Community living

Okay, so what do you want to know about?  What do I think is useful to share about my living here at Newbold?

I’m fairly sure the first issue to go into is the spiritual aspect.  This is what people want to know, especially those amongst my friends and family who don’t have any particular interest in terms like ‘spirituality’ or ‘the nature of existence’.

There’s a great line in Blackadder where Edmund says to Mrs Miggins: “I am quite happy to wear clothes without having the faintest idea about how they work.” When I think of people who are content to go about their daily business without being interested in how it actually works, how it is actually possible that it seems to have come about that they are a carbon based life form sitting watching Eastenders for the umpteenth time, or going to work, or going on holiday, or having an argument with their nearest and dearest, or having great sex by the light of the moon, then I think of that quote.

“I am quite happy to live life without having the faintest idea about how it works.”

Anyway, the question, I feel, that these lovely folk – can we call them muggles?  It’s kind of cheeky but … nothing wrong with being a muggle if that’s your bag – the main question these lovely muggles want to ask me is this:

Have I joined a cult?

Well that’s it, isn’t it?  What else could explain my sudden seeming obliviousness to the inadequacies of the state pension?  Don’t I understand that if I keep this kind of behaviour up, come retirement age, I’m going to be screwed?  Why should I be so indifferent to the ballooning house prices that I’m no longer securely positioned on the property ladder?

Well … it’s gotta be a cult, isn’t it?  Stands to reason.

Well, I guess it depends on your definition of a cult, but whichever way you spin it I think the answer will be something of an anticlimax, for the muggle population at least.

There’s no guru here and there’s no set system of thought to which we are expected/required to adhere to.  Yes, there is a group meditation we do once a week.  It lasts about twenty minutes and doesn’t involve any specific technique as such, other than sitting together in silence.  We hold hands to bless the food at lunch and dinner before we eat it.  Somebody will say a blessing of their own devising at this time – again, there’s no set format, it’s just whatever the person wishes to say at the time.  And before group activities the group in question will hold hands and ‘attune’ to each other and to the activity about to be carried out.  Basically this amounts to simply stopping, pausing to bring oneself into the present moment to be aware of what you are going to be doing and who you will be doing it with, and to promote a positive attitude to that work. That’s pretty much it.  Sorry.

The community will create it’s own ceremonies spontaneously from time to time, in response to an event, like a treasured member leaving or the desire to ‘do Halloween’ in a more thoughtful way.  But this is done very lightly and casually.  Whoever has an idea of what they would like to do will suggest it and those who are interested will contribute their thoughts.  This kind of thing crops up continually and is very easy going.

So on the cult scale, Newbold is a pretty innocuous entity.  What ritual is observed is focused on its members being transparent with each other and with themselves, and with honouring themselves and the environment within which they find themselves.  That’s pretty much it.  The rest of the time we’re just doing the things that need to be done, like working in the garden or the kitchen or maintenance, or running the office, running the house, taking in B&B guests and offering rooms as workshop space.  There are various meetings and ‘sharings’ that occur on a daily or weekly basis, but these are community tools rather than spiritual ones.

So no, I haven’t joined a cult.

What then, do I get out of being here?  Why was it worth it to me to quit my worthy and adequately paid job and let go of my comfortable flat?  What’s up with all that?

Ah, it’s just a personal thing for me.  I do not see community as a place where people have to agree with each other on what should be done and how it should be done (though I think many people in communities do see them like that).  I see a community, any community, as a place where individuals can experience their own individuality BECAUSE everybody around them is so different.  Yes, the community in question will develop its own group identity, but this will shift and change just as the individuals that comprise it come and go, just as our own identities as individuals shift and change as we grow older.  If a community tries to base itself on the teachings of one person then perhaps community is not its primary interest or purpose, but something different, something (in my opinion) less dynamic.

In my life, these days, I am intent on one main thing: being myself, being as much myself as I can be.  I am discovering that community is a much more conducive context to explore that experience in than living on my own in a flat while I go to work to get money to pay for the flat.

And yes, I am a bit of a kook.  I don’t want to watch TV anymore (though try to take my dvd collection off me at your peril).  I don’t want to read the newspapers or listen to the news that has been pre-prepared for my consumption.  I don’t want to walk around in crowds of people who are indifferent to me because we haven’t been introduced yet.  I don’t want to engage in endless conversations about how the world is a big, horrible, scary place and that the human race is stupid and nasty and fear-filled.

So what I find here is that, while I am very different from each other person, I’m not actually a kook at all.  I’m just another person focused on being as much them self as they can be while enjoying the benefits of being in community.   When I make a meal other people get to enjoy it too.  When I lay a floor in the apple shed I get to see other people go in there and press apple juice.  The fruits of my work are enjoyed by others in front of my eyes, and I get to enjoy the fruits of their work before their eyes.  That’s so satisfying.

And when I do step outside of the community and back onto the High Street I get a jolt.  Sometimes it’s a pretty big one.  Oh yeah … the muggles.  They’re still there, muggling along.  I’d almost forgot.  But don’t get me wrong: it’s not the people.  Not really.  It’s just all that stuff they’re swimming in: the processed food, the stacks of newspapers, heavy with weekend supplements, the packaging of all the consumerables, the in-your-face, in-your-face marketing.  And it’s only the people in so much as it’s the faces they wear in order to face all of this stuff that is surrounding them.  It’s all reflected in their eyes.  Not all the time, perhaps, but too much of the time.

As a co-worker I will be paid very little money, but I will spend even less.  Apart from Council Tax I will have no bills.  None.  I will not need to spend money on food or drink.  When I visit the High Street it won’t be to buy bizarre products that I don’t really want.

 Still not sure what I’m talking about?  Next I’ll do a ‘Day In The Life Of Newbold House’.  Watch this space.