Egos vs Communities
The biggest setbacks to living as a unit, and how we should overcome that
What’s the best way to run a country?
Over the past few years there has been much talk on how to live more self-sufficiently, slowly remove ourselves from the national grid and, ultimately, bring back the community spirit that has been eroded by years of modern living. But without having to paint an unrealistic utopian picture, what does that actually mean in day-to-day life? How can this be brought to fruition?
To those of you who aren’t on the same page as me yet, I’ll name some reasons why this is looking like the direction to go in (feel free to skip through).
The way things are set up in most developed countries, putting it nicely, is rotten at the core. The “standard lifestyle” is to go into education from an early age, work most of your adult life until you are not physically fit enough to fully enjoy the free time left at pension. During working years, adults are bombarded with living expenses, many of which are unnecessarily high or are fraudulent taxes altogether, all while trying to keep a family, get enough rest and deal with emotional baggage if it’s there. Sadly, dealing with all of the above in a healthy and empowering way is not taught at school, neither is it made common knowledge once you’re grown up. Leaving many adults clueless as to how to properly deal with these issues (ever wondered why some adults you meet have the same maturity as a 19-year-old?) which should never have to be made into issues in the first place. There just isn’t enough support available to teach adults how to actually be adults, or how to navigate through life in the best way possible.
To save you many painstaking years of thinking and hair-tearing, we fastforward to the solution…
Off-Grid/ Community living. The perks of this being:
Each individual or family unit gets to decide if they want to live alone, or in as part of a group that share their values
Self-sufficiency means that no supermarket shortages, power cuts, economy crashes or otherwise can affect you any more. Because you will be growing/rearing your own food. Installing power generators to run all your gadgets, trading amongst each other and generally not relying on the “big companies” for living needs.
There will be no need to pay funds to a government, as you are providing all the help you need for yourselves
Individual responsibility means there is no more need to have an essay’s worth of laws to abide by. All you need is the fundamental laws of nature: do not harm, do not steal, kill, and so on
Free travel and using resources of the land
There have obviously been many revolutions of the past where people have dreamed up a better framework for the world, all with the best intentions, but none have been able to last thanks to one reason or another. Peasant revolts, the French Revolution, Communism… why did these movements that were created for the purpose of bringing power to the people and away from the ruling classes, all end up so sour? The short, non-political answer, lies within the people themselves. Once a new framework has been introduced to the running of a country, for a little while, the masses are pacified, the new rulers/government are just figuring out how to operate things and may or may not run into problems that they haven’t fully thought out yet. And you’d think that all will end up well and good, that the chaos of a revolution will eventually settle down and people will discover if not a perfect, then at least a better way of living than what they had before. But it’s not, because there always, always without fail, will be someone who’s not happy with the new structure. Someone who insists that their way is the best, or that others should bow to them, or that something needs to be sabotaged, etc… Eventually, small (or big) factions rise up, pick holes in the idealism, until eventually the whole thing falls apart, or the new ruling class turns out to be just as bad as the last one. A new dictator turns up. Things have gone full circle. No true changes have taken place. It’s only the outside - not the inside, where it counts.
When I say change has to come from the inside, I mean that enough people have to learn what it truly means to be mature before attempting to change what’s around them. If this does not happen, then there is no point even talking about community living as it will be doomed to fail like any other past movement. A massive problem in this world, and the message behind this whole article, is that not enough of us actually know how to be a decent person. It was not made part of the mainstream education. It’s not shown in the TV or in popular culture, and worst of all is when parents haven’t learnt how to show love to their children. Instead of nurturing children, some parents play out their own wounded child role which they were never given the opportunity to clear. Thus continuing the cycle of hurt people hurting people. Don’t get me wrong. Evil has a place in this world. We need it to keep a balance, to use as character training and other reasons too long to go into now. It would be stupid and misguided to say we should try to wipe it out altogether. But as we’ve been in a rather dark cycle for quite a few centuries now, it’s only fair that we work hard to bring our lives into a better state.
The problem, then, is that this lack of support in growing up means so many of us are acting out of a place of pettiness, jealousy, aggression and other negative emotions that we haven’t been taught to overcome. And previous utopias have broken down because of that someone who is bitter, who wants to destroy what someone else has made, or is deluded enough to think themselves superior. Even good people (or at least people who want to be good) often have hidden triggers, parts of themselves that want to lash out even when their conscious mind can’t figure out why they’d want to do that… They may make mistakes they come to regret, or fall into bad habits and thought patterns. It’s up to us to find the strength to find these solutions and grow as a person. Because when enough of us do that, society grows.
How people’s wounds have been playing out in the “truth movement”
I want to give a shout out especially to my freedom family, not only because I have come to love you over the years when extra shit hit the fan, but also because this problem very much applies to you.
As far as I can see, here’s the score. There were many people who knew that the “standard lifestyle” is not usually a happy one and that much corruption was going on behind the scenes. We just didn’t know what. Mass scale events such as 9/11 and more recently, pandemic hysteria, has brought to light what most of the population has tried to ignore. Some still do, but others can’t pretend anymore. Insider information is being exposed and the reality is, we don’t want to be living under a structure that’s been put in place by psychopaths. It’s time to get back to nature and personal responsibility.
