![]() Readers of GR will recognize how often I point to articles in Plough magazine, which is a Bruderhof ministry. Another becoming more well-known is the Bruderhof community. We have plenty of examples of failed communities in US history, the Oneida, Amana, and Shaker being the three most famous.īut there are ongoing counter examples, the Amish being the most notable. Now compound that with the relational complexity of living in a community. First marriages in America-where lifestyle negotiations are between just two people-last only seven years on average. ![]() It’s a wonder some of these particular California communities (and hermits) lasted as long as they did. That many or most of these social experiments have risen and fallen is not news. ![]() It must be something big like this for members to so willingly sacrifice so much to try something so outlandish. I believe those are the sort of spiritual realities members of utopian communities pine for. These instincts arise from the God-shaped vacuum Augustine wrote about, that deep human longing for meaning, transcendence, and love. While the immediate reporting was great, it made me think of two larger contexts: The intentional communities that have not failed, and the religious motivations that drive utopian experiments.Ĭhristian theology has long realized that human beings have a craving for love and a suspicion there is more to life than the accumulation of material goods and running the “rat race” successfully until one dies. ![]() Here, the last of those rogue souls offer a glimpse of their otherworldly residences-and the tail end of a grand social experiment.Īs a product of the 1960’s and Northern California (Santa Cruz), my curiosity was piqued, especially since similar experiments were seen in the Santa Cruz mountains. Half a century ago, a legion of idealists dropped out of society and went back to the land, creating a patchwork of utopian communes across Northern California. It's about a particular community, Table Mountain, and about a larger movement of nearly a million people: Here, the last of those rogue souls offer a glimpse of their otherworldly residences-and the tail end of a grand social experiment.” Here’s a story that reveals more than it intends: “The Last Glimpses of California's Vanishing Hippie Utopias: Half a century ago, a legion of idealists dropped out of society and went back to the land, creating a patchwork of utopian communes across Northern California. ![]()
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