The Biggest Challenges of Intentional Communities 

While I don't believe I would enjoy living in a community like this myself, I am glad these communities exist and would encourage anyone who is disenchanted with Capitalism to explore this alternative lifestyle. I also encourage community leaders to be more accepting of these sub-communities. Freedom is important to man's life, and the freedom to live as one chooses without intentionally causing harm to others should be a fundamental right.

Thank you for this important information. I was drawn to this video because me and my wife are now leaving an intentional community because it turned out to be a narcissists honey trap where the lady who owns the land can mentally abuse families and it’s extremely sad that something so beautiful with such immense potential was simply abused like this. I get the feeling (from talking to others who’ve tried living in intentional communities) that poor conflict management and mental traumas are what causes these communities to simply collapse. Maybe communities should not be intentional but simply form organically and let to die naturally or else we are creating structures of self suppression (sugar coated in fake smiley happy people living on grassy green fields) as we act out roles and wear masks that are not aligned to our heart and soul and end up building something inauthentic.

Nice to see your awareness. Only two lovers destroyed our cause. Then there was the silent predator, hitting on members.-- and those 'no intention' members who sabotaged every move. I was a Member at Braziers with Norman and Glyn and also used to visit Minstead Lodge. Fircroft College fulfilled some of the criteria.

Seems to me a year is nothing. People take longer than that just to unload their baggage and start being the version of themselves to be in community. It's not like any other Role we are asked to play. Not leading or following, not uncaring, but not super-attached to the minutiae of how things work out, not putting self first, but not last either. Roles take a while to gel, continuing to respond to each other. Our community has 5 people, my wife and I and 3 younger people. We are all 'becoming ourselves' yet, learning new skills for dealing with Community. But a year is not enough time for the adjustment. Having too many other good options too easily at hand may actually work against community.

Very deep study you have done on the subject. In India we found there is no legal structure for such villages. /communities. Creating Constitution is very important part of creating community.

Wow.. what a video. This video creator has created an amazing resource for anyone thinking about intentional communities. She is so articulate and eloquent. The structure and delivery of the information is fantastic; I'm lost for words. She started of with an abstract concept and then brought it back to her experience. Well done.. amazing video.

Thanks for all this sharing, I’m looking forward for the video about conflict resolution thought play ! 🙏🏼

At our place, Bogata Suma croatia, we have been underway 14 years now to create a community. Many people come and go. We do experience all the differences and also how to point to instant quality that come directly when a small group of volunteers come together. Usually the energy of the start is the right energy. Everybody is new to each other. Using that first moment and maintaining that quality while getting things done is a challenge. Fascinating for me and Barbar anyhow. Thank you Celestrina for putting your view in a number of points. Without a system people agree to as part of a group instead of necessarily maintaining individuality might be a direction. A good combination of 'my way' to 'group way' can create well woven initiatives.

Thanks for sharing. Here at LooseNatural farm in Andalusia Spain we found that most people only change their minds when they die. We western people really struggle with group identity. Next to us is an opportunity to buy 12ha with 12 different ground papers. I really wish that people can share more. Wishing you the best.

