[Sally]

@Carl Russell 146 wrote:

I believe that when the veils are eroded and the bare naked truth of our vulnerability on this planet are clear, people naturally respond the our most basic need, our most basic skill, Community. This is happening all around us. It is happening right here on this page. Some people will have to wait until the artificial power structures collapse, others have been gaining increasing levels of insight for many years.
Carl

I think this is so true. Right now so much of our true vulnerability is veiled, covered, “protected” because we live, at least I live, in a largely artificially constructed environment based on fossil fuels. I can act as if I’m not related to the rest of life, like I’m not essentially a living, breathing, naked, big-brained, self-aware, but highly dependent living being.

As fossil fuels become less available the veils will fall. Do you know that the actual definition of apocalypse is “the unveiling?” The beautiful truth of our utter dependence on connection, with each other and all of earth’s life forms will be unveiled and those things that currently insulate us are no longer there. It is both an exciting and a scary thing for most of us to consider.

I have experienced this at all levels. In my closest relationships I learned as a child NOT to need (be needy, whiny, dependent). I wrote more about this in my blog Need is a Nasty Word and how our culture is all about denying need.

As an adult coming to acknowledge my deep need for others has brought huge feelings of vulnerability to the surface. As I’ve worked through that and allowed myself to acknowledge the need for my partner, for close, clear relationships with my adult children, and for transparency with my handful of close friends it has been challenging but also deeply satisfying.

I imagine the same will be true as I “practice” that vulnerability in the context of wider mutually dependent circles of community when the veils are dropped and we find out we do need each other and our landbase because we can no longer buy our way out of that need with ancient sunlight (fossil oil).

It is a time of great possibility and challenge in the area of acknowledging both our great potential as big brained beings but also our incredible vulnerabilty as living, breathing, members of the community of life.

Sally

[Sally]

Erik,
I don’t know how it is going in your area but the Local Food movement seems to be picking up momentum and emphasizing THAT seems to me to make good sense. Now when I shop at the co-op I look for local FIRST and foremost. I think there is a growing understanding of how critical it is to re-localize food, and life! I think inconsistency is part of the deal with anything handmade and that there is no apology needed. Each loaf is unique. That’s great.

[Sally]

@goodcompanion 91 wrote:

But the joint ventures, the communes and cooperative farms, always ended badly, with financial messes, legal proceedings and/or hurt feelings. Yes, we need community to be more than lines on a map, our survival in fact depends on it, but I feel that we as americans are so very bad at cooperation and interdependence. The whole culture is aligned towards individualism;

I share this experience largely. And I am questioning the reasons why that is so, that so many ventures that come together, with what seem to be really great intentions and vision, end badly.

Here are some of the things I’ve thought about: We lack all the things a long established culture offers: story, myth, meaningful ritual, profound processes for resolving conflict, indentification with a specific place and our mutual dependence upon that place (as Carl talks about in his post).

I’m not sure how to create those things with a group of people but I wonder if many groups have put the draft animal before the plow in how they form. I know that the group I worked with probably did that. We came together with intentions and found a piece of land but we did not share a clear story or myth about what brought us there or would keep us there together. We developed some processes that were effective for a time but with new members who had not shared even the short history of the community those processes were diluted and the benefits forgotten.

I wonder if the story of “the Republic of Vermont” might be helpful in giving some glue to communities there?

And some can see the coming times of fossil fuel depletion and climate chaos actually requiring that we find our way to new ways of being, and/or reclaim older ways of being. I certainly see that. Perhaps there will be a story or myth or meaning come from that which will pull people together in ways that are now very challenging.

I appreciate the thoughtfulness here.

[Sally]

@Carl Russell 131 wrote:

I would love for people to truly try to open up and share their experiences. If we greet them with confrontational responses that’s unfair.
Now which curve is it that we are ahead of???…….. Let’s make the best of this site while we can. I love you guys. Carl

Thank you Carl. I was a little stumped about how to respond and finally decided to simply wait and let the group help. And you did!

So that’s one thing I’d like to contribute to a community, whether it is on line or in real time on a piece of land: my experience living in community, spending much of my adult life drawn to sit with people and feel and think and open to how we can show up and care for one another.

One of the things I’ve learned about well-functioning, committed groups is that when I don’t know what to do if I sit and stay open and vulnerable that generally someone else in the group will offer the next word that will help the process. And you did that here. Thank you.

From now on I will probably post on the Community section as that is where my interests and contributions are probably best made.

Anyway I appreciate the potential power of people sharing their experience. I look forward to the time when most of us can sit together, face to face. I have been saddened for years by how this medium of electronic communication is misused partly because it is so limited. People can write things in response to words on a screen and never have to see the impact those words have on a living, breathing being on the other end. But for now the benefits of connecting people seem to outweigh those liabilities so we’ll use what we have while we have it to prepare ourselves for the best and worst that will come.

I don’t know when we’ll get back up north but we’re looking forward to it.
Love to you and Lisa and family,
Sally

[Sally]

So I would love to donate money and if we ever make anything beyond just keeping us going I will be looking for places. Independent filmmakers rarely make a whole lot of money.

What I do already is buy my food locally. We are not eating a lot of meat but the meat we do eat we buy from a local farmer. We buy all of our eggs from local producers and choose local vegetables over imports. The local food movement is one that could help and I talk it up whenever I can. Higher prices are to be expected as is the consistently higher quality. But even if the quality was the same I am committed to putting my money into the pockets of local people.

What I will say is that if any producer on this forum is struggling financially and wants a copy of our movie that you can write to me personally and let me know and I’ll get you a copy at a price you can afford. How’s that? Because I think it is really important that people get the gravity of the situation we are collectively facing, especially the people who are on the ground trying to make a difference. I want people to realize that sustainable food is critical and food systems that are dependent on fossil fuels, while they are more financially feasible right now, they are not in the long term sustainable. The mainstream press is not covering the incredibly thin thread the whole economy is hanging on and with oil hovering at $100/barrel and the dollar tanking things could unravel rather quickly, like in months or years rather than decades.

And yeah, it hurts a little to be accused of things that aren’t true. But not much…
Best,
Sally

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