Community in the Digital Age

GGGrandFather, Solomon Gerheart (Left)

Webster defines community as society in general. This seems very rather impersonal to me. I like the definitions that defines community as “the condition of living with others, friendly association and fellowship." Most Americans think of community as a place where they feel wanted and safe. Unfortunately with the unrest and turmoil within the world today, some still search for this sense of belonging and safety. 

The idea of a utopian community is not new. There have been more than a few experimental communities in our history. Some have remained such as the Shaker’s community; others are long gone. Communes that had a social purpose such as a “service commune” had great staying power, such as the Koinonia Farm in Georgia. Founded in 1942, Koinonia tried to bring racial integration and farm technology to the rural Southern poor. In 1970, there were 2,000 communes, more than at any other time in history as people strived for a better way of living in society away from the city’s hustle and bustle. They wanted a simpler life, a more natural life than what the bright lights and machinations could give them. The most extreme experiment was the Oneida colony. The Oneida colony was founded by Humphrey Noyes in New York State in…. This group practiced a form of group marriage. It was the most radical and controversial utopian community in United States history. Noyes called his group “Perfectionists.” This group started out as a bible study group in Putney, Vermont. Followers believed that Christ demanded and promised perfection on Earth. At its peak, more than 200 people belonged to the commune. They practiced “complex marriage” or what may be more akin to what the 1970 hippies may have called “free love.” In his pamphlet, “Slavery and Marriage,” Noyes stated that exclusiveness in a love relationship was un-Christian. He also felt that marriage was demeaning to women because it forced them into unwanted pregnancies and menial work. Children were raised communally in Oneida instead of by their parent. 

After failing at farming, the Oneida commune turned to manufacturing steel traps, travel bags and silverware which also contributed to their income which was also shared communally and business was ran by committee. Eventually due to public condemnation of their sexual eccentricity, they were forced to give up their group marriages, and many entered into traditional marriages. They gave up communal ownership of property and became a joint-stock company in 1881. Founder Noyes, under prosecution for adultery, fled to Canada. Currently they have continued  as one of the world’s largest designers and sellers of stainless steel and silver-plated cutlery and tableware, operating in the U.S. Canada, Mexico and Latin America, where they market and distribute tabletop products such as flatware, dinnerware, glassware, kitchen tools and gadgets. 

Now in the digital age of the 2000s, this yearning is again making itself known. People are returning to farming, gardening, recycling, reusing as they learn to take care of the Earth’s resources and build a better community for their children and in doing so, sowing the seeds of regeneration in a world that had seemingly been lost in the technological bubble. People are learning to use technology as a tool but not as a crutch. As people strive to keep their sense of community, which at one time was very narrow and local, we now have to realize that we live in a global community and that, at humans, we all share common goals and needs; among them, adequate healthy food, clean air and clean water, safety from the elements and from oppression. These we need and want to sustain us and give us the ability to choose one’s own actions and fulfill ones’ dreams of a better future for ourselves, our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren as well. And as we do live in this global community, we should want this for our neighbors as well in the spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood. These are the highest ideals of the utopian community. It will remain to be seen if any society can achieve all of those goals on a collective scale but even so, we have to try. We are all one big family on this big, blue marble. Let’s try to be a happy one. This may sound like a Pollyanna way of thinking but not a bad idea if you ask me. For more information about current communal living experiments, “Intentional Living or the “Co-Living” models, visit The Fellowship for Intentional Community. Namaste! – Rev. Marie
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(This is a repost from "The Norton Post")