Hello from the USA! I don't know if you'll read this comment, but I would like to add my thoughts as I have been focused on MANY aspects of communal living for the majority of my life @ 45 years of age at this point. Firstly, I would like to say, that especially in the USA, there is a lot working against communal ideals just in public opinion, and that manipulates what people's expectations are when they choose to look into such a thing. I drove 18 wheels all over the USA with a hope to find something more communal that could work well for me, and I could finally settle. I lived in the Philippines for a year, and I like how they had a much more neighborly design than the USA. Yet, I have only my driving skills to offer which wouldn't be enough to keep me in the Philippines so now I am back in the USA. I'm sure much of what I have to say would sound redundant to you, but I've observed infrastructure everywhere very closely with the thoughts of communal living in mind. While there aren't really all that many intentional communities readily available for someone such as myself, I've taken special interest in things such as metro cities, RV parks, campgrounds, and people who do jobs such as working on a cruise ship. There are a lot of middle of the road ideas which share many principles of communal living yet rely 100% on capitalism. Some RV parks for instance, have a large community center where they will have a lounge, gym, a place to play games, and for people to meet on Sundays to have their own little worship service etc. Getting people connected opens up a lot of potential for sharing, all on its own, without even changing capitalist infrastructure. One idea I've had that I would like to share with you is in how to make capitalist infrastructure slowly benefit from the positive aspects of communal sharing and living. Think about what a library is. It is a place where you can go get a card, and as long as you return items responsibly, you can check them out and use them while paying literally nothing. Angry Capitalist on social media at the idea of social responsibility fail to realize that they've actually utilized such things in their life without hesitation. The painful reality for some people is that the reason they can have a lot more than their work is worth (though they may refute this) is because someone must work for less and to be a much better value to the design. Yet, the way we expect things to grow in a capitalist environment, the people of good value are being DEMANDED by these hard-hitting capitalists to be an even greater value so that those who are "blessed" as they call it can continue to be so and more so. It starts to create a lot of holes in the angle of faith they've successfully gotten nearly everyone on board with. Now, consider if we build something like a library that offers a lot more to be checked out than books... The problem with promoting self-reliance, doing everything for yourself, getting as much as you can, and working hard to own things for yourself is that we now have way too much stuff, and most of it slowly goes to waste with very little use. Consider kayaks for a moment. I like kayaking, and I own two of them. Last year I put one of them in the water once. yet, there are so many Kayaks in the USA owned by people, that if we could just convince people somehow to donate 10% of them so that they can be placed at every kayak launch point, at every lake or river in the USA, to be checked out by responsible people, then it'd probably be too many and we'd have to send some of them back! It is not unusual for people to find ways to live communally and minimize waste. Assuming that the reason people have advanced is because of how hard we make everyone work by keeping things excessive enough to make most people desperate to get ahead is very farfetched. I do believe that more useful advancements would be made if people were working for that purpose rather than for the purpose of capitalisms survival. Mass production would still exist, but on a different level. Quality would quickly become more important than quantity and people would be motivated by quality sharing. Granted, liberty should still remain intact, and all of these things must remain optional. However, I believe strongly that most people would agree to join in on such a design as they see the benefits AND potential. Really, when people are living efficiently with both a strong respect for quality leisure time, and good work ethic, there are millions of ways we can design society, and there will be a lot of options as to what KIND of community you want to live in, and just about anywhere in the country, or the world?. Utilizing all available resources, the same idea could appear in unlimited different forms. People could make a commune look like a Disney resort, or they could choose primitive camping. It really just comes down to the desire to reduce waste and live better by sharing, while understanding the energy and effort that will still be required to do so (which would generally be far less than what is currently required of people). All of those other problems such as relationships, religious beliefs, etc. would be worked out no differently than in any other design. Capitalism has proven to be really bad for marriage, relationships, and infidelity all on its own, so I doubt those problems would be any worse to say the least. However, when people are very open to each other, congregate and talk about solutions as a team, it should really lead to a better situation than where people are just building walls to keep other people out. Forgiveness is meant to heal, not to excuse. We should be very forgiving once we've made it clear that this is the purpose of forgiveness. Forgiveness should come with understanding, answers, and solution. Make a sign of that in your community, and people could fix nearly anything. We are looking for ways to fix bad habits, not to condemn them. Exile is a last resort, communicating ways to heal a person that works for both them and everyone they associate with, then to keep these things from effecting future generations should always remain a part of our life.

Thank you for your honest Feedback about Intentional communties. So helpful! Could you also share your List of biggest advantages of Living in an Intentional community? Also what is an ideal Group size for a community out of your perspective?

Thank you so much! My husband and I are in the stage of contemplating challenges of our future intentional community. This video is awesome as a summary! I subbed and will watch more of your content! ❤

I am so happy to have discovered Celastrina's videos. She is eloquent and thorough in her presentations. She is the first person who has enabled me to clearly understand the hows and whys of my own personal experience living in an intentional community.

A good amount of aspects was covered. Thank you.

This was so informational Thank You for sharing

So happy your making these videos

thank u !

Very thorough and thoughtful breakdown. Thanks for sharing this!

Very good! Thank you

Thank you for sharing!!! 🙏

The people are the problem.

