| A-WAY-KIN ECOvillage
Community
Before we explore our ideas for the community it is important to know that
it cannot become a reality without your help. The beautiful 360 acres, 25
minutes outside of Gimli is $134,500 dollars from our reach. We hope after
reading this vision for the community you’ll share our passion for a
healthier way of life, present your own ideas, and make an effort to support
this path. You may find that this write-up contains more vision than
concrete plans and answers. The reasoning behind this is that the project is
community based, therefore all members should be able to voice their
opinions and learn how to contribute to important decisions. We are
providing a direction you may relate to and if you’d like to explore further
we want to give you the opportunity to sculpt the project and help us find
the answers. Problems will certainly arise in any community so it will be
beneficial to develop skills, in the beginning, for dealing with problems
and solutions. If you do need specific questions answered please feel free
to ask them.
Simplicity
The community we wish to start will be an alternative to the lifestyles
present today. Most people are caught in a trap, continually working for a
goal or reason that may not be right for them. We need to stop and think,
what do we want out of life? What are we working for? For most it is
acceptable to work for decades waiting for retirement and stability, but
what about the life you’re leaving behind? For some it is unacceptable to
wait for goals that probably won’t bring them happiness. What options do we
have for something else? What we are trying to start is a community where we
can enjoy the now.
We’ve convinced ourselves that luxuries bring comfort, but it is not
uncommon to find someone feeling stressed or anxious. We put our lives aside
for these luxuries, working so that they may be affordable, but do they
bring you contentment? Putting aside the desire for wealth you will find you
already have everything you need. This community is not right for everyone,
but if you’re trapped, forced to work in a society that doesn’t coincide
with your path then join us in designing an escape route. Leave behind your
conveniences and you will find where real contentment lies.
Enviro-Mentality
The environmental crisis is far worse than any other period in
history, if serious steps are not taken to radically alter the way we live
our children may not have a future. Recycling, conserving energy, using less
water in homes are baby steps that deal with the symptoms of environmental
deterioration and not the underlying causes.
“The result is like administering cough syrup to a tuberculosis patient; the
coughing may abate, but the untended disease may yet kill.”* The basic
disease is the deterioration of the life-support systems of the planet and
the consequent lowering of Earth’s long-term ability to support people. The
causes of the deterioration in life support systems are overpopulation and
continuing population growth, rising per-capita consumption, economic
growthism, governmental inaction, the use of inappropriate technologies and
the inequitable distribution of wealth and resources. It is on this commune
that we can address these causes. Drastically reducing our consumption,
economic reliance and technologies will bring us in a closer communion with
the environment. Taking action as a community and sharing wealth and
resources will create a close relationship with the friends around us. It is
in the development of these relationships that we can easily make the huge
jump from destroying the land to appreciating all that it has to offer.
Creativity
As we come together to create a more simple way of life, the support net
will alleviate the fears we have on our own. With stress, anxiety and fear
drifting off we are shown a clear picture of the person inside who was
always too busy to reflect. Without fighting the world, appreciation quickly
swells inside and we begin responding to our environment. One way of
responding is through our creativity, a natural part of everyone. In the
community we will focus on unlocking the creativity inside, watching it
develop into endless entertainment. Painting, music, dance, acting,
sculpture, pottery, drawing, cooking, writing, sewing, building; anything
that comes through you naturally will be an asset to the community’s growth.
Discovering your inner creativity will unlock your individual expression for
living.
Spirituality
Another development that will arise as you leave your distractions is a
sense of mystery. In this community we will urge people to explore the
unknown, ask questions as to why we exist. This wonder is the basis of
spirituality. We will not follow any doctrines, and will not force any
beliefs, because everyone has their own journey inwards. What we offer is
the freedom to take this path without the pressures of social conditioning.
The most important person to each of us should be ourselves, why not give
yourself the opportunity to develop that relationship? As you find joy
within you will find yourself sharing it with others. As you become aware of
yourself at every moment, through meditation, you will find yourself less
angry, less jealous, less greedy, opening yourself to happiness. As you let
happiness take over you will begin to see that your essential nature is no
different than that of another. It is then that we will find unity and truly
see what it means to be a community.
Equality
Racism, Sexism, Ageism, Faithism, Ethnocentrism, Nationalism, Homophobia
are all aspects to society we are more than willing to leave behind. In the
journey to awakening you begin to understand your essential nature and as
you grow in these realizations you begin to see that your essential nature
reflects that of your neighbor’s, a stranger’s and your enemies. With the
realization of great oneness there is no reason to create divisions because
you will understand that you will only be creating divisions within
yourself.
Naturally
Community is an idea that extends to the very beginning of human kind, but
as we observe the world as it is now we have lost the meaning. No longer do
we depend on one another, no longer do we trust one another. Submerged in
nature we can rediscover the meaning. We are set on destroying forests and
natural ecosystems without seeing the great lessons they offer. The land is
the root of our existence yet we are content ignoring it. The natural world
knows how to trust itself, it knows that it depends on everything around it
for survival. That is why the community will be set in a natural landscape.
Depending and trusting nature will teach us to trust and depend on ourselves
and consequently the community. With this relationship we will fall in love
with what this world offers, we will appreciate and respect every tree,
every plant, every rock.
Necessity
As we move into this new territory countless difficulties will undoubtably
arise, but we hope that will not sway anyone from taking the step forward.
We are dedicated enough to work through anything, and we hope to find people
who are willing to make the same effort. It is far easier to sit and dwell
on everything that could go wrong, but it will be much more gratifying to
take action and see this thing through. We are not hiding from the
conveniences of modern times, we are trying to move beyond them, though we
will take what we need so that the community can live harmoniously. On the
land we will discover that this is not an act of sacrifice, because the land
is willing to offer everything we need. Through our journey into creativity
we will develop a market that the public will surely find valuable, creating
the revenue we need to push forward. The road to simplicity may be difficult
for some, but the rewards will be enough to keep us moving through anything.
If you wish to remain skeptical, that is your decision, but we ask those who
dream of more, please help us make this a reality, please help make the
difficult road easy.
*Healing the Planet, c) 1991, Anne H. Ehrlich & Paul R. Ehrlich | 
