2008-09-01 - 9:25 p.m.

I love where I live.

Hey if any doom should come about, and the fundamentalists should ever surprisingly turn out to be correct I am right in between

HERE :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Weather

and
HERE : (A local commune )http://www.twelvetribes.com/whoweare/our-beliefs.html

If there is a pending Nuke which is what Mt Weather is rumored to have been built for, I think as I can boast the highest fertility rate of any woman known , and I shall be let in.

Then on the flip side, if the end is near due to predictions of "Revelations" coming to be, and the moon turning blood red, perhaps my friends in the fold would let me in.

I think it hilarious that the nice folks I befriended who invited me to come visit their farm just happen to be part of the Twelve Tribes. They really do have a wonderful community just North of Purcellville which the kids and I totally enjoyed visiting. They don't seem threatening to me, but seem really peaceful and spirit filled. I feel like they really have achieved this wonderful community that so many have sought.

I truly think there is not something so scary in that communal lifestyle which is self sufficient provided that the values are truly consistent and the intentions are pure, and provided that it truly is a real COMMUNITY which supports all.

Its not unlike this local Monastary which is another of the peaceful places I enjoy visiting:
http://www.hcava.org/

SO I did find it funny that the farmers I befriended are in a community considered by some to be a cult. Perhaps indeed they are, but our nice tour and lunch today was lovely. I actually thought my Ex would fit right in and it would be GOOD for him to find a community such as that one- as I think it was the isolation which became unhealthy in our case. In communities where people are all working together like that they never end up isolated. Well, perhaps isolated from the REST of the world, but there are so many other people around that they don't end up with the isolation of one couple on acres of a farm. They have the support of the other familys, and other single adults who are there to help each other out. I was amazed at just how many folks were there and how the place was vibrant with all the essential activities for a self sustaining community. The girls enjoyed watching the ladies making the bread in the kitchen, the men working at carpentry, they enjoyed watching the appples pressed into cider, enjoyed walking the fields and picking fresh peppers they were hesitant to try, enjoyed the goat milk and banana smooties, the fresh bread, peaches and popcorn and salad with wonderful goat cheese and an abundance of veggies for lunch. It was a really lovely way to spend an afternoon.

What was funny to me is that we were there for a while before I even NOTICED that the attire of all were akin to those long farm dresses of old. It was like I was USED to that as I have a few in my wardrobe. About a year ago the look of them disgusted me, but I kept them. I envisioned singing that song "From the Ashes" by some Country singer with one of those dresses and then taking it off to reveal my pretty red dress which is the one I wore when I was painted. It was a fantasy of singing for the American Idol auditions which did happen here last year at the local Community College. Singing in the car was enough to sustain me and feel strong.

Now the look of that dress doesn't disgust me, but I realize that indeed we did live our family life akin to those of the lives of community that have become perverted from their ideals and then become known as Cults by the rest of the world.

Now what strikes me about that is that in any population there is the human nature of us all that can be open to good or evil. I wonder if in those Cults we have heard of the evil of, if the incidents of evil are really any higher than any other organized group of people. I tend to think they are not, but that because of the uniquness of their lifestyles, that we are more afraid when their dirty laundry is aired than we are when there is some evil that happened in our own backyard. In fact, I think we tend to have a hyperawareness when someting evil happens in such a community, and conversely we IGNORE it when evil happens all around us every day. Which is why I think the recent Texas case of the allegation of abuse on a commune resulted in a huge investigation, whereas no one here could give a damn when I stood up in court and testified as to what was occuring in my home right here in Lodoun.

Its like our society just can't ACCEPT evil could be present in that which is familiar and close to home, but finds it really easy to condemn it when it happen in the setting which sets off fear of the unknown.

In any case, I was apprechiative of the welcome from the farmers and farm hand I had met. I look forward to a visit for one of their Friday night dances. (Pocohantas invited me to join her on an occassion as she has joined in the dancing a few times. She brought another Master Gardener friend with her one night I was not able to come. Only today did I realize this was the same community. They are open to anyone visiting and joining as they dance old dances in the Hebrew tradition on Friday evenings. When she invited me I thought of some hippies on a commune but these folks are not as free spirited as I envisioned. Much more conservative!)

Like I started off saying, I love where I live. Once a month I can take in the Bluegrass of the Appalachians if I drive a short way West to here:
http://www.roundhillartscenter.org/

OR I can drive East to Washington D.C. to hear a traditional Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, or fantastic jazz at outside on the park grounds of the Smithsonian.

I can drive to Sheperdstown WV for some of the finest theater around that rivals that in D.C.

The diversity of the experiences is marvelous. That is a HUGE reason that communal lifestyle could never be for me personally- I cherish those diverse enriching experiences and would be horrible at the commitment to a lifestyle which requires cutting off cultural experiences.

But nonetheless, I do enjoy the visit and find those communities are some of the most peaceful places I have encountered.

If only I could learn how to capture such peaceful presence in my own home with such consistency!

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