Great info ❤

The rule is these communities collapse bc its built by broken people who sre just looking for a shelter. Very few of these communities have experience in building sustainable small communities so the vast majority of these experiments are doomed to fail and create even more trauma This will only be resolved in the coming collapse and the survivors will build these communities out of necessity and all the fluff will be tertiary at best

Thank you for the information and your clear, calm presentation style💚

Fantastic topic to bring up, that isn't talked about enough. I decided long ago to not do this with a community - I want like-minded neighbors, but an intentional community is just too much to handle, everything from land ownership to ideological differences to people's selfishness. I realized recently that the reasons these things almost always fail, is because I'd wager 95-98% of people in modern society never mature socially beyond puberty. We're a bunch of spoiled, selfish children, it's always "me me me". We can barely fathom how differently our ancestors functioned, when they lived in their tight-knit villages. Regarding sexuality and relationships in particular, and you mentioned jealousy and drama... perhaps this is why every culture up until our modern society a couple of generations ago, had such strict rules and morals regarding sex and relationships. If you lack these strict moral guidelines or rules, people's drive for sex and relationships wreak absolute havoc on a community. It's like fire, for a comparison. Fire is absolutely essential for our survival, and helps us when controlled and handled right, but let loose, it destroys everything. And as it turns out, and some of you will not want to hear this, but the people who have been pushing the sexual liberation movement for the past 50-100 years are virtually always themselves deeply sick, perverted people from a different tribe who want to destroy our society. The ones at the top don't believe they are here to liberate, they are here to destroy and revel in it.

Fantastic advice. Thanks

Thank you! 💜

SO SO SO many thanks for all your advice!

My compliments! Great content!

clear cut....mam great info

Great. I think you nailed it. No way out.

Awesome video, thank you so much. In the process of creating an intentional community, so much valuable information here.

Great Video Celastrina. Good job. Your new home looks lovely. A

I live in an area (in Australia) which has vary many intentional communities of all kinds. One of the biggest challenges I've observed is that we are products of modern individualistic culture and despite recognizing the failings of that culture, when under pressure (such as seemingly unresolvable conflict) most default to that programming (effectively putting a "fence around their plot") On the whole, we have not grown up with a tribal 'council of elders, who might adjudicate final decisions with the wisdom of experience, or are prepared to forgo our particular positions for the good of the collective. As re your first point, too often, we might agree that current lifestyles are failing us and wish to create better (and everyone may have a different idea of what that looks like) but the common 'vision' to which we're dedicated to creating is not clear enough.

Fantastic video

Great things to think about thank you

Like others, looking forward to the conflict resolution video. Listening to your list so many of the problems you speak of resemble those of wider society at a different scale. One wonders if these communities are reinventing the wheel?

Why should everyone have the same rights? Who buys more of the property should have more. And I can imagine community with hierarchy. Like indigenous village, the wise elders etc. I think this resistance to hierarchies and the flat hippie we-are-all-brothers-and-sisters will ultimately not work, because a bunch of newbies can destroy everything....

I so resonate and appreciate your videos

wow. I am impressed by the high value, this video has. Thank yo u so much for sharing this!!

Excellent video. I think I know your daughter. We met in India years ago. Love to you ❤

Very insightful and mature, especially for someone of your age. If I were starting an intentional community, I would hire you as a consultant!

Excellent video and you are very well spoken. The issue about newcomers is interesting as I see a trend, where others need to bend down to them. Why can't newcomers recognize their true place in a new situation?

Thank you, I always appreciate honesty! While I admire people that are willing to try something different, upon visiting an ecovillage, I quickly realized it wasn’t for me. Makes me wonder about other arrangements that might offer enhanced opportunities for reduced consumption, home production, tool sharing, and other efficiencies while maintaining more autonomy. Have you come across anything you would consider ecovillage “light”?

