A Week of Sustainable Living in an Intentional Community

Niánn Emerson Chase

I, along with Gabriel of Urantia, founded the intentional community of more than one-hundred people who now all live at Avalon Organic Gardens & EcoVillage located in the Tubac/Tumacácori area. It was more than two decades ago in Sedona (located in north-central Arizona) that Gabriel and I, with our three small children (an infant and two-year-old twins) began the journey of striving and struggling to create and maintain a culture more sustainable than the one that dominates Western civilization and increasingly the rest of the world. Within a few months of us beginning this adventure, others started to join us in our commitment to a vision that we all shared. Together we participated in the unfoldment of an intentional community that continues to expand on many levels—quantitatively and qualitatively.

In 2007 we started a move from Sedona to the borderlands of southern Arizona where we all now are thriving in a 165-acre Garden-of-Eden setting, working hard to bring diversity and health back to the soil and pastures that for years had been used unsustainably, with soil stripped of its life and Bermuda-grass-infested fields. Now all of the pastures have been transformed into gardens and orchards or cultivated plots of combined grasses and grains for animal grazing.

Our Earth Harmony homes are surrounded by vignettes of plants and trees that not only serve as food for the many birds, bees, and butterflies that pollinate our gardens but bring beauty, shade, and food for us humans who also live on this land. Our lives are rich with friendship, good health, meaningful work, intellectual growth, and spiritual upliftment. And daily we have visitors who come to work, learn, and socialize with us.

From our beginnings in Sedona, it has always been our hope that the culture we continue to create and maintain can be an inspiration and model for others to implement in their own particular circumstances. We encourage application of universal principles within divine pattern that do not change with time but can be applied in diverse ways that synchronize with the people of an era and their place on this planet.

For us, simply stated, sustainability encompasses values, decisions, and actions that have a proper regard for all living things and their place within the divine pattern of the First Source and Center, the Creator of all.

Communities magazine has defined an intentional community as “a group of people who have chosen to live or work together in pursuit of a common ideal or vision. Most, though not all, share land or housing.” Intentional communities "come in all shapes and sizes, and display amazing diversity in their common values, which may be social, economic, spiritual, political, and/or ecological. Some are rural; some urban. Some live all in a single residence; some in separate households. Some raise children; some don’t. Some are secular, some are spiritually based, and others are both.” Like other intentional communities, the one I live in holds "a common commitment to living cooperatively, to solving problems nonviolently, and to sharing our experiences with others.”

Though our lifestyle and practices were based on the same principles in Sedona as they are here in southern Arizona, the circumstances were different there, and so many of the practical logistics of intentional-community-living in Sedona were adapted for more in-town living with much smaller gardens located a few miles from the actual city of Sedona where most of our community homes were.

Following are random events from a typical summertime week in my own life while living there that reflect some manner of sustainability.

At 5:30 one morning… I observed four mule deer—two bucks with broad racks and two does—munching the leaves off of a willow tree in the backyard where I live. They had graced my presence a couple of evenings before. Both times, at dawn and dusk, my quiet time of observation and the deer’s gentle grazing was shattered by the loud engine of a small pickup that sped down the lane of the neighboring property. My disappointment and frustration were acute as they bounded off, too soon for me, but I did enjoy having a brief morning visit with the human intruder who is my neighbor (not affiliated with "the community"). He too experienced disappointment that he had missed the deer, for he also appreciates the beauty of our natural habitat and the wildlife that shares our environment. In our occasional over-the-fence visits, we share tidbits of information one of us has learned about habitats, ours here in the Sedona area or some other place on the planet. I can’t help but think what an interesting paradox we humans are; we love wildness, and yet we disrupt it with our noisy machines.

Another early morning… as I sat under an ash tree enjoying the quiet and peace of my regular time of solitude for reflection, prayer, and meditation, I welcomed the interruption of the cry of a black hawk as he swooped down into the meadow for his daily morning hunt. I did not welcome the sudden noise of the barking dogs who belong to some other human neighbors, but I have gotten used to them and know that they won’t intrude any further than their barks. I think the hawk knows that too, for he stayed. Actually, I like those dogs; they’re very friendly and lovable, as are their human masters (who are not members of "the community"). I can’t help but think of Barbara Kingsolver’s essay "Setting Free the Crabs" where she gives some examples of the devastating impact domesticated animals have had on ecosystems. (This essay is from Small Wonder, a collection of her essays written and collected as a result of September 11.)

One day… I had to ask a friend’s forgiveness, for I had been too defensive with her when she tried to share a concern with me. The next day I had to say I was sorry to another person for being insensitive of her need for some quiet time; I had barged into her room, wanting to share my excitement over something I had read about radiant floor heating complemented by solar energy that we might be able to incorporate into some of our building projects. That same day another friend apologized to me for his display of impatience and disrespect during last week’s discussion we had where we strongly disagreed with each other over our interpretation of Jesus’ command to "do unto others as you would have them do to you."

Five afternoons, around five o’clock… I swam laps for exercise and for a change in pace from working in my home office, either in Oak Creek at Avalon Gardens or in a pool at one of the other community houses. Each time, I shared the creek or pool with others—a couple of times with my three teen-age children, another time with a seventy-year old woman, once with a new mother and her baby, and once with a group of six who all live together in one of the community homes. I never know who I’m going to see, but it is always a pleasure to interact with fellow community members who I may not have seen for a few days.

