Intentional Community
Date: October 17, 2004 09:33AM
Very interesting. My thoughts have more to do with abusive people and control freaks (lack of democracy within the group) since people freely leave these communes, almost weekly.
I thought the population would be nurturing folk, altruistic, socially responsible, etc. Many were, but some folks seemed like the last type you'd find at an intentional community. For instance, one member had an MBA, and ran the business affairs. She was as abusive as any corporate manager. She'd use character assassination, too, a trait which is in your list of warning signs that you are dealing with a cult.
At another commune, the founder actually went off and did "consensus" seminars/ workshops, around the country. But at her place, turnover was high. They bragged of a population of 15-20 over the course of 30 years. In reality, there were only about 5 full, permanent, voting members, and the rest were provisional , non-voting members. These generally didn't stay long. I returned for my 2nd visit 4 yrs. after the first, and saw few of the same faces. And I saw that rules were bent for the old established members. And worse, they told me one thing about personal debt when I first inquired, then after I spent hundreds of dollars visiting 3 times, they said the opposite, with no explanation and no apology (due in part because chaos rules in such places. One person will tell you one thing about rules, and another the opposite, and the old founders don't even deal with you, as you're a peon.)
These places may not be cults but are cult-like. They can harm you emotionally.
And, the whole hippie/far Left sub-culture is dogmatic and pretentious. And into excluding those it sees as un-cool.
All for now.
Lonz