Group Challenges

The 'human behaviour' challenges are starting to show up in the development of the coop and we need to get talking about these. The main challenge to the success of groups is not financial, administrative, etc but human emotions. If we have a solid group then we will figure out the financial, administrative, time, human power challenges. But if we have lots of money, good administration, lots of time and lots of human resource, but don't have a good solid group then we have nowhere to go. Let's continue to talk about how we can best collaborate despite the ways in which past experiences lead us to rigid, repetitive behaviours.

Do you remember how I asked, at the second meeting, who had previously belonged to groups? And few of you were able to say yes? This was not a theoretical question, but one to give me information on how optimistic and pessimistic you are about working together with other humans. And how effective you are at sticking in there when the human imperfections - which are inevitable - begin to surface. When progress within a group does not get made to our satisfaction, how easily do we give up? How irritable do we get when others seem not to be 'getting it'? How easy is it to work with diverse skills, perspectives, abilities to communicate, and so on? How good are we at supporting leadership? How easily are you 'disappointed' and how long do you sit with your feelings of disappointment? Your answers will not reveal much about 'the truth' but will say more about what your life experiences have been and whether you have been emotionally hurt and gotten a chance to work on this hurt.

Before I became a parent, and before I started Sun Eaters Organics, I worked for several years as a behavioral change consultant. And during this time, and since, I was able to listen to the stories of hundreds of people and support them to examine and resolve how their old experiences had become serious limitations to their lives. ALL children who have not been emotionally hurt from a very early age are able to function within human groups. They may have their differences with others but they figure them out and continue to interact. As children get older and they deal with rejection, being treated as better than or worse than, having disappointing experiences, etc then they develop rigid, inflexible ways of dealing with others. Soon these ways get so entrenched that they start to be considered as part of the 'personality' of the child. And then the child, and later on the adult, learn to say - I am the type of person who .....
Is that really true? That those are your traits and you have no choice in the matter? That you could have evolved as a species with gross inflexibility as an inherent characteristic of the group of homo sapiens? Evolution is about the ability to change to better function within the larger world, or to survive changes that are happening in the world around us. And emotional flexiblity may end up being the difference between who can adapt to this crazy and rapidly unfolding environment, and those who can't.

The coop is only one very small step in our needed ability to heal the world around us and to ensure our future survival. Many of us are environmentalists and I think that it is fair to say that without being able to work within a group you will be able to do almost nothing, yes that is right I said almost nothing, as an environmentalist. No matter how much money you have, in the long run the money cannot pay to ensure you will be able to have an impact on the environment. But your ability to function within a group, to inspire the group, to be a good leader or to support good leaders, will do much more to ensure our environmental survival than how much you know about solar panels, or how savvy you are about organic methods, or how much money you have to pay others to work for you. Look at which human communities have survived for hundreds of years and see if you find any that promote individualism, the nuclear family, lone wolves. None. All the human communities that have endured put the needs of the community of life - including the needs of other humans - before their individual desires enough of the time for the group to thrive. They understood/understand the ephemeral nature of human desire and preferences, and in general choose instead to emphasize connection to others and to other forms of life over these individual preferences.

The organic lifestyle is really about understanding these dynamics of community. If we want to eat everything ourselves, and to hell with other forms of life, then let's spray spray spray. But if we truly believe that we are intimately connected in the web of life then now is a good time to find ways to live in harmony with the fungi, the insects, and other humans. And instead of going against natural systems - which promote collaboration, integration and minimizing work by ensuring that other forms of life participate - let's look for ways to cooperate with common ventures and spend lots and lots of time reading about how to improve the ability of humans to work together.