Healing Collective
Quinn suggests that our way to collective survival requires us to move beyond civilization (also the title of one of his books) by creating a culture based on tribes. This tribal culture cannot be simply a return to the old ways, partly because most of us don’t know how to live that way and partly because we have learned a few things through the experiment of civilization, which we might want to incorporate. So, he calls on us to start forming tribes. Exactly how those would look like, he doesn’t say – can’t say, really – though he provides us with the example of the circus and his own small work group. Both examples point toward the central components: Tribes live and work together; as with a puzzle, every person’s contribution to the whole is necessary for the whole to function properly. This would probably counteract our sense of separation…
My vision of a healing collective seems to capture some of these ideas. The healing collective brings together people to heal themselves and others by living and working together. It also regenerates the soil through a permaculture-based food forest. The collective is made up of healers, people who can run a business, and gardeners. The collective works together by coordinating approaches to healing, which might include dance (to reintegrate the body) and learning skills.
With that typed, take a listen to this video… I am experimenting with new ways of expressing myself, so have started to play around with videos. In the first version, I sketch my vision a bit more formally. This second version tries to tell more of a story. And of course I forgot some things – like that the healing collective tends to be filled with laughter, dance, play, and touch. So I’ll probably update the video at some point… However, I am eager to hear reactions! So take a look/listen:
I realize that this “vision” I am articulating is still very sketchy, more like the draft of a draft… However, maybe there’s enough there for you to get inspired to join me in making this a reality? If so, please let me know! And, of course, you can also contribute to this process by asking questions or making comments! I am sure this will be helpful in fleshing out this picture of a healing collective – and maybe that’ll help me produce a more compelling vision.
A partial list of people/skills needed for this collective:
- Healers of all forms: Physical therapists, massage folks, counselors, empaths
- Business folks: Strategists, finance folks (accountants and financiers), marketers
- Dance teachers
- Musicians so that we can dance!
- Carpenters and people who can repair things
- Gardeners
- Group workers: Facilitators, mediators, group process guides who help us resolve conflicts
- Diversity monitors: People who ensure that all the diverse voices are heard and included
- Artists who transform the space and help integrate left & right brains
hey! you put a second version up!! excellent!! twice as interesting and exciting as the first!
what’s needed now is some basics on approx. how many people a decent beginning would need, AND, what need to be the basic rules of decorum and work.
also, what work is needed and in what conditions…..meaning: eg, maintenance of the building functionality; furnishings and their care; how to acquire and pay for all supplies and their storage, from food to electricity etc…….to work schedules and ways to ensure the work is covered and not neglected……issues of relating, which is usually the main obstacle to the success of communes….
not that you need to offer all the answers, but some beginnings of how you see those aspects forming and what about them is essential….ie, minimal income to maintain the commune….and ways to procure that…….
maybe keep us posted on whatever new comes up for you about that.
There have always been two versions… The questions you are raising are important and I think a bit premature. For example, things regarding building maintenance depend on the building… At this point, I am mostly interested in finding others who have resonance with my vision and then we can collectively develop the idea.
I am feeling a bit discouraged about the lack of resonance I am getting from this… Seems to be the story of my life: I have what I think is a great idea, try to implement it, and it just fizzles… So, I’d love more ideas on that: How can I make my vision more enticing? I think there are at least elements in it that I’ve heard others get excited about… So maybe it’s more a matter of presentation than the actual vision…
Rachel
I don’t know anything about the topic you posted, but I DO know that you should consider adding “friends” to your healing list 🙂
Good point, Io! To me, this might actually be an underlying theme in that the people who are connected through the tribe are friends…
i enjoyed your video presentation…..your enthusiasm really comes through…….your description reminds me of what was happening on the ground during the ‘occupy’ movement…….lots of things like that were forming spontaneously…….i think there is a need to learn from what went wrong there to cause it to cease despite the widespread willingness and practical efforts to make it all happen…….what will it take to make new attempts succeed to remain alive??…..i’m hoping for some answers to that question to turn this into a viable movement…..and i don’t know where they’ll come from……