It is
wonderful for me to be here today at this marvelous event. The
promoters, Scott and Sean and Debra and many others offer this festival as a
party with a purpose. The purpose has to do with no less than creating
the future. And it is recognized that succeeding with our dreams for a
better world is intimately tied to ideas and actions involving
community. Note the fair's announced theme of "creating sustainable local
community". Even though, for most, just what this means is not clear
yet, still the idea is there.
I come from deep
inside the communities movement as is recalled in my books about the New
Buffalo commune in Northern New Mexico, where I dedicated eight years
of my life, lived with hundreds of people, and helped create a dairy
farm.
As the great wheels of history churn many of us sense
that something important must change. Many sense that we are coming to
some critical cross roads. It is shocking on the national scene to
see what a low ebb of influence the progressive side has come to. Yet
there is also an expectant sense. In song and word: we hear more often
the catch phrases of transformation, new paradigm, new age, restore
the balance. I believe the pendulum has started to move. I am sure its
energy, its momentum, is directly connected to this idea of community.
Community has 10,000 aspects, but at the apex, at the vanguard, are
the intentional communities. These are groups of people controlling and
sharing actual pieces of property where the extended family can live
and work and help each other and then reach out. I call them the
church of the progressives. If they would grow 100 fold, then 10 times
that: there would be your grass roots, people powered base for a new
influence. There is your contribution to democracy: a greater equality of
the wealth. There is your answer to never ending development. There
is your challenge to the ethic of consumption and greed. There is the
security of growing food and sharing hospitality with an extended
family.
Here is the logic:
Marxism was a huge
movement. It stumbled badly because it did not respect human rights enough.
No movement will achieve the necessary strength in the United States
without recognizing the positive contribution America has made to
freedom and democracy. The communities movement is an outgrowth of
freedom and makes an advancing contribution to democracy by improving on the
one glaring contradiction in American democracy: the distribution of
wealth. Only by ushering in a new ethic of concern and generosity can
t his be done. It must be done with kindness not violence. We would
chal lenge the fear, the distrust, the violence, and the selfishness that
is coming to characterize our society. In the Aquarian spirit we must
do this without laying blame or painting some group as the source of
e vil. We need a really heavy dose of positive input. And here it is
started. We have the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, the green
valley village, this festival. This is a beginning and this is how to feed
it, to grow it. It takes commitment and dedication of wealth but the
communities movement can be made to grow. All the elements are here,
now it only lacks the will and that we will gather if we are
righteous.
More of the logic:
Marxism disparaged religion
but now a new spirituality is on the rise, which accepts all the
expressions of faith. This spirituality is extremely important and it is
very strong here, in this place, at the harmony festival. The spirit
embraces love of nature, love of people, acceptance of
interconnectedness, acceptance of humanity's heritage, including all the faiths. Now
ma ke the leap to having many permanent centers dedicated to this spirit
and be able to farm like the Amish. Show this faith can supply the
dev otion that can make a person live a life of service to good works.
Yo u can have this, but it must be in deed; and that is property shared. No way around it, fall short and you remain on the sidelines watching
these other historic forces continue the descent that the human
group, as a whole, is experiencing. This is a huge challenge, but such is
our predicament now. That is why there is a vacuum. The standard
answers don't help. Growing the economy won't do it. More education won't do
it. Sharing property will do it. Create these real property
ecovillage s then the energy will flow to you. There is a deep well of basic
intelligence in the population. Give them something to rally to that is
hopeful not angry. Give them a unifying message; give them a safety
net, lead by example. If you want the leaders of the corporations to be
mo re generous show how it's done. It is needed now. No half measures
wil l turn the tide.
This is a humble undertaking: What 'we'
would like to do is only: modify the ethic of seeking profit with the
e thic of service. All we care to do is modify the ethic of personal
accumulation with one of far greater sharing. We are only trying to
modif y the self-righteousness of religions with the new age spirit that
God is in all the tribes of humans. All we care to do is stop the rush
to pave over nature with endless suburbs and shopping centers. All we
want is that Department of Peace and a shift to investment in people
ins tead of weapons.
Yes we need something big, this is no
sma ll task. But what is stopping us? We have the freedom, some of us
have the wealth. This is new in history. Never has such a large group of
the 'common people' had such freedom or wealth. Now is the time to use
these. What indeed is stopping us? It's the will, the vision, and
that is coming, it is right before you here at the Harmony Festival.
People sense there is more we can do, much more. Now it is coming into
foc us, and now the time is coming for a vanguard of a million or so to
create these ecovillages on community centers and especially on farms.
Now I forgot to tell you that there is going to be a
quiz, so if you want to go over this stuff, now is the time for questions.
Live long and prosper.
See more of this view in Kopecky's
books and at www.arthurkopecky.com
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