There is something remarkably different about the energy of people who have consistently and courageously lived their values for decades. They are inevitably people of faith, though often to such a degree that faith is not something they consciously think about or “try” to practice. These people just wake up and go for it day after day, and as they do, miracles large and small, fast and slow spring up all around them. The miracles catch them working, though usually what they are doing is so deeply fulfilling to them, it almost seems like play. Not to say they never face adversity, moments of doubt and frustration, crises of faith that they may not even recognize as such if they aren’t overtly spiritual. They get through by flowing with the ups and downs, using adversity as a stepping stone, continually nurturing their vision and allowing their vision to nurture them in return.
These people glow with the fulfillment of their “perfect square of life” as one of my favorite New Thought authors calls it: health, wealth, love, and perfect self-expression. Such people tend to cast an intense aura that magnetizes to themselves the people and opportunities that align with their mission. However, their rare energy doesn’t just benefit them; it can also have a clarifying affect on those who (like me) are beginning a new chapter at whatever age. The consistency and power of their heart-centered energetic patterns activate within us a greater awareness of our own core values, as well as greater clarity on how to honor those values.
As much as possible I try to surround myself with such people. I always have, though now is the first time in my life I finally feel free to design and create the lifestyle I want without having to take anyone else into account. So it’s ironic that the lifestyle I seem most attracted to is permaculture in intentional community. In an intentional community you are living in a way that is taking everyone in the community into account. And permaculture, I’m learning, is about letting nature teach you how to design your life.
I’m in Costa Rica right now, checking it out as a potential new home. Last week I spent six days off-grid at Rancho Mastatal, an intentional community I’ve had my eye on for a while. There is so much I want to say about this superb sustainability educational center offering classes and workshops in permaculture design, natural building, renewable energy, agroforestry, wilderness medicine, fermentation, tropical farm-to-table, etc., it’s difficult to know where to start! The abundant farm-to-table meals were so incredibly delicious that I sometimes wished we could all eat in silence like monks to give more attention to savoring every bite. But then the lovely people who live and work there full time, the apprentices there for a year, as well as the guests staying a few days had fascinating conversation. I haven’t visited many intentional communities in person but I have researched a lot online, and from what I’ve seen this particular community is unique in how well they integrate with their surrounding local community as well as the less-tangible quality of gentle integrity that permeates the entire project.
The former was the choice of the two founders, Robin Nunes and Tim O’Hara, from the ranch’s very beginning in 2001, to not cut themselves off from the local people but rather to work with them as much as possible. Though the ranch could save money trucking in eggs and other supplies, Robin and Tim have always chosen to buy local. In 2004 the ranch started the Mastate Charitable Foundation that empowers and strengthens the town of Mastatal and surrounding area through grants to improve community buildings and infrastructure as well as provide educational and entrepreneurship opportunities for local people. In a recent post, Jules Evans at Ecstatic Integration wrote about how few intentional communities in Costa Rica do any of this. “There is a risk that eco-communities become eco-bubbles, if they don’t interact and integrate with the country around them. A friend told me about visiting one eco-community in Uvita. ‘When I said I was Costa Rican they stared at me – I realized I was the first Costa Rican to ever stay there.’” At Rancho Mastatal Costa Ricans are more than welcome (there are a couple Ticos who are part of the core team) and receive scholarships to attend the workshops.
The second unique aspect I mentioned, the gentle integrity weaving in and out of every aspect of the ranch, a little something you can’t quite put your finger on though you know it feels really good, is also Robin and Tim’s doing. During the ranch tour Robin was forthcoming about some of the challenges the couple faced over the 20+ years since buying the property and founding the ranch in 2001, especially their struggle with burnout and handling conflict within the community. She mentioned the “invisible structures” they eventually created and implemented to allow for balanced energy exchange as well as peaceful and harmonious ways of relating. “Ah-ha!” I thought to myself, “That’s what’s making the good vibes here. These two have been building sustainably in the nonphysical world as much as they have in the physical.” I recalled that they offer an Invisible Structures Tour of the ranch too, and I signed up.
It was during the Invisible Structures Tour that I started to better appreciate and understand the transformational possibilities of permaculture when its principles are applied not only to design gardens and buildings, but relationships between people. Robin introduced me to Non-Violent Communication, or NVC, which I had heard about and was excited to learn more. All of the core team and apprentices at the ranch are trained in NVC and practice it regularly to resolve conflict. I was delighted to hear that gossip isn’t allowed on the ranch because it’s not compatible with NVC. Imagine all of the headaches and heartbreaks that policy saves!
For making decisions as a group, the core team uses consent instead of consensus, meaning that rather than getting everyone to say “yes,” it’s enough to move forward if no one says “no.” You can disagree with a proposal but still allow it, in other words.
Establishing clear, written expectations for both work load and self-care seems to have helped a lot to prevent burnout on the ranch. And for Robin and Tim, getting fairly compensated for their time and energy by charging guests for their stay and for tours (work trade is available) helped a lot, too. It was interesting to me that Robin admitted how difficult it was for her when she first started charging people. Robin and Tim are generous givers, and charging money made Robin feel like she was being a bad person. Remember what I said about how everyone feels like a bad person when they first start practicing healthy boundaries? That goes for balanced energy exchange, too. Robin said that if it had been up to her, she probably wouldn’t have continued with it, but another core team member insisted. Now she’s very glad she stuck with it because she hasn’t had a problem with burnout since.
Long before I met Robin and Tim in person I had a good idea of who they were and what they were about as I explored their excellent website and blog. They are the kind of people I talk about in the first two paragraphs of this post. Being immersed for six days in their world was revelatory and clarifying for me regarding my own vision. More on that in another post. For now, I wonder. I wonder if an intentional community that would be to my liking would be best created and lead by a couple who owns the land the community is on, like Tim and Robin own Rancho Mastatal’s land. While they share equally in decision making and profits with the rest of the core team and offer shares of the ranch after a certain number of years, ultimately Robin and Tim are the owners. I think that probably has a lot to do with the ranch’s success. Robin told me about several past core team members who had a different vision for the community and they ultimately ended up leaving.
I hear too much trash talk about intentional communities. Yes, some of them are cults and have creepy, unhealthy stuff going on. Some are led by people who take advantage of volunteers. However, Rancho Mastatal is one community that is vibrantly thriving and growing. It’s a vortex of wholesomeness, it’s stunningly beautiful, and the vibes are immaculate. The next time someone tells me that intentional communities never work out, I’m sending them to the Rancho.
Love,
Lindsay