A few days ago an off-topic discussion began growing in the Political Spectrum thread on the topic of living in a commune. I figured since several people seemed intrigued about the idea it would merit the creation of a new thread.

Do you live in a commune or shared community? Or have you? What are your experiences like?

For me I live in a small one here in the mountains of western North Carolina. We have basically two houses, on for guys and one for girls. We pull our money to pay for rent, food, utilities, etc. We work on sharing everything we have...and we have very little. There is little privacy in the house, two of the girls actually share a bed. We really have built our lives around Galatians 6:2 which says "Carry each other's burdens and so live out the law of Christ." Beyond the material aspect of living we also take on each others emotional and spiritual burdens. Also much of our life is built around The Electric Ghost Collective. If you would like to know more, I am more than willing to let you know all about it.

But what about the rest of you all?

Good idea...
How did you find each other in the first place? church?

Written by AiwiAstwihad on 22.10.2008 at 19:07

How did you find each other in the first place? church?

Actually we all met through college. A little more than half the group met while students at Montreat College. Out of this group came the Electric Ghost Collective who began playing music together a few years back. Two of the members (Jon and Andy) spent a semester last year studying at the Contemporary Music Center in Martha's Vineyard which is where they met about a half dozen other folks who moved to Black Mountain (the town we live in) to live with us and work as part of the band. There are several people who are party of what we call the "Immediate Family" who are not in the band. It might be better to say that there are non-musicians in the family, because we still help out the band with much (for example I am sort of the manager and merch. guy).

So we all met through college, but fell in love with each other...and the area here, so we decided to stick around.

WoW...you all seem to have alot in common. besides living in the suburb and having the apportunity to spend some time alone in the mountain everyday is awesome.
I personally don't think i can ever find (even) a slim number...
I'm getting more and more jealous, haha!!
Good for you, Dane.

Written by Dane Train on 22.10.2008 at 18:57

A few days ago an off-topic discussion began growing in the Political Spectrum thread on the topic of living in a commune. I figured since several people seemed intrigued about the idea it would merit the creation of a new thread.

Do you live in a commune or shared community? Or have you? What are your experiences like?

For me I live in a small one here in the mountains of western North Carolina. We have basically two houses, on for guys and one for girls. We pull our money to pay for rent, food, utilities, etc. We work on sharing everything we have...and we have very little. There is little privacy in the house, two of the girls actually share a bed. We really have built our lives around Galatians 6:2 which says "Carry each other's burdens and so live out the law of Christ." Beyond the material aspect of living we also take on each others emotional and spiritual burdens. Also much of our life is built around The Electric Ghost Collective. If you would like to know more, I am more than willing to let you know all about it.

But what about the rest of you all?

this is interesting, so you all manage to get through not doing it "the hippy way", a.k.a. no washing, no modern utilities etc. huh? also i agree with keyser, it's incredible you guys actually all came together with so many stuff in common oO

Written by Valentin B on 22.10.2008 at 22:42

this is interesting, so you all manage to get through not doing it "the hippy way", a.k.a. no washing, no modern utilities etc. huh? also i agree with keyser, it's incredible you guys actually all came together with so many stuff in common oO

We have two somewhat normal houses that we live in. Well, the guys house doesn't have door knobs anywhere! The house for the guys is still being rebuilt/renovated so to speak. But we all have running water, showers, a full kitchen with a dishwasher, laundry and even Internet. Yeah, we couldn't hack the hippie thing, allthough we do live right outside of Asheville, NC.

In reality we all don't have a massive amount in common. I'm the Metalhead, Kevin is the Biblical Scholar, Jon is the drunk, Andy is the Barista, Scott is the charming one...so on and so forth. Whenever we head out to a bar or restaurant a more motley crew you have never seen. But it was our love for Christ that really brought us together and showed us how to live as a close community. Sure, we have a few disagreements, but we work through them and strive for a better overall living condition.

But that is not to say we really are all completely different. I guess besides our faith our passion for music (be it Trip Hop or Prog Metal, Indie Rock or Neo-Folk) brought us together as friends. Several of us are really into good films and television (four of us are making our way through The Shield) not to mention cooking. Also we love to dress up like Harry Potter characters and have a party!