There are over 600 "intentional communities" in the US and Canada and many hundreds more overseas. Many were started in the '60's and '70's by counter-culture types and have become thriving communities. Others are esoteric spiritual collectives, vegan feminist enclaves, ecovillages, mushroom farms, witches covens, and what not. There is a huge spectrum of interests that draw people to form communities. I was looking through a directory of these recently and was attracted to the inclusiveness and tolerance many of these groups espouse. While I could never belong to a religious order, monastic type place, some of the others sound like life could be pretty nice. Has anyone here had some experience (positive or negative) they can share about this? Since many of us feel isolated, lacking friends, socially invisible...we are susceptible to the appeal of "tolerance and inclusiveness" espoused by the IC movement. How do people with ADD fare in this environment?

I suppose I've had quite alot....but not land based! I've been at sea in many different ships and found them good places to be...for a while. Maybe thats the good thing about ships....the voyage ends and you sail on with a new crew.

Having also seen the inside of a couple of land based ones.....I am wary.....there always seem to be underlying power struggles going on and sexual tension beneath the surface.

Give me a skipper I can look in the eye and decide if I want to ship with him.

kilt

WG, I have thought about that alot myself, and not sure about it. I have read somewhere that the only ICs that last for any length of time are the religious ones, b/c people work consciously to suppress their egos, which is the biggest problem in an IC.

I get a taste of it every year though when we volunteer to work in a week long summer camp, and it is a wonderful experience. My best friends in the whole world are there and it is the one place I feel accepted by the group. Mayhaps you could try that to see if you would like the experience. The first year wasn't so great though--it got better every year. I wish I could live in an IC with those people all the time.

Oh, another thing if you want to try this on is an organization called WWOOF (willing workers on organic farms). They are in many countries around the world and you trade work for room and board and some of them are communities. I know they have places in the US, and you can find info about them on the net. Helpx.org is a similar organization, and you can browse their catalog for free, though you have to pay $20 to join. I'm suggesting these b/c you can do a temporary stint that way to see if it's for you. Maybe you could start one for ADDs. Now that could be interesting!