Skip to main content icon/video/no-internet
icon backReturn to Entries

Intentional Communities and Daily Life

Although separate communities may share a common heritage, teachings, or teachers, no two are identical. For the purpose of describing general trends, community lifestyles have been combined here into generic groupings that cover most of the common practices. However, some communities combine features from several of the groupings, and there are considerably more options than those detailed in this overview.

It is important to note that the basic lifestyle trends for people living in intentional communities very closely resemble those of people in the mainstream. For example, farmers typically rise early, work hard, struggle financially, and go to bed early, whether or not they live in intentional communities. Suburbanites in intentional communities tend to own middle-class homes, put a lot of energy into careers and raising families, enjoy comfortable incomes, and have a lifestyle that is substantially oriented around vehicles (although carpooling is easier to manage than for their contemporaries and is therefore more common). Urban communards tend to be professionals with regular jobs, or students, or inner-city residents working with the poor and destitute or for other social causes. Ashrams and monasteries, whether urban or rural, are traditionally communal.

Ashrams and Monasteries

In the sixth century BCE, the Buddha admonished his followers to live in the sangha, or community of believers, in order to pursue their spiritual growth. In Buddhist ashrams today, as has been the tradition for over 2,500 years, disciples follow a daily schedule. The hours and activities vary from ashram to ashram, but a typical day might be structured as follows:

5:30 a.m.Wake-up bell
6:00 a.m.Meditation
7:00 a.m.Morning lecture
8:00 a.m.Breakfast
9:00 a.m.Community work
12:00 p.m.Meditation
12:30 p.m.Lunch
1:30 p.m.Community work
5:00 p.m.Meditation
6:00 p.m.Dinner
8:00 p.m.Evening lecture
10:00 p.m.Lights out

The community work might include a regular staff position in a community-owned business or managing the community's infrastructure, or performing domestic work such as cooking, dishwashing, or gardening. The latter can be organized as ongoing jobs, or residents may rotate such duties, sometimes in addition to regular staff positions. Major decisions are made by the spiritual teacher or a board of elders; daily decisions tend to be made by the work teams or the team leaders. Finances are in some instances communal, and in others left to the individual—although in the latter situation, it is commonly expected that the devotees will tithe generously. Monasteries in other religious traditions typically have similarly structured daily lives, though forms of prayer and religious studies will vary. It is common for religious orders to practice celibacy (although some groups allow householders to be married and raise families), live in dormitory-style housing, and adhere to dress code norms, often traditional to their sect. Many of these groups maintain an active lecture program, have frequent visitors, and devote considerable staff resources to providing orientations, hospitality, and training in the ways of the order.

Back-to-the-Land Communities

Although a huge and much-publicized wave of backto-the-land communities formed in the decade beginning in the mid-1960s, in the United States communities such as Nashoba (1825–1828) and Brook Farm (1841–1847) were active more than a century earlier, and new ones continue to form even now. Ecovillages are the fastest growing segment of this movement today. Back-to-the-land communities seek an escape from the chaos and rush of the predominant culture and the creation of a mostly self-sustaining village of interdependent, mutually supportive neighbors. Most often, these communities are based on financially independent households, though some adopt a communal economy, and it is typical for the daily life to be a mix of planned projects and spur-of-the-moment inspiration. Such activities as town trips, barn raisings, and community celebrations might be planned days or months ahead, while on other days such variables as weather, resource availability, or mood might determine whether the day's activities involve gardening, repairing the garden cart, or remodeling the solar greenhouse. Members commonly grow (and at times, forage for or hunt) most of their basic food, but they buy staples such as grains, oils, and spices. They often live in hand-built houses crafted from locally available materials and resources salvaged from the mainstream's waste, and they heat with firewood and passive solar design. They may use alternative technologies to generate 12-volt electricity or rely on candles and kerosene lamps; they often make many of their own clothes and household items, educate their children at home, and share child care informally. Community decisions are usually made by the group at weekly or monthly gatherings.

...

  • Loading...
locked icon

Sign in to access this content

Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL

  • Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life
  • Read modern, diverse business cases
  • Explore hundreds of books and reference titles

Read next

More like this

Sage Recommends

We found other relevant content for you on other Sage platforms.

close

Have you created a personal profile? Login or create a profile so that you can save clips, playlists and searches

close
close
close Signed In to profile You are signed in as:
close
Logged in Institution Institution