Communing With The Campbells – Intentional Community Research Centre
Henley Herald Tamera from Anthony Campbell on Vimeo.
Greetings from central Portugal and the eco village that is Tamera. Tamera has always been on the radar as an interesting community for us to explore because it’s a dedicated research centre as well as a fully functioning intentional community. It’s goal is to lead the world into a regenerative and more peaceful world. A big part of this adventure for us is looking at system change. Tamera is an example of a community that lives and breaths big system change. The way they think and act in regard to economics is an interesting example as to how they approach every facet of their lives here.
They write that the individualism fostered in mainstream culture is a tool of economic dominance. By putting as much economic pressure as possible on the individual, the marketplace makes people dependent on it and fosters competition, greed, exploitation and isolation. Their reaction to this position is to create a different type of economic reality. They believe that an essential part of global system change is a new economic approach in which we step out of the hypnosis of monetization and redefine true “value.” They are creating a communitarian regenerative economy where people’s basic needs can be recognised and met. As much as they can, they’re working on transitioning from a private to a communitarian economy.
We have only been in Tamera a few days so we can’t speak with any authority on any of these big system change ideas and realities quite yet. But at the end of our month here I believe we’ll be in a position to assess in a more complete way how they are getting on.
I do believe that our salvation lies in community. I believe that now more than ever. This stuff that we are researching. The idea of sharing resources. Of living in communities built on cooperation, shared vision, love and trust. Of living with intention in harmony with the land. This stuff isn’t a pipe dream. It’s real and it’s happening in little pockets all around the world.
This way of life feels like common sense to me. At the moment most of us see it as a radical step into the great unknown. I’m certain this will change. It will change because people like us will make it known. It will change because we have to change. Communal living (in all its varied forms) is the future. Whilst the struggle is real I couldn’t be more excited to be part of that future; for us and for the world.
The Campbells