❤

(I realize it is odd for me to comment here, but I was reviewing videos to send to my English learners and the topic of sustainability has been coming up lately.) :) Very interesting video. I have no intention of joining an intentional community because I don't have a lot of valuable skills for a group and generally am a loner, so I anticipated a lot of the potential for interpersonal conflicts mentioned here. I am very much someone who would've been some kind of outcast just a few hundred years ago. :) However, I think these communities could be a great option for people who do get along in groups as long as there is a set guiding principle, as you mentioned, especially once it becomes more clear how fragile all our systems are. That's the real heartbreak for me: I see the widening cracks in the late-stage capitalism. I am part of the Precariat. I think it's beyond unethical the way developers continue to build fast, cheap, ugly housing while cutting down far too many trees in the process, and the result is still too expensive for working people and perpetuates unsustainable living practices. This is all the more troubling because neither my SO nor I are ever going to be able to retreat to a cabin in the woods to avoid group conflict.

I think that -- I think that all communities are retirement communities: People join community because they want to go deep, and in going deep time passes, and as time passes people become old, and when people become old they retire, so the people that they went deep with, are now all retired together. For a community to go beyond its source generation, it needs to focus on being something more than a community: It needs to focus on being a lineage. And being a lineage means looking beyond the people you know and your relationships; it means intimately relating with people who are NOT your community.

Would be cool to do case studies of what works and how they do it so that everyone can get inspiration from that.

Lived in community for 15 yrs. It's not just a matter of what 'works' and what doesn't. It's far more complex than that. With a large community (East Wind is a good example): EW both works and doesn't. The community continues to exist because it produces income and always has enough people coming through the turnstile to keep the money coming in. The social problems at EW are huge and have never been resolved -- despite some effort to do so. When you can't stand it anymore, you just leave, and someone else is always waiting to take your place. The best example of a larger community that actually works well is Findhorn. That community is a model for intentional community. Another example of intentional community that tried its best to work, but ultimately failed, is The Farm in Tennessee ... existed for many years but had too many flaws. What works? One might think it's commonality of purpose, but it's more important for purpose to be realistic and achievable. Pie in the sky doesn't work. And that's just ONE issue. There are dozens. It's all very complicated -- because human beings themselves are complicated. Everyone defines 'realistic and achievable' in their own way. No one thinks their silly ideas are just fantasies; they will insist the community should do what THEY SAY because their vision is the correct one. "We must live simply so others can simply live" is often taken as gospel -- whether it is actually true or not. Everyone has their own internal Holy Scripture, and they expect YOU to have respect for it, whether it makes sense or not. There are dozens of such issues floating around like ghosts in most communities. And those issues are mostly not resolvable. As Kat Kinkade used to say (over and over in fact) is "people have voted with their feet." Kat's solution? Keep new feet coming in.

Great coverage of the topic. I'm left wondering what tactics you would prescribe for recruitment and conflict resolution. Do you have any more videos that dive deeper into these subjects?

Hey Celastrina, thank you for this video. I spent a few weeks in Damanhur in 2019, what a beautiful place I'm really curious about all the tools you have for conflict resolution, and specifically play (you mentioned this 14:45). Did you end up making a video about this? I couldn't find it in the other ones. If you haven't, I'd love to watch it when you do :) Con te

Wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing this. I wonder if it, or any of your videos are available in Italian, as I would like to share them with a group that is currently working to create a new intentional community in another part of Italy.

Amazing. Clear. Educational. Does anyone knows intentional communities that are looking for new members? I would be interested in the higher Vision that you guys set for yourself. You said you created an intentional Community with 8 other People. If you want to share that, it would be really interesting:) Much Lovee!

Thank you for this video, I find it extremely interesting. I am on a journey of self discovering, I believe sooner or later I will experience how is life in an intentional community. I've got a question here: Do you think self development should be a basic and always present activity in the community? For instance organising workshops periodically which would help to maintain a certain level of serenity within the community before reaching the point of conflict? Is this happening in Damanhur? Welcome to hear from any other member of different communities 🙏

Yes true attracts the weakest people who have no strength and drain others if u do not have any self confidence will only feel confident when leaning on others

I'm working on a questionaire, not unlike those given by employers. Mine is designed to spot the subcultures that in effect do "hostile takeovers" of secular communities. And of course, to select for my kind of people (we all do this right, but I admit it).

Thanks for sharing valuable information. I am a PhD scholar, doing research on ecovillages and intentional communities. I wanna write about the failure and success aspects of these communities. Is there any way to speak to you? Thanks!

