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Dear Communities:
I appreciated and enjoyed your recent issue, "Growing Older
in Community"
(#89, Winter '95), which looks at elder communards. I was
pleasantly surprised
to see article titles such as "Voices of Our Elders" and "Wisdom
of Our
Elders."
Your readers might be interested to know that I have compiled
two books on
exactly this issue. The first, From Utopian Dreaming to
Communal Reality,
published by the University of New South Wales Press, Sydney, in 1995,
tells the story of 10 Australian communal elders in 10 long-term
intentional
communities. They have an average of about 21 years communal
experience apiece.
The second book has the working title The Wisdom of the
Communal Elders:
Eco spirituality and Social Experimentation. This recently
completed
manuscript is being published by Findhorn Press, Scotland, and
should be
available about mid-1996. It has the stories and collective
wisdom of 15
communal elders from intentional communities in 11 countries on
five continents
(New Zealand, Japan, India, Israel, France, Germany, UK, Canada,
USA, Mexico,
and Brazil). They have an average of about 33 years communal
experience
apiece!
You should realise that there is a great deal of communal
experience beyond
the shores of North America.
Dr. Bill Metcalf
Griffith University
Brisbane, Australia
We do! We hope to soon offer a regular column on communities abroad. Dr. Metcalf's book, From Utopian Dreaming to Communal Reality, is available from University of New South Wales Press (1995).
Dear Communities:
We were looking forward to your Winter '95 issue, "Growing
Older in
Community," naturally but naively hoping that it would highlight
cooperative
communities that provided for the needs of its members as they
aged. To our
disappointment, we looked in vain. In short, the communities
described do
not care for their aged after a certain point.
Instead, people with
various disabilities are required to leave to live (usually)
among strangers
in a strange institution, that is
designed to "care" for
them. This, as most of you know, is generally a dismal fate.
There are, of course, so-called "life-care" institutions that
are equipped to
take care of their residents no matter what their needs. But
these are
generally not cooperatives and not
intergenerational. The best
ones are, in brief, "country clubs" in which you are surrounded
solely by other
old people--without a sense of "This is my/our
community," and without
the joy of relating to children and people of other ages.
We are in our fifties and have seen our parents' generation
attempting to deal
with these issues--without success. We would like to become part
of an
intergenerational cooperative community where people take care
of each other
... no matter what their age or their needs. After all, such
communities were,
up until recently, part of our cultural heritage in our small
towns and
villages.
Of the hundreds of communities described in your excellent
Communities
Directory, only 18 are listed under the Special Interest
heading "senior
citizens." (No such heading appears in the Cross-Reference
Chart.) But, of
these 18, only one--a Rudolph Steiner community--even
mentions in its
description making provisions for the elderly.
We'd appreciate any help with this issue we're wrestling
with.
Andy and Linda Neher
Aptos, California
It is true that our "Growing Older" issue did not provide information about multigenerational communities which specifically make provisions to care for the special needs of their elderly. Perhaps we can address that topic in a future issue.
Geoph Kozeny, who compiled the communities listings in the Directory, believes that a number of the listed communities do make make plans to accommodate seniors, but didn't feature that in their Directory listings nor did they submit an article to the "Growing Older in Community" issue. He noted that the Emissary communities, Twin Oaks and all the FEC communities, Celo, Wesleyan, the Hutterites and Bruderhofs, Bryn Gweled, Tanguy, and Koinonia have significant populations over 60 or talk of accommodating older members.
Dear Communities:
Communities is a wonderful, important publication.
Every issue inspires
hope that increasing numbers of us will seek ways to live more
gently upon
Earth and with one another. Last month I eagerly renewed my
subscription for
two years! So for the sake of the magazine and what it stands
for, I write what
follows.
I was troubled by the inclusion of an ad for a group called
"Seamless Garment
Network," appearing on page 29 of the Winter '95 issue. As
part of its
simplistic platform of "protecting all life," this Network
agitates against
legal abortion. They view Life as a "seamless shroud" and thus
overlook its
depth and intricacies, belittling the significance of that
passage into the
world ... birth itself.
To force children into the world unwanted is the ultimate
abuse. And to exhort
"Adoption, not abortion," is to ignore the bond between mother
and baby that is
so strong for some women that they would keep and attempt to
nurture a child
once born, whether or not they were able to do so. It is callous
to assume that
a decision to abort is ever easy, a claim made by some
"right-to-lifers." And
as for the few who do abort with such ease, let them do it
safely, rather than
bear children they cannot welcome.
