07011 The Importance of Community

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells toll; it tolls for thee. — John Donne, No Man Is An Island

Human beings are social creatures. We live in communities composed of intricate patterns of invisible structures and systems that tessellate (fit together like a jigsaw puzzle), annidate (nestle in each other, like a stack of bowls), and superimpose (lay over like a map overlay) on each other. See 00241 for a review of these concepts. Our communities grow from the relationships of human beings in a particular ecological geographic place.

There is a dense and unfortunately strong and active network of invisible structures and their resulting systems that drive the ecological devastation of the planet as well as supporting injustice, violence, and war. We face catastrophes because too many of us make bad decisions formed and driven by the evil influences of invisible structures that make it easy to do harm to our ecologies and hard to do good.

That is not the whole story though.

We have a growing system of invisible structures of support for the ethics of caring for people, caring for the planet, and having a care for the future. Some of us now grow structures of beauty, wisdom, prudence, and stewardship in the midst of the collapsing ruins of the old and failed systems that cause such trauma for the environment and for people. Some estimates suggest as much as 1/3 of the population practices sustainable activities. The young lead the way. This great work goes forward, one decision at a time, by one person at a time, all over the planet.

The more dense and diverse these sustainable invisible structures, systems, and the networks that connect them and transfer information and resources are, the more resilient, persistent, and constant a given community or society will be.

No man or woman is an island. That is an ecological truth. We will not get to a better future as a series of individual solo attempts.

We will either all get there together or we won’t get there at all.

So right now at the beginning of your permaculture journey, look for your community.

It doesn’t have to be a geographical community, although it may become a community with a place in the geography. You may meet and be formed as a community on the internet and later become actual neighbors.

It doesn’t have to be your biological family, but it could be your family.

It doesn’t have to be permanent. It can be contingent, temporary, localized to a particular time and place. Later, under the pressure of change in your life, migration, marriage, childbirth, graduation, etc., you may find a new permaculture community where you can participate.

It can take a traditional form or be something new, invented by its community members.

The take-away is that you need a community in which you can learn and praxis permaculture.

It is easier to learn permaculture in community.

It is easier to implement permaculture in a community.

It is better to live as part of some kind of community. It doesn’t have to be a residential community in your neighborhood, especially at the beginning. It could be a virtual cyber-community.

Invisible structures are an integral aspect of your permaculture design for your good life. As long as it is hard to live permaculturally, as long as the system of power and domination holds sway, we remain at risk of collapse and failure. The collapse could be so catastrophic that it could become a generalized die-off of the human species. If this happens, we will take many more of our companion species down with us and the earth’s ecologies will be devastated for millennia.

Organizing to advance beauty, wisdom, prudence, and ecological rationality is every bit as important as insulating our dwellings, harvesting rainwater, supporting a food cooperative, etc. The work with invisible structures is not “more important” because this is not a hierarchy of values here. Permaculture is about whole systems thinking. Working with the invisible structures in your life to make it easier for people to live permaculturally is an integral aspect of holistic permaculture design and implementation.

The structures driving unsustainability may appear to be strong and powerful. Yet they are also brittle. They are houses built without firm foundations, on shifting sands. They are unsustainable. Their own internal contradictions and the success of their plans are their own points of failure and collapse. Their end on the ash heap of history is not in doubt. The only question is how much they will take down with them as they collapse and fail. Our job is to minimize and manage that descent so that we allow that which is structurally evil in our societies to fade into the sunset while we preserve the good, the beautiful, and the wise.

Here’s hope: They fight with money. We resist with time. They will run out of money before we run out of time.