Anatomy of Sharing

by Chris Burns

www.fullcirclefamily.blogspot.com

 photos courtesty or Full Circle Family

There are many of us on the Earth at this time that sense something new, something different and exciting. This new feeling is unlike what we’ve become accustomed to and formerly believed to be the Truth about Life’s purpose and meaning.

The search for answers to age-old questions is accelerating at an enormous rate, and it certainly seems as though what appears to be ‘evil’ is expanding as quickly as what appears to be ‘good.’ Some believe, as I do, that seeming ‘evil’ is driving the emergence of what we call ‘good.’ We could say that the ‘negative’ is actually a prod to progress. If this can be accepted as a truism, then we can most certainly expect the dawning of great goodness in our midst.

I can see it!! I have great hope and faith which I attribute to the presence of a Presence beyond my human comprehension. When I allow myself to become still and attune myself to this Greater Presence that I shall refer to as ‘God’ (any word could be substituted here), I can quite readily ‘feel’ this Presence as actual physical sensations that are quite pleasant and reassuring. I know also that many others also ‘feel’ this ‘Presence.’ I am writing this with the realization that this Presence wishes to speak through me as a conduit, to convey a message to all who desire to receive it.

If you sincerely embrace the belief in ‘God,’ then you also believe that all of Creation is of God, and that there could be no other force in this Creation that God is not aware of, and does not allow to be. And if you believe that God is Love, then it must also be true that Love is your own nature. And if this God/Love permeates Creation, then we have our being in this vast field of a Presence capable of transforming any condition that seems to be other than loving. Certainly our known human history is filled with examples that reflect the consequences of our choices to act in ways that are unloving.

So where does this concept of Sharing enter in? How can sharing change what seems to be Reality? That’s what this article shall attempt to clarify. This little article will attempt to awaken within you a vision of ‘what could be’ if and when Sharing is accepted as Reality, as a way of living together on this planet.

This concept of sharing referred to herein goes far beyond what most of us have experienced. We’ve all grown up being taught a reality that is based upon the acquisition, ownership and control of persons, places and things. This concept of reality is the ‘cement’ that binds us to a life of ‘getting for ourselves.’ With some exceptions of course, we tend to ‘share’ as a matter of convenience, only when we’ve acquired sufficiently to cover what we perceive to be our own needs first. We share our ‘excess.’ We know of no other way, and often wish we could give more. But there is a way of being that creates enormous wealth, but it requires a profoundly radical way of seeing past our current conditioning and stretches the imagination to far-reaching limits.

In the 60’s and 70’s, I think most people who heard the word ‘commune’ immediately thought of hippies, and all they were associated with at that time, much of it true. I am a survivor of those times and spent a good portion of my life deeply involved in the communal movement. Now, 40 years later, I’ve been revisiting those experiences as objectively as possible, asking myself what I have learned.

In 1968, fresh out of high school, I left home and joined a newly formed communal group in the San Francisco area. Many young people did at that time. There seemed to be an explosion of alternative lifestyle experiments coming out of those tumultuous times, and the Bay Area seemed to be at the heart of political, social, spiritual and economic changes that caught the attention of the entire world. Many or most of these groups assumed roles as counter-culture factions ‘opposed’ to the system of capitalism and the ‘evils’ of war, greed and the exploitation of the earth and its people. So many were ‘reactive’ instead of ‘pro-active,’ against something rather than for something. Many that survived to this day, and many that have formed since, consider themselves to be in service to the world-at-large. Many clearly demonstrate that a cooperative, sharing form of economy has many advantages that most of us only dream of having, i.e. a sense of belonging, extended family, reduced consumption, rich social environment, leisure time for the arts, shared responsibilities, support groups, abundant opportunities to share skills and knowledge, etc. etc. I would love to be a part of that kind of project again. There is so much to share as far as experience, insights and practical skills. Are you progressive minded, adventurous, bold and committed to making the world around us a better place, even if only a little better?

The communal lifestyle makes good economic sense! The way we live now, each of us needs a car, fridge, computer, TV, phone bill, utility bill, wood stove, power tools, stereo or whatever, and we buy our food in little cans, bottles or boxes instead of in bulk. Ten people go shopping in a vehicle, go home and prepare 10 separate meals and 1 person can easily wash dishes for 10. One person can easily go shopping for 10 as well. And 10 people don’t need 10 refrigerators, half full, each burning electricity.

When those ten people come together and make an inventory of what they have in the way of skills and material things, they might discover that amongst them they have enough musical instruments and equipment to set up a music studio, start a performing group, or even a recording studio. Perhaps these 10 people have enough woodworking tools to set up a fine shop to produce wooden children’s toys, small furniture, picture frames, or whatever.

Or perhaps amongst these ten people there are some passionate gardeners with all of the knowledge and equipment to build some greenhouses and start up a nursery and organic farming operation which could tie in with a landscape service, recycling yard debris, grass and leaves for composting, OR a gardening operation could dovetail with a Café/Salad/Juice Bar operated by the same 10.

