Organic Communities
Organic communities are defined as settlements of 50 to 1000 people, based on the organic structure, and where the general well-being is the ultimate goal.
Each member becomes part of the Organic Community consciously and voluntarily. Every Organic Community has the objective of providing a way of living based on harmonious principles; offering its members the conditions and means to meet their material, social, and spiritual needs; and having the general well-being as the ultimate goal, in an integrated with other organic communities.
The Organic Community will provide an alternative way of living, different than big urban centers, where the Conscious Man can live, study, work, and grow personally-socially-spiritually in an integrated manner to his social environment, within a social order designed to meet his individual needs and achieve the general well-being. The Organic Community will stimulate solidarity and collaboration among people, as part of a harmonious social order.
The Organic Community proposal is based on the principle that the social reality can be modeled as an organic structure. Thus, society can be supported by networked organic communities, rather than big urban centers.
All Organic Communities will make up part of a network to provide each other with all goods and services they need, to ensure that material, social and spiritual needs are met.
Network of Communities
All Organic Communities will make up part of a network to produce and distribute all goods and services required, as part of a social order where the communities members work will be balanced between their vocation and the community needs.
Traditional bureaucratic production units will be replaced with networked flexible production units (communities) scattered in different geographical areas. Their production planning will be based on the population’s needs and production limitations (i.e. available resources, production capacity, etc.). There will be no chiefs or subordinate employees, but production coordinators and executors, to ensure production goes as planned. Production coordinators will be selected by their coordination skills, experience, knowledge, and leadership. Their mission will be to “make things happen”, not by commanding people, but by facilitating their tasks, including having information available to executors, easing communication between the units, ensuring resources are available, and inviting people to perform their job at a high level of quality.
Every community member will offer his service to the community, and will receive service from others in exchange, within an integrated social system where everyone will be able to perform their vocation. The money circulation will be discouraged within the community, and replaced with “equivalent production hours”, which will be the equivalent quantity of socially necessary work to be performed by every individual. This way, an equivalent number of hours will be established for every kind of activity within the community. All tasks will be equally important, but not all of them will require the same number of hours to be accomplished. For example, six (6) working hours in vegetable growing could be equivalent to seven (7) working hours in administration. So, the socially necessary work will depend on the area of work, and the number of hours an individual needs to finish the job.
Decision-making Processes
Decision-making processes will be based upon what is best for the community. When people’s consciousness have reached the organic level, under the right social stimuli and proper social organization, they stop being harmful to their peers and can overcome individualism.
Decisions should be made by consensus within an organic social order. The majority rule has the collateral effect of a losing minority that feels their option for the benefit of the community has not been accepted by others. Conflict makes up part of the decision-making process of modern societies, due to the continuous confrontation between different perspectives based on fragmented perceptions of reality.
But, we have the conviction that every decision can be ruled by the principle of what is best for all, to make decisions that lead to the general well-being. If a decision leads to the general well-being, how could it not be made by consensus? However, sometimes it is not possible to reach a consensus due to various reasons. In this case, a consultation will be made to the “Council of Wise”.
Council of the Wise:
The Council of Wise will be a board made up of people well known in the community, recognized by their experience, wisdom and judgment to recommend decisions for the community well-being. They will be elected by consensus. A minimum number of members should be 12 to ensure they represent the diversity of the community.
The community members will listen to the Council of Wise recommendations after the consultation, and then try to make a decision by consensus for the community well-being. If no decision is made by consensus after this consultation, then the majority rule should apply.
Types of Organic Communities
Every Organic Community will have its own identity and mission, with regards to the products or services they will provide to themselves and other communities.
In order to promote the diversity of products and services, each community will have at least one primary product/service that they will offer to other communities, but they can have an array of products or services for their internal use or use of others. Some communities will focus on farming, others on manufacturing, others on high technology, and so forth. There could even be communities with the mission of research and development, to offer the results of their findings to other communities. All of them making up part of a whole organic system.The communities’ system organicity will make possible to replace the market economy, due to the potential interaction and complementarity between communities, to buy and sell the products and services they need. The ultimate goal of the general well-being will serve as the guideline to make this possible.
