Would I join a commune?

*"Brook Farm" by Ruth Franklin





Having read the Constitution of Brook Farm by George Ripley and then asking the question in class I really got thinking about if I would join a commune or not. Upon impulse I was tempted to say "yes" but really thinking about it got me considering the question deeper. I mean some of the articles in their constitution sound great! Employment based on my interests and capacities, education for my children, no religious persecution, Hoo-rah! But then there are some things that kind of slap me in the face, back to reality. Asking for money? Admitting some flaws? The Association (cultish)? The Association can change the constitution for the worse? Woah woah woah... I don't know about it now.

Communes have got people into trouble. I wouldn't want to join a commune that made me do various things that I didn't sign up for (drink the kool-aid). It seems that when joining a commune people often subscribe their reason over to the commune. As things get progressively weirder and weirder, less free and less free, some people lose sight of the beginning and just let their commune leaders tell them whatever they want. I really wouldn't want to be in a commune where I couldn't get out. Permanently binding myself to a commune would worry me way too much to do.

However, to simply write off all communes as suicidal and crazy is to ignore the capacity they have to spark hope in people. For some sectors of society, namely the outcast and the poor, the thought of a commune with it's rigidly promised equality is a step up from their regular lives. Communes in literature and theory have often been seen as utopias where society is at its peak function. The commune serves the people, the people serves the commune and everybody thrives. One of my personal favorite communesque places proposed in literature is the island of Pala from Auldous Huxley's novel "Island". Rock-climbing for education, eating mind-altering mushrooms, and being in touch with ones inner self? What's not to like!

Overall, I guess I would have to say that I probably wouldn't join a commune unless it had a really good attraction for me to join. Simply calling something a commune and actually striving for the good of all people are two, very very very different things. Making my OWN commune however... now that's a different story.




*Good Commune











































*Bad Commune