Page 17 - C.A.L.L. #42 - Spring 2017

peaceably.” Key in this process, Laird stresses, is defining the community’s common values and its
tolerance around deviation from the ideal behavior with respect to each value.

This point leads to the next lesson:

Step 7: A community focused on inner and outer peace defines and sticks to its core values.
Harvey stresses that Dunmire Hollow’s longevity is based largely on the fact that they explicitly identified
core agreements, one of which was, in his words, “that we would try to work out our conflicts.” But he
notes that after identifying their core requirements, they made a point to let “everything else be as
flexible as possible.” Harvey counsels that the most important lesson he has drawn for how to make an
intentional community work for the long haul is to “be flexible, but don’t give up on your core
principles.”

At Dunmire Hollow, the Community’s core beliefs were tested when the community “went through a two
year period of intense conflict created by new members (who dragged in long term members through
romances).” Harvey and other long-term members insisted “that the two warring parties had to deal with
each other.” The long-term members were not willing to budge on the core agreement that they would
work openly and directly on conflict resolution. According to Harvey, “some folks left rather than deal
with the others.” While having people leave is never easy, the community stuck to its core principle of
engaging in open, honest conflict resolution. That the community didn’t back down from this principle
and was able to make it through this period of intense conflict gives credence to Harvey’s main lesson
that identifying and following core agreements is essential to community sustainability.

Songaia community has had a similar experience with conflict. As one example, they spent five years
arguing about cutting down some big trees that were in danger of falling on houses and were shading
the community’s garden and orchard. The issue kept coming up and they simply couldn’t find a
resolution. But they stuck with the issue, revisited their community values, didn’t sweep people’s
concerns under the rug, and focused on resolving the conflict even though it took years to do so. In
Nancy’s words, “Learning to live together takes work. It’s a spiritual journey. You just get more of it in
community because you have to encounter more people. Living in community provides a built in
spiritual path.”

But, as interviewees suggested, this path is facilitated by having clear agreements about how community
life will be shared. This leads to the next lesson:

Step 8: A community focused on inner and outer peace develops a system for sharing the

work.
A common theme in my interviews was that designing your community so that members are able to find
work that matters to them and that fits with their values is an important part of finding a sense of inner
peace. Additionally, deliberately designing a system of sharing the work equitably is important to
maintaining peace within the community.

Years ago, I lived in a 30-member cooperative house called Sunflower House, that was founded in 1969
and inspired by B. F. Skinner’s novel, Walden Two. I was not only a resident but also part of a research
group that systematically studied co-op procedures. We developed and tested the co-op’s work-sharing
system, the meeting system, a new-member education program, the managerial system, and more. The
results of our research suggested that explicit, agreed-upon strategies for educating new members,
sharing the work, making decisions, and coordinating managerial tasks are essential to a well-
functioning community.

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