But after mass protests in 2020-22, sometimes riots even, what I’ve come to notice is a divide. Whilst we all can agree that we would like a happier, freer future for ourselves and our children, not all of us can agree on the whats, hows and whens. The movement has given rise to wannabe leaders and influencers, who end up clashing if you press their wrong buttons. Fights have broken out over issues as stupid as whether or not to tell the police where a march is going and whether or not to divert a march. I have seen my friends lash out at other people who are also my friends, which I’ve found upsetting because I understand and respect where both people are coming from. I would be happy to try point out what seems like the most logical solution and where someone could change their behaviour, but in the heat of the moment, not everyone wants to know and I have been to scared to butt in. Other times the divide has manifested in online battles, where accounts troll one another, calling out shills (all while the real shills rub their hands in glee…) Comments can get very hateful.
To me, this doesn’t make sense. Why would you not want to compromise so that we can come to a solution that fits all? Why do you preach unity and then do the opposite? The answer is the same as before. Despite all its good intentions, the truther community has not evolved to a point where it could actually take the reins from the government and replace it. There are too many pessimists, too many ego-driven leaders who haven’t resolved their internal dramas. Our current politicians may not be fit for purpose, but at least they can hold things together! If, hypothetically, they disappeared overnight, what would the people do? First off it’s always anarchy, but then what? Would we be able to agree on a new system? Who would rule? Give a person power, and it can turn them into someone you don’t ever want to meet. Only someone with a solid inner confidence and code of morals would be able to stick in a position of leadership without letting it corrupt them. But would those people even be chosen, or would the petty ones try to thwart it again? Or, if we decided that there doesn’t need to be any form of governance, that everyone should be accountable for their own actions - that would be perfect in an evolved society. Who cares if you’re speeding today? But guess what? We have a way to go before we’re there! As things stand, there are still going to be twats who think it’s ok to break in, do as they please and not care who they hurt. Let’s just face the reality: we’re not fit to run ourselves just yet!
However, this post wouldn’t be finished unless we discussed some form of solutions here. The first one is the easiest. WORK ON YOURSELF. It’s very difficult to save others if you yourself aren’t afloat. Even if you consider yourself to be a good person, there’s always room to improve. Have you overcome addictions that might be holding you back from a happier, healthier reality? The fear of standing your ground or people pleasing? Worked on underlying health conditions? Looked at your personality flaws and communication skills? Got your sleep and diet and exercise on track? Not to mention the amount of positive content there is to read and listen to and eventually incorporate into your lifestyle. The list could be endless! But if this future really is important to you, then you will cover all of these bases, no matter how many years it takes. Help your family, those who are nearest and dearest to sort their own “list” out as well. Only once you are in a good state of wellbeing can you reach out to help the wider community, colleagues, friends further away or strangers. No, it doesn’t mean you have to have to have everything perfected before you help the wider world, but when you have enough energy and time to spare is a good place to start. And in case you haven’t learnt this one already - don’t try to help someone who doesn’t want it. Honestly, it’s not doing favours for them or you.
I’ve seen the differences between communities that function and ones who collapse. It’s in the way they communicate and deal with each other. I can bring up two examples from the Summer. At Joinavsion we were living in houses and caravans in close proximity with each other and all working within the same pub and land for growing. There had been a few miscommunications who was to stay where, if there was payment or not and a little mistrust arising. Thankfully, because all of us were taking a spiritual path and committed to growing the community vibe, friendships were smoothed out and issues dealt with in a mature way. Then there was Jam For Freedom festival (don’t laugh if you went there!) It was a mixture of truly amazing souls, ones who were interested in greed, fame or trouble-stirring, and those who were genuinely confused and just ended up jumping on the band wagon with whatever rumours were being spread. It was a sad realization that not everyone who’s been a part of this movement was in it for the right reasons and I hope the event was a big learning curve to everybody. The goodwill of the majority kept the event fun, glued together and prevented it from being shut down. I can only imagine what would have happened had it been a corporate event. With the main stage being dismantled, car park chaos, only one food vendor, ticket holders actually being turned away… there would have been all out fury, quite possibly lawsuits. The fact that there was a lot of positivity and forgiveness among all this quite literally saved the day. The communities that work are the ones who make it work. They have enough compassion within themselves to understand why trouble might be caused and get to the bottom of it, rather than letting their emotions take over. Being honest, reliable and a good motivator will always serve you well when relating to others. The second ingredient is having the capabilities to provide for yourselves and each other. Whether you choose to occupy a group of nearby villages, settle on the land somewhere or even have a commune of sorts, you need to have access to all your basic needs. Farmers, engineers, teachers, childminders, healers. With the basics covered, you can find who’s an artist, a musician, sports specialist, author and so on. You need to be competent enough at your trade to share it with whoever needs it. I could also mention cultivating your connection to nature, the Source, God, the unknown… I mean, it’s up to you what you want to call it. So long as you realize it’s there, and that it wants you to get closer to it. That’s all part of the evolution, lovelies
The point is, yes, we do want an improvement from the government we have currently. But there’s no point hurrying the process. It will all work out beautifully in its own time. For now, follow the basic steps. Look at yourself honestly as a person and find out what it is you need to improve/overcome. Help your friends and family. Do what you love, then slowly become a master of your trade and skills. When things need doing, take action. Practice communicating to others with love and understanding. Not fluffy love. Real caring, respect, connection to your people. When you feel it, you’ll know what it means. That’s it for now. Let us know how you get on.