One morning… I took an out-of-town friend to Avalon Gardens where she met several community members who were harvesting organically grown fruits and vegetables. We spent some time relaxing on the deck overlooking the creek, basking in the cooling breeze under the cottonwood trees, listening to the comforting farm sounds of peacock calls, bleating goats, clucking hens, and crowing roosters. Since I had not seen her for several years, we spent time "catching up" before she shared with me some of her struggles in composing and maintaining a life that sustained her not only physically but also emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. After a two-hour conversation, we shared lunch with several of those at the garden, feasting upon the benefits of the gardeners’ hard work. In the afternoon my friend experienced soothing rest under the hands of one of the massage therapists in the community. She told me afterwards that she had not felt so relaxed and nurtured since she was a child, for her lifestyle was too fast-paced to take time for long, meaningful talks with friends or for quiet, peaceful time. Her time of "rest" was in front of the television that brought her distraction from her personal troubles and her frustrations at work.

Two evenings… I had an hour-long dinner at homes other than the one I live in. We sat around the table together, eating from the garden’s cornucopia of gifts, laughing at the humorous "human" things that come up in our daily comings and goings and shaking our heads in frustration and sadness over the stupidity and cruelty of what we observe in our discussions of current world issues.

One evening… on our way to a class where we study the philosophy and theology presented in The URANTIA Book, all four of us riding in a small compact, four-cylinder car saw a beautiful bobcat cross the road and meander on down the hillside. I shared with them my earlier observation from my home office window of a coyote family—father, mother, and baby—romping in the nearby field. We had a brief discussion about how we human beings encroach upon the habitats of much wildlife as cities and towns continue to spread into the deserts, plateaus, and forests of this country.

In another class… where Continuing Fifth Epochal Revelation in The Cosmic Family volumes is studied, I felt deeply moved by what several people shared of their own inner conflicts and processes as they struggled to become better human beings. In another group on another evening I experienced spiritual elation as I united with about twenty-five others in a prayer for peace for all peoples on this planet and for inner stamina to continue being peaceful and compassionate beings ourselves.

One mid-morning… while picking blackberries in the backyard, I thought of the migrant workers who spend their entire working careers bending over, squatting, reaching, and in all kinds of weather. I wondered about the quality of life for most of these people, whose hard, back-breaking work graces the produce departments of grocery stores all over this country. Later on, while making blackberry cobbler with those very same berries, I thanked God for the gift of healing foods.

While cleaning up the kitchen one evening… with one of my daughters, I listened to the joyful-sounding, can’t-help-but-dance-to Zulu music of the South African band Ladysmith Black Mambazo, a group of activists for world peace and sustainability for all of the planet’s human habitants. I thought of other musicians from all over the world who sing out for environmental responsibility, reconciliation amid diversity, fair distribution of the world’s resources, and justice for all of God’s ascending sons and daughters of this earth.

One afternoon… I attended the rehearsal for our intentional community school’s upcoming presentation at the "Annual Celebration of Education.” This year, besides creating displays of their academic projects and providing food that they would prepare for the one-hundred community members and projected fifty guests from the Sedona and Verde Valley areas, the children planned to perform on stage through song, dance, and poetry. As I watched the children—from toddlers to teens—sing, play musical instruments, dance, and recite their poetry, I felt a kind of parental pride for the children’s many accomplishments. I considered them all my children, regardless of the fact that only three were my biological offspring. I recognized in each one of them a sense of confidence and self-respect that is a result of living daily in a supportive, loving, joyful environment. It does indeed "take a whole village to raise a child."

As I reflect back on my week’s activities and interactions… I realize that sustainable living is artful living on all levels of reality—the material, the mindal, and the spiritual—that continues to unfold through the choices we make in how we live and in how we relate to all around us. I offer a quote from the Fifth Epochal Revelation:  "All truth—material, philosophic, or spiritual—is both beautiful and good. All real beauty—material art or spiritual symmetry—is both true and good. All genuine goodness—whether personal morality, social equity, or divine ministry—is equally true and beautiful. Health, sanity, and happiness are integrations of truth, beauty, and goodness as they are blended in human experience. Such levels of efficient living come about through the unification of energy systems, idea systems, and spirit systems." (The URANTIA Book, p. 43)

We truly have manifested the trail of beauty for which the Dineh or Navajo people have prayed for centuries, and we “walk with beauty before us, with beauty behind us, with beauty below us, and with beauty above us.”

Niánn Emerson Chase grew up on four different Native American reservations in the southwestern United States. After earning her Bachelor’s Degree in Literature/English and Education, she returned to the San Carlos Apache Reservation in Arizona where she lived and taught for fifteen years.

In 1989, Niánn Emerson Chase co-founded Global Community Communications Alliance—currently a 100+ member intentional community (at Avalon Organic Gardens & EcoVillage) located in southern Arizona in the historic southwest towns of Tubac and Tumacácori. Within the community, Niánn Emerson Chase serves as the Director of the Global Community Communications Schools for Adults, Teens, and Children, as well as serving on the Board of Elders and as a pastor.

She co-authored the books, Teachings on Healing From a Spiritual Perspective and the series of Global Change Teachings for a New Millennium and has been published in various periodicals including: New Thought Journal, Connecting Link, Communities Magazine, Quantum Thoughts, Inner Word, and the Alternative Voice, of which she is the Co-Executive Director. 

http://niannemersonchase.org/

Filed in: environment, externally authored, spirituality

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