What I’m showing you here is how the principle of synergy works when applied to a communal lifestyle. When you look at what is needed to support 10 separate individuals and compare that to what is needed to sustain 10 sharing individuals, it all begins to make good sense. Only a few examples to illustrate the efficiency of communal living have been given here, but the concept of sharing can be applied across the board. A group of ten people (I’m choosing an arbitrary number, could be more or less), if they were committed to making it work, sort of like a marriage or any relationship, could create a stable and secure unit with increased opportunity for personal grown. They can enjoy a rich social life with more leisure time to explore other interests. The benefits are probably too numerous to mention and are limited only by the imaginations of the people involved.

Some people are great organizers, some are great with kids, some love to build and fix things, while others manage money well. Some people would spend all day growing food if they could, while others love to cook and bake. Some people are caregivers, doctors, dentists, while others love to maintain automobiles and things with engines. Some people like to make clothing and some love to sing and play music. We need all of these creative people, and any that weren’t mentioned (all that are Earth-friendly and non-violent, of course.)

When you get all of these people working together in a sharing fashion, there’s really no limit to what can be built and accomplished. Once you make the shift in your mind, in your way of looking at things, once it ‘sticks’ you begin to see that sharing opens up the way to unlimited possibilities. Keep looking at it. Allow your imagination to go wild. What could it be like if we began to believe that this world and everything in it were truly intended to be shared for the good of everyone, where no person was left out, and yet the Earth did not have to pay the price for our consumptiveness?

We don’t need to concern ourselves with the whole world though. The world only changes when each of us changes. Most of our work needs to be done within ourselves. The choices we make as persons as to how we live each day determines our effect upon our world. Yes, it’s good to get involved in social change at the political level, but if one’s consumption supports the very things we would like to see change, then essentially we feed the problem with one hand and fight it with the other. The way that we spend our money speaks louder than our words.

When people are divided into small nuclear family units, they consume more of the Earth’s resources. An easy way to illustrate this concept is to imagine the packaging materials to deal with when you buy 50 one lb. boxes of rice as compared to one 50 lb bag of rice. Same amount of rice, not only less expensive in bulk, but look at the reduction in the waste stream. Again, apply this concept across the board and get an idea of the tremendous efficiency of a sharing economy!

Is it any wonder that so many people use drugs and alcohol as a means to try to escape the stresses of what we’ve come to accept as the real world? This so-called real world demands of us that we throw away (or at least put aside for a time) our childlike qualities, our sense of wonder, awe, innocence and insatiable curiosity and enter the process we call education where we are taught, by those who’ve gone before us, what those people say will prepare us to enter into the ‘real’ world and compete for our piece of the pie. So here we are! Trying to make the best of a situation we were born into, ignorant of the possibility that there are any other options available.

The importance of honest and open communication cannot be stressed enough. Communication is like the lubrication that allows for the free flowing growth and movement of feelings and ideas that keeps everyone in touch with what is going on. A communal family should be seen as, and treated like, one body. Each person or each function of the group can be seen as a separate organ, the heart, the lungs, the eyes or ears and so on. Each organ has a separate and unique function but could not do its job without the rest of the body. The body can only function in a state of good health if the energy flow, the nerve signals and the arterial system are not blocked.

Communication is the essential flow of Love, first of all coupled with ideas, inspirations, feelings and support. In an ideal world perhaps we would only experience so-called ‘positive’ or ‘good’ feelings and never feel anger, worry, fear, doubt or frustration. But who can say with any real honesty that this range of feeling and emotion has been put to rest within themselves? I certainly can’t. And if I can’t, would it be fair to expect others to have it all together emotionally? Honest communication must allow for the expression of these so-called negative feelings. If they cannot be aired and heard without judgment or blame, then they must be stuffed inside and repressed, and there is nowhere to put them but somewhere in the physical or emotional body where they become an affliction. Most of us actually feel embarrassed or guilty at the idea of admitting that we have/feel any thoughts or feelings/ desires that are less than loving. I don’t think that any of us really want to be controlled by anger, fear, frustration, not our own nor anyone else’s! So what can we do to take the edge off of the potentially dangerous and destructive elements of our humanity? I think that here’s where we look at the mechanisms of denial, avoidance and self-sabotage. The first step to neutralizing or finding a solution to any seeming problem is to acknowledge its presence.

It’s like a gremlin lurking in the shadows. As long as we don’t know it’s there, it can cause all kinds of problems. We remain confused and bewildered, pointing the finger at what we believe to be the cause of our problems, and repeatedly missing the mark. The gremlin’s job is to divide and conquer. It keeps sending it’s little messages like: ‘He doesn’t really care about me,’ ‘What does he really want?’ or ‘Don’t trust her, she’s only our for herself!’ or ‘This relationship is too hard, life should be easy.’ This metaphorical gremlin is us. It’s that part of each of us that we are afraid to look at, afraid to admit to ourselves. The only weapon we have against our gremlin is Humility! It comes from the same root as the word Human. To be Human is to be Humble. Both words come from the word Humus, meaning soil, so to be a Humble Human would be living close to, or down to earth.

An extended family or communal family needs to establish a kind of communication that embraces the full range of feeling, emotion, ideas, inspirations in order to have any change at succeeding as a healthy functioning body!