wilderness and community
Jan. 28th, 2005 11:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelidonA comment in another journal triggered this thought:
Many years ago, as a child I got a chance to spend some time at Paolo Soleri's Arcosanti, when it was still mostly a dream and a few holes in the ground, but I remember at the time there was this incredible grand model of what it was hoped it might look like someday. The people there really believed, burned, glowed with the desire to manifest a long-term vision of building something different, better, more cohesive and sustainable, than the way most people live. That visit, and that vision, inspired me, more than I think anything else, to want to build and be a part of a real sustainable, self-sufficient community. Despite being an only child growing up, and a very solitary person by nature, I found that from the moment I left home, I've lived in group houses, co-housing and intentional community arrangements. And I find that I'm drawn to help build a community now, an oasis of sanity (or healthy insanity ;>). And that's what we're doing, one step at a time.
My earliest memories are of the desert, of growing up in the extreme southwest corner of Arizona (Yuma) -- so hot, so arid, such a stark, inhospitable environment (to humans), but absolutely incredible pristine beauty, and full of improbable life. And tubing on the Colorado River (still at that point in time with some water in it...) which flowed through, and right nearby, the ocean, camping out on the Baja California under the stars. Waters and deserts, searing heat and teaming life, contrasts and paradox...
When it came time to move out to the wilderness, though, I decided to go northeast rather than southwest, because of a love of woods and concerns about global climate change among other things. But I do still miss the desert, though I can find at least some of the very same aspects of solitude, beauty, and immersion in the wild here in the woods.
Many years ago, as a child I got a chance to spend some time at Paolo Soleri's Arcosanti, when it was still mostly a dream and a few holes in the ground, but I remember at the time there was this incredible grand model of what it was hoped it might look like someday. The people there really believed, burned, glowed with the desire to manifest a long-term vision of building something different, better, more cohesive and sustainable, than the way most people live. That visit, and that vision, inspired me, more than I think anything else, to want to build and be a part of a real sustainable, self-sufficient community. Despite being an only child growing up, and a very solitary person by nature, I found that from the moment I left home, I've lived in group houses, co-housing and intentional community arrangements. And I find that I'm drawn to help build a community now, an oasis of sanity (or healthy insanity ;>). And that's what we're doing, one step at a time.
My earliest memories are of the desert, of growing up in the extreme southwest corner of Arizona (Yuma) -- so hot, so arid, such a stark, inhospitable environment (to humans), but absolutely incredible pristine beauty, and full of improbable life. And tubing on the Colorado River (still at that point in time with some water in it...) which flowed through, and right nearby, the ocean, camping out on the Baja California under the stars. Waters and deserts, searing heat and teaming life, contrasts and paradox...
When it came time to move out to the wilderness, though, I decided to go northeast rather than southwest, because of a love of woods and concerns about global climate change among other things. But I do still miss the desert, though I can find at least some of the very same aspects of solitude, beauty, and immersion in the wild here in the woods.
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no subject
Date: 2005-01-28 06:42 pm (UTC)I'd do anything to go back in time and relive the awesome times I had at your casa. :) Telf and I have been tossing around the idea of having a bardic circle ourselves someday.
I heard you moved off to the wilderness, but that's about all I have heard in the intervening time... :)
no subject
Date: 2005-01-28 06:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-28 07:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-28 08:30 pm (UTC)