We are the Keepers of the Gates of Life, and it is our
responsibility to
decide whether or not we're prepared to birth and nurture
another person. One
must be able to make this decision safely, regardless of income,
location, and
situation. One's situation can also change abruptly, as it did
for a woman I
know whose husband left her when she was about four months
pregnant.
It seems beyond these people to consider that abortion can
be in the name of
life, for the sake of community, humanity, and all
Earthdwellers. Denial of
abortion does not protect Life; nor does it bring peace. It
results in dead
children and dead mothers. Teenagers risk "back alley" abortions
because of
parental consent laws, and some, like Becky Bell, have died as a
result. (Becky
Bell was 17 when she became pregnant. Not wanting to hurt or
shock her parents,
she obtained an illegal abortion because her state had a
parental notification
law. She died as a result. Her parents have since become active
in the
Pro-Choice movement.) I know of people who grew up motherless
because their
mothers, when faced with the prospect of bearing another child
and no means to
support him or her, risked illegal abortion, and died horribly.
A good magazine enlightens its readers by informing them about
differing paths
and opinions. It would make sense, for example, for
Communities to
publish an objective article about a Christian community whose
members are
against abortion. But in this case, Communities, by
serving as a
vehicle for this ad, has actively aided and abetted the efforts
of this
self-righteous group, the consequences of which can be so
tragic.
The presence of the Seamless Garment ad in the magazine is a
slap in the face
for those of us who contest the aggressive arrogance of
"right-to-lifers,"
"wise-users" and all others who take literally the commands to
"go forth and
multiply" and to "establish dominion over the Earth." Meanwhile,
Planned
Parenthood and others struggle to provide health care around the
world in the
face of disease, poverty, ignorance, and meddling
"right-to-life" groups funded
by right-wing, would-be moral dictators in America.
Environmental groups are
feverishly trying to protect the land from greedy hands eager to
cut, log, dig,
and mine for our growing population.
I understand that Communities takes no stand on
reproductive issues,
which is fine, as its purpose is to inform readers about
sustainable
communities and lifeways. However, in fairness to help
compensate for the
damage done by carrying this ad, I urge Communities
to offer ad space in
a future issue to one or more of the fine organizations that
really have had a
positive impact in the world, such as Planned Parenthood, the
Union of
Concerned Scientists, the ACLU, and the Sierra Club. We all
benefit from the
deeds of these organizations, which work to protect, each in
their own way,
all life on Earth.
Finally, it seems fitting to publish a disclaimer in the
Summer issue clearly
stating that Communities magazine does not take a
stand against abortion
or other reproductive options. As a loyal reader of
Communities who is
devoted to the concept of community living with a reverence for
nature and one
another, I urge you to never carry such an ad
again. Life is a precious gift! So let us bestow Life with love, and
not force it, or
support in any way those who would have it forced. What would we
leave for our
next generations, the blessings of responsible choice, or the
curse of forced
duty and the resulting tragedies of motherless children ... and
dead
children? Surely the former, as that would bring us
closer to a day when
all might rejoice in being part of Life, flourishing together,
without fear.
Diana E. McFadden
Silver Spring, Maryland
Thank you for your passionate letter. The Fellowship accepted the ad from the Seamless Garment Network because it fit our criteria: it does not advocate violent practices and it invites dialogue about a topic we believe to be of interest to our readers. To be clear--the Fellowship does not take a position about abortion--any more than we sponsor or endorse the views of any other advertiser in our publications. At the same time, we strongly favor dialogue, and it is our sense that the ad invites engagement on abortion and on a number of other important issues of our day: war, poverty, racism, the arms race, the death penalty, and euthanasia. It is not our intent to incite strong feelings, or to be controversial: yet it is our intent to create a forum where meaningful issues can be earnestly and cooperatively examined. Abortion qualifies as a important issue and that's why we printed the ad ... and why we're printing your response. We do not pretend that solutions are easy to come by, and we have no magic answers. Yet, our experience of community living has taught us to look for solutions by engaging as fully as possible with those with whom we disagree. In the end, we suspect that communities will not be remembered most for the degree of harmony we achieve. Rather it will be for how well we've learned to constructively disagree--learning to harness the energy and perspectives of our differences to gain leverage on the issues we must face together. This magazine is dedicated to bringing our readers the richness of our differences, providing opportunities for constructive engagement. Readers must draw their own conclusions about how best to deal with the tragic and knotty issues that surface in these pages ... because we won't draw those conclusions for them.
