This is our basic philosophy, and is at the heart of the community that we're trying to start. It was posted once before and we had a lot of positive response. This philosophy is closely in line with many eastern and Native American traditions and is centered in peace, love, and mutual respect. For anything to succeed in this natural world it must harmonize with, or be in line with the Law of Nature. Anything that fits with, conforms to, follows from, and serves the Law of Nature is "Dhammic." To be Dhammic is to be non-violent, unselfish, compassionate, mindful, and cool. Summarized in two words Dhammic Socialism is "peaceful" and "useful."Being "peaceful" means doing nothing to hurt, harm, exploit, abuse, or oppress anyone, whether others or oneself. Such peacefulness requires a heart-mind free of selfishness and ego. Being "useful" means helping in the struggle for genuine liberation from suffering, no mater on what level or in what area of life. Socialism is the perspective and orientation that takes the good of society as a whole as central, rather than one's personal, individualistic good as all important. Thus, socialism is the opposite of the individualism with which we are accustomed to today. Dhammic Socialism is not conformism, because it respects and nurtures individual. However, the individual's purpose in life is not merely its own pleasure or success. In Dhammic Socialism, the individual's purpose and meaning is found beyond its "self" or “ego” in society, nature, and Dhamma. We are inevitably and inescapably social beings who must live together in a form of society that gives priority to the ways we inter-relate, work together, and help each other solve the challenges of life. Thus, the principle of right relationship or right inter-relatedness is the heart of such a society. The Thai word for Socialism, literally means "preference for society," or "favoring society" rather than favoring the individual (that is, individualism), as has often been the case in the West or in current capitalist and consumer driven societies. True Socialism is rooted in the fact that we must live together to survive and therefore must give importance to the structures and mechanisms of society that will enable us to do so in the most skillful and fruitful way. We all are responsible for nurturing, taking care of, and being responsible for these ideals. This is how we understand Socialism. Socialism can go wrong though. There have been various approaches to Socialism and some have been incorrect, that is, authoritarian, violent, and corrupt. We do not want a Socialism that is primarily materialistic or economic. Socialism cannot be based on class conflict or class revenge. Rather, we seek a Socialism that is in harmony with Dhamma. To be in harmony with Dhamma means that it is based in the realization of human interdependence. True Socialism must support relationships and activities that do not oppress or take advantage of anyone, even oneself, and that are for the mutual benefit of ourselves, others, and the collective. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Peace and love Ron
I love it. It sounds wonderful in theory. But is this something that can truely be carried out in practice, in this day and age? (not a rebuttal, just a question) I am definitely interested in seeing where you will go with this, because I myself am not happy with the society that I live in today.
Hi Sera, I know what you're saying, but it's not so much the day and age as it is our culture and society. We're taught capitalism and competition from the time we can comprehend. You know the play money that you can get for children 4 and up? How about teaching our children how to give instead of how to buy? There are groups and villages all over the world that live this way, and it's as natural as breathing. A lot of these cultures have no concept of money and therefore can't grasp the concept of independence. Our society values independence and treats interdependence as a weakness. A community that is interdependent working toward a common goal is much closer than an individual working in competition with peers within a community. I'm not saying that it's easy to change the way we think. We're a society that say's "what can you do for me" and not "what can I do for you". We've found several people that want to contribute to this vision and we're all confident that it will work. Gandhi said- "be the change that you wish to see in the world", and that is exactly what we're doing. We all know that this type of community will not be for everyone. It'll be harder for those that can't give up their ego. People that want to be the leader or have the biggest and best of whatever. There is no room for personal prosperity at the expense of the group here. Aside from living in harmony with one another, we're committed to living in harmony with the earth also. our community is going to be a self sustained eco-village. I think most people will be turned off by the "primitive" lifestyle that we have chosen, but for the handful of people that make this a reality, It'll be heaven. There's a lot more to our community than I can write here, so if you want to know about anything specific contact me or go to our MSN group. Peace and Love Ron
Hey Ron! Thinkin about the land...figure maybe we could talk on the phone sometime soon. If that sounds good email me your number. Or I'll call you (I have cheap long distance)
Well, I thought about starting a whole new thread, but when I thought about it, the thread from 04' still applies to what we're trying to create today. This thread was originally on the site and active before it crashed and everything was wiped out. There was a lot more going on on the original, but here you get the idea of what we've been trying to accomplish then and now. The group did form and suffered the trials of infancy without success and since then we've tried to re-form it a couple of times, each with limited success, but this is a vision that doesn't die, it just evolves and grows. We've learned a lot in out struggle, but the most important thing is that you can't do it alone. The community was called, and will probably still be called, "Natural Hearth" because it embodies all that we are striving to accomplish, a close knit, self sustained community of people who believe in balance... people that believe in the principles of natural building, natural healing, self sustained living, honesty with yourself and others, peace, harmony, simplicity, generosity, and sooo much more that it couldn't possibly be listed here. The key to making a community like this is finding like minded people that will work together to build it. It's not just money or land, or buildings...it's determination and a belief in the project. We would like to begin looking for like minded people again to join with us to make this vision a reality. I also wanted to let everyone know that we've decided to take "our show" on the road if we're not able to bring something together here in the coming spring. If you have any ideas, thoughts, comments or questions, please feel free to PM me. Peace Ron
hey man I have some experience with communal socialisim. it actually works great, out line the rules though, especially when moneyis concerned, we elected a treasurer....I was sceptical at first though it did work wonders when it came to community trust in the "ideal" everyone works everyone eats.... how does leadership form in your community? thats always an issue, we had it as those with leadership capabilities took the role, though still that added some conflict since its human nature to bitch even when its no set leader....juyst wondering how you are going to address this issue? peace
