This is part of a series of articles in regard to building an intentional community. You can find all chapters here. Also, this is a draft, a point of starting the conversation so i encourage.

„Mens sana in corpore sano” said the romans but i challenge that this is correct since without a healthy spirit you can’t have a healthy body.

For a healthy intentional community we first need healthy spirits or spirits that know where they are in their journey. By being an exploring spirit we can know our self, our neighbors and our relation with nature. Therapy, men and women circles, philosophy circles, open conversations, open spiritual practices, gives us the tools to a balanced inner life.

The second line „of defense” is a healthy nutrition from food that we grow ourselfs, that we can barter with our neighbors, that we can forage from the forest or fields, that we can freshly prepare, pickel or dry. We can do animal husbandry like bees, egg laying birds, goats or sheeps, we can be good stewards of the land by having an orchid, doing permaculture or encouraging edible wildlife.

But even with a healthy body, thanks to a healthy spirit, sometimes accidents or illness will happen. We should first lean towards a natural and holistic remedy and only after to a medical solution. There will be times when nature and community will give us the solution, and other times when contemporary medicine will. We will not reject solutions based on misconceptions, fears or word of mouth, we will choose responsibly on reasonable and objective criteria.

Having medical insurance is not the first choice but a safety net. Knowing that in case of emergency we will not be bankrupt we will have the easy heart to make the right choice. And when old age will come not much will change since the support of the community, the open nature, the spiritual life and the laughter of children will be there.

Cover photo by Leonie Fahjen from Pexels.