Dear Communities:
I was impressed by your issue devoted to distinctions
between
communities and cults.
I was a cult member for 20 years. Through help from the Center
for the
Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence, and books like
Recovery From
Cults, now I thoroughly understand how cults work, and I am
now
deprogrammed. What I thought was missing in your collection of
articles was the
psychodynamics of how even ordinary, intelligent people are
deceived and become
enrolled in cults.
What happens in a cult are the three D's: deception,
dependence, and dread.
People become deceived into believing something about the cult
or cult leader.
If they are really deceived, as I was, then they become
dependent on the system
of beliefs, the cult leader, and worst of all, psychologically
and financially
dependent on the survival of the cult itself. Finally they move
into dreading
the possibility of the cult not being what the leader said it
was, and they go
back into deceiving themselves. (In the cult I was in) this was
emotionally
damaging to everyone, and physically damaging to many.
This "cult"-ure has a life of its own. Belief systems are so
deeply imbedded
in individuals that they cannot adapt to see the abuse that they
are
participating in. In the cult I was in, even when the original
cult leader
left, someone stepped in to take his place. It was then that I
began to catch
on that information was controlled, and people were being kept
separate so they
would not catch on to the ways in which they were being
abused.
Real cults are out there. Cult leaders are out there and take
advantage of
people--no matter how much love they seem to have. The problem
with cults is
that it is almost impossible for cult members to catch on. The
suffering in
such discovery is too painful for them to open the door to
truth.
Michael Penny
Charlottesville, Virginia
Tim Miller, Guest Editor of our "Intentional Communities and `Cults' " issue (#88, Fall '95) replies: Mr. Penny misses my central point, which is not that abuse never exists (although I do think that situations we would all agree are abusive--criminal acts, particularly--are fairly rare in most religious bodies, including unconventional ones), but that it doesn't help the situation to try to prove that a group you see as problematic can be properly labelled a "cult." If a religious group or any person is truly abusive, attack the abuse, not a stereotype. One might think it harmless to try to figure out how to identify "cults," but it isn't. Every definition of "cult" I have ever seen fits not only abusive groups but many that are perfectly harmless and are thus unfairly tainted by being labeled "cults." Lists of characteristics and other categories are inescapably nebulous. "Deception, dependence, and dread" characterize many religions to some degree. Deception? All religions present themselves in a favorable light to prospective converts, leaving for later details that might turn someone off. Dependency (on other people, on God, on the group) is integral to the religious experience. Dread (of hell, of tormentors, of oneself) is a component of the religious experience of millions. All groups are not alike. They have different leaders, theologies, lifestyles, demands for member involvement, and so forth. No reliable formula has yet been developed that can identify problematic groups in advance; that's where your judgment has to come in. Deceit or coercion that rises to the level of kidnapping or fraud or other criminal behavior should be dealt with by calling the police. Short of that, people need to take responsibility for their own bad decisions. If a slick salesperson sells John Doe a worthless used car which John didn't didn't bother to check out or get a warranty for first, is he not at least partly to blame for the mess? Blaming others for his failure to use his common sense won't make John Doe smarter next time.
Dear Communities:
I'm writing to ask you if you have a Canadian, or even more
specifically,
British Col umbian directory of intentional communities.
I live in the Kootenays of British Columbia and would like
to remain in the
general area and live in community.
Your magazine has been a great incentive for my continuing
to dream of
"tribe." Now it feels like I really will realise my dream and
I'm grateful for
the inspiration of all the communitarians already realising this
dream.
Kate Stephenson
Nelson, British Columbia
Our Communities Directory, 1995 edition, lists 10 communities in British Columbia: Avalon (Clearbrook); Community Alternatives Co-op, Pansy Farm (Vancouver); Cardiff Place Cohousing, O.U.R. House (Victoria); CEEDS, Hundred Mile Lodge (100 Mile House); Crow Circle Collective (Tofino); Salt Spring Centre (Ganges); Yasodhara Ashram (Kootenay Bay). Also, please see article about the new town of Bamberton in British Columbia, p. 59.)
Dear Communities:
I'm looking for a community that's Jewish. Have you done any
articles on that?
If not, will you?
Marilyn Flax
Baltimore, Maryland
We welcome profiles of Jewish communities or articles by or about Jewish communities on any of our upcoming themes.
Movement groups may reprint with permission. Please direct inquiries to Communities, PO Box 169, Masonville, CO 80541-0169, (970) 593-5615.