You are right people need to heal,that's what plant medicine for

Hai Celastrina, thank you for sharing your knowledge about eco villages. Our university in south kalimantan in Indonesia is starting to learn how to form an eco-community. Here, we have 1,268 villages that need to partner with our university. Could you help us share your knowledge, and discuss the successes and failures of intentional eco villages?

When you said NARC you said it all about that one failed community.

Hello Rebecka. I appreciate your effort to disclose so much info about intentional communities. Why I can't download your videos here on RU-vid? If we as a family of 5, me , my wife and our three children want to live in an intentional community where would you recommend for us to go? Thank you very much

I’m part of a group that has a space in a shop that everyone can gather during certain hours. It feels like a social group but it’s called a tribe. There is talk of buying land and making a community. There are bylaws. I’m concerned that it will just be a trailer park in the woods. I have no volunteers for my garden though I offer plants, seeds and produce. A member of tribe is having surgery Wednesday and no one has volunteered to take care of her cats. I’m available 2x/wk to feed them at her house and change the litter box but literally no one else has stepped up. I’m having second thoughts about them. I want a community of people who grow food, raise animals and help each other. Few people are willing to step outside of themselves to help anyone with anything.

To answer the title's question... People. It's always 1000% people.

I wish I could find a community with older people so I could take care of them and continue the community

🤔 It is difficult to predict the future, but my mind goes to … what if society got real bad and family members want to join with parents, or siblings, etc and where do you draw the line with how many family/friends can be a part of your own individual holding during unexpected tough times??? ❗️I also wonder if civilization turns to chaos and marauders/thieves start to attack, what kind of view/action will be acceptable to protect the community??

Hi, I’ve been involved within community pretty deep since a year into covid. I’ve always been involved in coop living mainly growing up and traversing through Canada, for affordability reasons. I’ve always been intrigued by people and how we work. After 3 years and a few different communities. Well to be exact I have been involved with different communities that have formed in Canada since restrictions on peoples freedom of choice. All teh other reasons I’m sure you’re well aware of. My interest now is to form systems within communizes that can help them to thrive. I feel strongly about all your issues you discussed and I will be sending an email to your posted info on this video. I would love to spend some time to ask you questions about your experiences and knowledge you would wish to pas on. Thanks for your time and I hope to collaborate in the future if that is alligned. P.S. i tried your Instagram links embedded in this video and they seem to be broken. Could be or maybe not. Thanks again.

Remember you carry your baggage wherever you go so if you can leave it behind the better off you will be. ;)

I don't know why ,but I would like to join or live in a group I will say it's important for everyone to get there private space when they need it. Does anyone know where to find one

You should prolly get one of those fuzzy things for ur mic

Thanks for this helpful video! I find each comment spot-on, even though I've never lived in a community of this kind.

super gut erklärt Kompliment ... Om Haidakhandi ap24

It'll only work with people who genetically evolved in frigid northern climates.

woman! are you taking requests to sit on advisory committees?

I know this isn’t a religious video and im not tryna shove it down anyone’s throat. It’s just so striking to me how texts such as the Bible become so much more relevant in the context of intentional community development. Many of the things here are central points to the laws in the Old Testament. The Jews were a form of intentional living community and they codified these same types of dialogues within the Torah.

20:27 Why should newbie have same rights as the senior founder?? That's nonsense! In every reasonable and viable, functioning system the experienced ones drive it, not stupid newbies.

Complaining about capitalism as you are surrounded by its benefits and then blaming greed for the reason that your communities don't work is hilarious..... Somebody buys a property and is generous with it should be enough not oh we're all greedy so we wanna have peace of your property as well.. I just don't think that you're right in this scenarione. How can greed be the main issue if you're all like-minded and Not in need of Is capitalism's charms

This is why it is important to understand Power, Evolutionary Psychology, and to create a Constitution, traditions, rites and taboos. This is why Masons, and MC's (motoclubs), jews, and other groups don't accept anyone who approaches them, they are very selective. You don't need "new recruits", that's why you have your family, your own sons and daughters will become the new generation of your echovillage, if and only if you educate them in the tradition and culture of your echovillage. Family is the most important institution any community can possess. Read: 48 Laws of Power The Dictator's Handbook