Join an intentional community

Can anyone give me any advice, like on where to start?

I’ll be turning 18 soon, and I want to start off my adult life in an intentional community.

Some of the coops apparently have openings, so unless my job doesn’t work out, I’ll move into one of them soon.

I’m in the process of joining an Intentional Christian Community where I’ve been living for almost 3 years (without shared finances, but I’m now in the process of committing my finances). Living in close community with people who have shared perspectives and a communal rather than individualistic take on life is a real blessing. Don’t get me wrong, it comes with challenges and logistical annoyances, but it is soooo worth it.

I find it funny that more people want to start a commune than join an intentional community. I wonder if there are really more founders than joiners or is it that people are more familiar with the word “commune.”

I was a member of a co-op house for a few years and it was great. Unfortunately I moved out. I hope to live in a similar situation someday.

I’ve lived in my present community for 30 years. For 5 years before that I lived in a series of collectives, coops, communes, etc. There is no better way to live.

Burning Man is just a temporary community, lasting one week, but it was such a great experience to see this in practice with such a large group. It is possible.

We are saving money, helping the earth, and living the life we always dreamed of… who could ask for anything better? My community-mates are my closest friends, and my soul-support system. I encourage anyone who is considering living in community to research, plan, and GO FOR IT!

A new goal – my research so far as lead me to a database of communities: http://directory.ic.org/iclist/

... the one with the sign at the coop. He has alot of great energy and his vision of community gels with mine: political and social activism, spirituality, green living, art, a diversity of ages, races, sexual orientations, family structures, etc. His group isn’t planning on building a place to live together—instead they are talking about buying up the houses in a specific neighborhood in Minneapolis and then working together to build additional communal structures. It was interesting, though, that no matter how similar we are, I was really struck by our differences. Our conversation on spirituality is an example.

He was talking about going door-to-door and inviting people to join his Quaker church. I want to find a way to include everyone in community without asking them to change who they are. To say, “what’s most important is that we come together, as a community. Not that we all share the same beliefs. In fact, our community is richer because of your individuality.”
The same goes for art and political activism and all the other visions the community has. Not just one person’s visions, but the visions of the entire community.

For a new group that’s just forming. Who knows if we’ll click, but I left a message.