Since moving into an intentional community, my ears zero in on the word. I notice I hear it a lot. So I looked it up and I was correct in my suspicion – it is over used! Yet, in my search, I found some great articles. The one below shows what I was looking for, and why.

“The difference between a community and a network is that you belong to a community, but a network belongs to you. You feel in control. You can add friends if you wish, you can delete them if you wish. You are in control of the important people to whom you relate. People feel a little better as a result, because loneliness, abandonment, is the great fear in our individualist age.” Quote from the article below.

I think that idea of communities that form now online (some of which I am so grateful to find since leaving cohousing) permeate into cohousing. The idea you can delete a friend, stop following pages you do not agree with is what happened in our community. Can intentional communities survive these ideals and learn to disagree and live with others who disappoint you or make mistakes?