There are some differences between Dancing Rabbit and other more familiar types of IC's: for one, income is not shared and a high degree of individual autonomy is allowed. Though the community is made up (as of July 2005) of about a score of members, the stated goal is an extended ecocomplex of interdependent communities with 500 to 1,000 members  

Also,

I'm a "student" of Intentional Community history and organization. Not in a formal academic sense, but as something personal with an avid interest. I have just finished reading a new book by communard Arthur Kopecky about his life in the New Buffalo commune, north of Taos, NM.

http://www.arthurkopecky.com/ Arty, as he is affectionately known, lived at this famous commune from June 1971 until he left it in 1979. Since he had a history degree, Arty, originally from New York City, kept a journal of his day-to-day life at New Buffalo; his book is a transcription of these journals written from 1971 until 1976. A second book, chronicling his New Buffalo experience from 1976 to 1979, is about to go to press shortly.

Alexander & Laurie .......... afederowicz@tampabay.rr.com

Hello There :)

Laurie and I live in Tarpon Springs. We are eager to get out of the Over-Crowded Rental-Based Corporate-Owned Housing Schemes, that we can very clearly see have become insidious monstrosities. I traveled through This State in the early 80's,  at that time I can not remember seeing all this rampantly built, improperly zoned & spaced housing. I remember Sanibel Island was truly a state park then.  Since that time a very vile kind of hedonistic greed has consumed the real-estate industry, causing it to loose any responsibility and properness that it once may have had. Now as a bell sounding the death toll of the state, they want to completely disband the Army Core of Engineers involvement with zoning and land approval permits, and licenses. If this happens, it is a good bet that the everglades will be drained and fully urban blight-developed within 10-20 years. Most of the Springs in Florida will Dry up. Much of the desert in Texas was once lush, but we could end up like the Texas Deserts here.

Given the above as a fact, I would personally believe that there are a good number of old timer farmers, that truly despise what has happened to Florida, and just might be willing to donate their land / lands

to a serious group of  people, possibly like those in the Community of Light. Why? There could be many reasons, but often, they just might not want to know that their beloved farms became just one more nauseating blighted pile of rental condos , spaced 3 feet apart between each and all. Knowing that Your lands will produce beautiful wholesome food and nourish truly cooperative families, may give many a farmer hope for the future.

 I would encourage you to seek out this possibility, and to figure out witch news sources / papers that the farmers read around Florida. This could be the beginning of a living process that is not so damn expensive that it forces most into Toxic & Dysfunctional ways of living. With donated land, we can farm and house in a financially responsible fashion. Living healthy cooperative and community oriented lives together.

New Directory of Communities!

We are happy to announce that the new print edition of the Communities Directory is back from the printer and available now. This is the first edition of the book produced based on our Online Communities Directory http://directory.ic.org and we are very happy with the results.

If you would like to purchase a copy of the book, it is available for $24 plus shipping from http://store.ic.org/directory . This is a 20% discount off our cover price available only when ordering directly from the FIC.

Communities Magazine comes out regularly and is a resource for those seeking to explore communities. You can write them at the address given below. This is their office address.

Communities Magazine, 138 Twin Oaks Road, Louisa VA 23093 USA or call them at: Tel/Fax: 540-894-5126. Their website is at Intentional Communities

The resources on the Northwest Intentional Communities site might be valuable. There are lists of legal documents, process advice etc. They're at: http://www.ic.org/nica/resource.htm

This list of places seeking members, communities forming at the F.I.C.'s website: http://elph.anu.net/reach/reachbook-all.html

My yahoo ID is available for use as a means to chat online. I am willing to schedule a time(s) during a given month where we could chat. I am thinking that a Saturday or Sunday would be the best time overall, however I am open to suggestions. Please advise.

If you are a member of our Yahoo group you can access the current polling data, or vote: this is the link to our group This is what we have at "press time"

Would you consider having the community based outside of the United States?

	Votes	%
Outside the U.S. preferred	1	7
depending on country chosen	3	23
Neutral - no preference	1	8
would but not first choice	5	38
NOT consider outside U.S.	3	23

Would you consider having a membership fee of some kind?

Choices	Votes	%
Yes	3	25
No	9	75

If you think so, then what should it be based on?

	Votes	%
Number of members entering	0	0
income of entering members	1	11
earning power of community	1	11
Other (explain on list)	1	11
A share buying system	6	66

What kind of climate would you want to live in?

Choices	Votes	%
Tropical	1	6
Subtropical	3	18
Forest	3	18
Woodland/meadow	9	56
Tundra	0	00

What land locations would you like?

Choices	Votes	%
Island	9	16
Peninsula	9	16
Land bound w/coast	10	18
land bound no coast	8	15
High altitude	9	16
Low altitude	8	15

What sorts of things would you want to use the land for?

Choices	Votes	%
Farming	14	13
Raising livestock	11	10
Raising feed crops	8	8
Hunting	5	4
Gathering	11	11
Fishing	10	9
Utilitarian crops	7	7
Fruit bearing trees	15	14
Lumber/milling	4	4
Water/solar for alt. power	15	14

Would you consider a buy/sell/relationship with the outside world?

Choices	Votes	%
Yes	14	100.0
No	0	0.0

Older Than Dirt Quiz: Count all the ones that you remember not the ones you were told about Ratings at the bottom.

1. Blackjack chewing gum

2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water

3. Candy cigarettes

4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles

5. Coffee shops or diners with table side juke boxes

6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers

7. Party lines

8. Newsreels before the movie

9. P.F. Flyers

10. Butch wax

11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (OLive-6933)

12. Peashooters

13. Howdy Doody

14. 45 RPM records

15. S&H Green Stamps

16 Hi-fi's

17. Metal ice trays with lever

18. Mimeograph paper

19 Blue flashbulb

20. Packards

21. Roller skate keys

22. Cork popguns

23. Drive-ins

24. Studebakers

25. Wash tub wringers

If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young

If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older

If you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age,

If you remembered 16-25 = You're older than dirt!