Recognizing Legitimacy
"We didn't give up to the Establishment's legitimacy. We made our legitimacy match theirs" Stephen Gaskin from 40 Years on the Farm
Every time I watch this video I feel deep emotion and longing. I also feel a huge amount of respect for The Farm and want to emulate and learn from their success. Being able to co-habituate with over 1000 people on over 1000 hectares of land - sharing a common vision and having clear steps to get there, truly embodies a dream many of us share but few dare to pursue. Their journey from a group of spirited individuals (hippies like my parents) to a healthy and thriving community is a tale of transformation that holds a deep lesson - especially those of us who cherish such principles of: care, love, community, sharing, land stewardship.
What strikes is how they formalized their agreements into a land trust (pooling) and cooperative (peering), recognizing their own legitimacy in a world that often viewed them with skepticism. It wasn't just about adopting an alternative lifestyle; it was about proving that this lifestyle could be sustainable and gaining recognition and acceptance by themselves and a broader society.
This idea of formalization and legitimacy resonates deeply with me, especially when it comes ancient practices that civilization was built on. Ancestral wisdom, often passed down through generations is our heritage and social infrastructure. Yet, in a world governed by legal structures and monetary systems, the informal nature of these practices can often lead to their undervaluation (lack of legitimacy).
That's where the concept of Commitment Pooling comes into play. By formalizing mutual aid and resource-sharing traditions into protocols, we're not just providing a new tool for community development; we're legitimizing non-monetary economics. This process acknowledges and honors our ancestors and heritage, integrating their wisdom into our lives.
Commitment Pooling, for me, feels like a bridge between worlds. It's a way to connect the ethos of communities like The Farm with the broader global community. By clearly defining commitments and pooling resources, communities can create sustainable, self-reliant ecosystems. These systems aren't just about survival; they're about thriving - culturally, economically, and spiritually.
Just as The Farm community recognized their legitimacy by formalizing their communal agreements, so too - can we all – recognize our own legitimacy. This isn't about rejecting the existing monetary system outright but about providing a path toward well-being that respects the values and needs of different communities. It's about cultivating an environment where advocates of peace, lovers of nature, and guardians of ancestral wisdom can thrive and coexist safely, free from exploitation and violation.
By documenting these practices, sharing them (Creative Commons), we ensure that this knowledge is not only preserved but also accessible. We allow it to evolve and adapt, ensuring its relevance in a rapidly changing world.
I'm inspired to contribute to a growing community and collaboration. Whether through writing, teaching, or simply living by these principles, each of us has a role to play. The journey of The Farm, from its counter-cultural beginnings to its establishment as a respected community, shows us that with dedication, unity, and clarity of purpose, we can create spaces where alternative values and economies flourish.
Commitment Pooling stands out to me as a tool for our time, offering a pathway to recognizing our own legitimacy for practices that have sustained humanity for generations. It's about reclaiming our heritage and redefining what success looks like.
The process of pooling our commitments, to ourselves and others, is a formalization process that enables us to recognize our own legitimacy.
For me, this journey is not just about reaching the level of The Farm in terms of land and policies but about embodying the spirit of interconnection and mutual support that lies at the heart of all enduring communities. By recognizing our own legitimacy through formalization processes (writing, articulating, curating, pooling, viewing from different perspectives) we don’t need to fall under the legitimacy of others - we only need to recognize and cultivate our own.
Again …. to quote:
"We didn't give up to the Establishment's legitimacy. We made our legitimacy match theirs" Stephen Gaskin
The example of the Farm is truly inspiring. The intentional communities movement in general has provided a laboratory for trying out different, more collaborative and compassionate ways of living. Communities Magazine continues to report on those ways of living, their successes and failures and future prospects. Commitment Pooling covers a lot of ground from governance to economics to cohabitation. Within communities material exchanges can be informally managed; between communities the process needs to be formalized to assure reciprocity, that's where private and community currencies and credit clearing networks come in..