Makation

I'm sure some people will cringe at my liberties creating this portmanteau, and for all I know somebody else already came up with it. It came about from a conversation between Brian, Clinton, and Marcin Jakubowski when we went to visit in 2014.

Some people take a sabbatical if they have a great job; they go away for a while to do research or reflection. Some go to Monasteries for that purpose, and it seems the purpose of a monastery is a pretty vital function for a society. Common knowledge has it when you get down or out about something you go see a therapist and talk it out. The idea of leaving your job or family and all your responsibilities is pretty impossible for a lot of people. And yet, when Brian and Clinton visited East Wind in 2013, it seemed that everybody was there to solve something. Not everybody was necessarily raking it in elsewhere, but there were people who had great talents that seemed to feel they were better exercised there. Particularly impressive were those who spent their time making, writing, and engineering. Even those who didn't follow any creative pursuits seemed to have something weighing on them, and their environment was key to healing or solving it.

What seems different between a commune and a monastery, both social mechanisms for escape and immersion, is the level of control you have over process as a participant. Most communes, despite their communitarian lifestyles, emphasize sovereignty over the self. Yes, you have to work together, but not being told what to do all the time was a pretty common thread in all of my reading and experiences with communes. A clear social contract existed at East Wind, and beyond that people were equal. Nobody could make you do something. It was just done if enough people agreed. There was a vote to spend money and build something expensive. The person who designed it voted against it, but still agreed to build it. Why? Because he wanted to. It is in our nature to want to build.

The book "Drive" by Daniel Pink demonstrates some good reasoning to abandon some of the typical structure of the workplace, specifically what we think motivates us. In my experiences running out of town events, going to and running youth camps, and being on vacation, I see that forcing us to make new friends, learn new things, and live differently breaks us into a new perspective. Such a shift in perspective, a change in the motivations underlying work, and a collaborative experience would be worth a lot to the right people, myself included.

So we need a place that is a monastery without religion, a commune with clear purpose, a hackerspace for the learner, and a stable home for those who want to live it. If the people making decisions can do so compassionately, patiently, pragmatically, and thoughtfully then such a destination would become a platform and an experiment. People instead of taking time off work to waste time in a hotel room could perhaps come for a weekend to meet bright people who seek conversation and a creative experience. Such destinations could become popular in many places, and they could be run differently to establish best practices on communitarian living.