 
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 92 14:28:09 EDT
From: wce@hogbbs.scol.pa.us (Bill Eichman)
Subject: continuing possibilities of university
To: +dist+/afs/andrew/usr/js9b/Public/camc.dl@andrew.cmu.edu
Message-Id: 
Organization: The Heart of Gold BBS, Lemont PA
Comments: Validated



>From: "Jon C. Slenk" 
>Subject: argh

>Look, I'm going to have to kill both Tom and Bill. This is only because
>they are generating so much text that I find it difficult to keep up, and

ROTFLMAO

>to see other folks. I think it would be wonderful it we could have
>communities that allowed, expected and encouraged a lot of travelling
>amongst them (so there would always be places to stay and work to be done)
>to keep the interactions alive and vital, and the ideas moving. Lack of
>communication and physical presance will serve only to degrade us and
>prevent us from blooming.

This is such an essential part of my basic vision for these communities
that I'm expecting to make it a section unto itself in the 'platform
paper for communities' that i'm trying to write....

I think we can start out with this by making sure we've devoted the
proper level of energy towards our own internal transportation system.
Having good cars and small buses in the community, and finding, or
training from within, some mechanical types to keep them in good running
order. Developing the skills of buying cut rate airline tickets, train
tickets, and the like should get a high priority also. If each community
takes some responsibility for running an informal transport network
_between_ communities, we should be able to travel around at costs, and
with a conveinience, that most others can only dream about.

The key part is the ideal of it, wanting to do it, and sharing that
ideal with other communities. And communications-- we've got to be able
to keep in touch with each other, to be sensitive to the changing needs
and population patterns, so that, for instance, southern communities
don't get over-crowded in winter, and so that a community with money
problems isn't asked to provide for too many unneeded guests. A computer
network between the communities could, of course, accomplish this
easily.

This is the type of stuff I'm trying to condense and present in the P21
book. The meme of 'the Network of Independent Communities'.
----
Some themes:

Good Homes
Good Work
Good Schools
Good Food & Drink
Good Leisure
Good Mobility-- transport between communities goes in this theme
Good Health & Care
Good Death

What other basic categories of community process are there?
----

>On the problems of having responsibilites: I guess ideally I would find a
>female who is independant and who does not subscribe to the whole rat race
>(or who is willing to get away from it), who can take care of herself so
>that when there is a "marriage" (I don't know what this would be - legal,
>religous, verbal, whatever) nobody gets burdened. Admittedly, things must
>change when children come into the scene, but perhaps we should examine
>the ideas of extended familites (namely, the other people in the

I think my basic point in talking about the issue of women (and
children) at all is to encourage everyone to try to make the best mate
choice, to seek the best lovelife, that they can.

I tend to think that this is the central "Mystery Quest", the primary
biological/emotional/creative theme, of young adulthood. The finding of
a mate, and the building of a strong and healthy nest/relationship.

In our culture the whole subject of finding love and building a good
relationship is handled incredibly badly, surrounded by romanticism and
sex taboos and all types of painful parental imprints and tv-generated
false expectations.

Love and sex is an incredible jungle of experience for we humans.
Gaining our genetic immortality by bonding with a woman and raising
children is both a hardwired biological imperative, and a transformative
choice. Your love choices shape your future more profoundly than most
people imagine.

If you're not already mated, then make your choices count. There are
extraordinary women out there-- but extraordinary women sometimes
require extraordinary efforts to find and to love.

>From: Thomas_Price@kanga.fac.cs.cmu.edu
>Subject: Re: possibilities of university

>Inventor Jacob Rabinowitz: "You are the cream of your generation."
>
>Voice from Back of Room: "God help the skim milk!"

Ain't that the truth.

>>What methods have you found to be effective?

>Applied metaphysics. A serious study of philosophy has reduced the number of
>things I find to be really interesting.
>Finding answers for questions such as "what is meaning, what is the true nature
>of man" -- you know, stuff like that -- tends to eliminate interest in
>activities based on false notions or which imply mistaken goals.

Well, I understand pretty fully what you mean. I've spent quite a bit of
time studying philosophy and practicing psychological and spiritual
exercises myself. I know the 'free-ing' effect of these pursuits.

Somewhere in my collection I have tapes of myself teaching an
'introduction to esoteric work' class-- I'm expecting to be revamping
and distributing them in the near future-- they might give a sense of
the way I approach this business of philosophy.

But, what I wanted to know is what have you found to be effective in
potentiating the minds and beings of your friends?? Not -what- you
study and communicate to them, but more the _how_, and an analysis of
how well your methods are working.

I've found that potentiating others is the one of the hardest kinds of
human work imaginable. A clear understanding of what your experiences,
successes, and failures have been might help me.

It's not necessary to give me the stock answer of 'well, there are no
successes or failures really, there's only experience, and all
experience leads to growth for all experiencers...'. I'm well aware of
this, and I suggest that there are levels of practice where despite the
inherent nuetrality of human endeavors, thinking in terms of what works
and what doesn't leads to quantum leaps of ability.

---
Related to this in my mind is that ever-recurring idea of a
'university'; a specialized school, academy, library, workshop,
business incubator, ad infinitum. A 'university' that teaches the
philosophy and psychology of community, as well as architecture,
agriculture, arts and crafts, and planetary economics.

Sounds like you might be able to produce some of the 'instructional
material' that this community university is going to have stored in it's
databanks.
---

>One could live in a sequence of group houses, which are very ordinary, but
>for two exceptions: 1) each house has some special experimental emphasis,
>e.g. in the current Ashram it is "let's build a creative community" in
>future it might be "let's have a vegetable garden and make it as productive
>and efficient as possible" or "let's take this situation to encourage each
>other to pursue spirituality and have semi-regular meditation sessions" or
>"let's all take the situation to encourage each other wrt our small businesses
>on the side" or what have you, and 2) each house is always packed with
>"ringers" -- the most extraordinary people that can be found from anywhere in
>the country. During all this time, ideas are tossed around which are much
>more radical than the ones which are actually being implemented; connections
>are made, etc. etc. Eventually there will be such a large community of
>people connected in one way or another to these houses and the people in them,
>and so much practical knowledge will have been gained, that the time will
>be ripe and a group of people will very naturally combine in a situation
>that is more complex and permanent than any of the previous, and will
>implement most of the previous "experiments" as done deals.

I quoted all of the above in order to emphasize that I agree with this
plan completely, and to say that I'll try to do my part here in .scol,
and to urge you and others to put energy into this idea of grooup
houses.

Each such house is 'university' in action.

Although I myself live ten miles from town, and have for years, I've
been closely associated with nearly 20 different community house efforts
here in state college. Community houses have always been a big part of
my life, and a big part of my communities vision.

For the past year I haven't had a 'second home' house in town, and I'm
missing it terribly. I've concentrated on other, more private pursuits,
but I'm hoping to have a new, more solid than ever group house in town
within a year. (In a sense, exploring the network has become my 'group
house' during the past year or two...)

I tend to think that there's a 'science and art' to group houses, which
is a whole topic in itself. I've been thinking about publishing a
comic-book like publications talking about the 'home economics' of group
houses, sometime in the next couple of years.

Have you read any of the Kerista material? I find a lot of their stuff
pretty applicable to the fine art of group house living.

How's your new group house going these days?

I'm expecting to buy a laser printer soon-- I'm makin' myself dizzy
reading computer shopper and trying to figure out what to buy to get the
best possible DTP printer for my hardwon dollars. A laser printer, a
scanner & OCRware, and memory-- my basic contribution to the
'university' this year. I'm keepin' my fingers crossed... ;-)

Later, Bill


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