S1E9 Decultification: What a Former Hippie Commune Can Teach Us About Changing for the Better
One of the original busses that traveled from San Francisco to Tennessee with the hippies led by Stephen Gaskin.
During our sabbatical semester traveling and studying American religion, we spent time at a legendary hippie commune called The Farm. It was founded by Stephen Gaskin and author of Spiritual Midwifery Ida May Gaskin. The group voted to stop being a "cult" and changed to an intentional community in the 1980s. They discuss lessons learned from that transition related to religious communities & society in general. We aren’t using the “c” word here to be cruel or dismissive. We are playing with the term because kindhearted member of the community said sincerely but with a relaxed smile, “we used to be a cult you know.”
Jeff takes an evening walk in the quietude of the Farm.
We were surprised to find that this group of old school counter-culture-warriors was super sweet and laid back, and seemed to really have let go of older “culty” ways of thinking and being. They were so impressed that we seriously discussed whether moving to the farm might be a good way to go now that the kids are ready to graduate from high school and college respectively.
We of course didn’t have enough time to guarantee you’d be comfortable and mentally safe there, but it did occur to us that this former cult seemed a lot less spiritually oppressive than many congregations, organizations or denominations that are considered mainstream in America.
“This former hippie commune was the only place in America were we’ve felt comfortable hitchhiking.”
Besides the religious and spiritual shifts on the property, we were also interested in learning more about the hard lesson the commune learned about the realities of economics and care for folks who don’t bring many assets to the table. It’s partly a story about the impossibility of creating a utopia.
Here’s the real question friends: do you think it’s possible for your own community to get healthier in profound ways?
LINKS TO THINGS MENTIONED
We met with Douglas Stevenson, who wrote books about the farm: Out to Change the World, and The Farm Then and Now
He is also interested in forms of Sufi Dance, which happen occasionally in the community.
We mention a Christian intentional community (which we’ve not yet visited) called Koinonia Farm.
An artist works at the farmers’ market on the Farm grounds.
For more information about super adobe earth homes, pioneered by Cal Earth.
If you are interested in the eco village part of things, follow links here.
Here’s a story about the Worldwide Church of God which decided to decultify in its own way.
Resources:
Richard Niebuhr, The Social Sources of Denominationalism
E.T. Clark, The Small Sects in America
Liston Pope, Millhands and Preachers