Living in Intentional Communities: is it for You and Your Family?

Living in Intentional Communities: is it for You and Your Family?

An intentional community is a residential community that is designed or planned around a certain theme, religion, or even a philosophy. If you are a person who desires to live in one, it would be worth evaluating some of the aspects and features of an intentional community and determine if you and your family would be suited for it.

Typically, residents of an intentional community hold common social, spiritual, or even political beliefs. Unless you are considering being converted or changing your life views, moving in an intentional community may not be the wisest move for you and your family. However, if you have long been a practicing member of an organization or spiritual group that has its own intentional community, then moving into one would probably lead to advancement and improvement of your way of life in general. Other common themes driving intentional communities would be interpersonal growth, egalitarian values, and even providing services to a certain group of people.

It would also be good to know that a typical intentional community imposes rigid rules in screening those who would wish to come and live within the property. Typically, there is a selection committee that does interviews and grants provisional memberships to applicants. This provisional membership typically lasts for a specified period of time such as six months or a year in which you and your family would be evaluated in how much you have adhered to and have come to practiced imposed rules and ideology.

If you are also planning in residing in an intentional community, it would also be good for you to know the kind of governance system the community practices. Though most of them often practices democracy in regards to the formulation of rules and decisions, some may have recognized individual or group of leader. If you and your family have long been used to a relaxed and casual way of life, an intentional community with an authoritarian system may not be well suited for you.

However, the term intentional community is broadly defined and encompasses a lot of subtypes. Intentional communities could also be cohousing communities or be termed as land trusts, ecovillages, ashrams, housing cooperatives, or even communes. One type may appeal to your sense of community and another may not so it is still advisable for you to make some effort to learn more about the intentional community and what it stands for. If you know of a nearby intentional community, it would also be advisable for you to come and visit in order to observe the lives of the residents on a day to day basis.

The attraction of an intentional community lies in the fact that the members enjoy a strong sense of community as well as security within it. Because members are rigidly screened and each resident is well familiar with his or her neighbors, there is little chance of an unknown interloper or stranger coming in. Some communities may even share incomes and some have charitable activities that may appeal to your sense of purpose and idealism.

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