Earthseed (from Octavia Butler's Parable series) seems like a v well-designed quasi-religious movement; I wonder how often and how successfully it's been tried as a blueprint for others

hmm with all my friends talking about wanting to go live in rural or suburban areas...thread

this is kind of cute, some people have tried to *copy* the religion from the books themselves, using what scraps of verse you actually get in the books

problem is, you only get excerpts of their belief system and not the whole thing

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthseed 

anyway, I'm not recommending lifting Earthseed whole-cloth from this series

the main issue is that you don't actually get all of the religious writings -- Butler, as far as I know, never published a Book of the Living to accompany her novels

good choice, probably

harder to write a story about a small but competent cult and its leader if you uh have to defend more than a few quotes from the fictional "scripture"

more manageable to have a few compelling pieces available to the reader and allude to More

in case you can't tell I really like these novels and I know them very well

so this thread is going to be me talking about why I think Butler actually identified some necessary elements of a successful cult, new intellectual movement, or intentional community

in particular, I think she identified some potential ways to make it

1) appealing to just as many independent, competent, healthy people as vulnerable, needy people

2) not intrinsically toxic or dysfunctional

the protagonist, Lauren Olamina, is *manipulative* and *charismatic* but does not particularly need her own personal ego managed by her followers

and does not seem to need a tight grip on them -- she *wants* them to grow up and leave her behind. she only wants control...

...insofar as she wants to build a healthy foundation that might persist in some form when she's gone

she knows that things will splinter and change, some of the offshoots will fail, etc. and she accepts it

she just wants a fighting chance for her species, faith, and legacy

ok I'm starting to sprawl here, need to organize my thoughts a bit

might flesh this out into something longer-form later

also full disclaimer I have never been part of an intentional community as an adult, but I do think I have a unique perspective

I've seen a lot of evangelical churches started, seen many fail, and have been on the sidelines of the rationalist community as it had some false starts at a cohesive community and then scattered into splinter groups w/their own aims, or just loose associations of friends

so I have no expertise. I just have some ideas. please feel free to pick this apart ^^

tagging a few potentially-interested parties: @eigenrobot @meditationstuff @forshaper @Malcolm_Ocean @QiaochuYuan @Aella_Girl

again, I *definitely* want input from people with experience w/intentional communities

I Know Nothing, I have just read these books a zillion times and have the same fantasy so many people do of a strong community where the members support one another

first, a caveat: this is a work of fiction I'm talking about here -- if the author wants her fictional cult to succeed, she can make it succeed whether or not it's realistic

second, Butler herself was known to be fairly isolated as an individual and I don't know if that's an asset or not for her perspective

*I* think her ideas about how to foster ties that bind without suffocating are interesting and maybe correct in some ways, but fuck, idk :P

ok, caveats out of the way. here is a list of what I think Earthseed-as-portrayed-by-Butler has going for it, in terms of cohesion, sustainability, community health/thriving, and group coordination

I've already mentioned two of them, but I'm going to reorder things a bit for the full list

I'm going to write them all out with minimal explanation and then explain them in detail one-by-one, along with my reasons for thinking they're useful characteristics

1. the core tenets of the belief system *foster autonomy and resilience.* perhaps even anti-fragility.

2. the belief system has a unified vision or set-of-visions for people to orient around, but also *builds in the possibility for those to change*

3. the community has something like...minimum viable hierarchy? there is the leader herself, who uses the same title as other lower-level leaders (Shaper), there are the other leaders/teachers (Shapers), and everyone else

4. but "everyone else" isn't some permanent low-status position. from *what I infer from the books,* most capable adults are simply expected to become "Shapers" in their own community

5. everyone is expected to find *something* they can do for the various communities that is useful and *good for the individual*

6. the community very much encourages having children (movements die without children) but does not interfere in how adults partner themselves up

7. there is a role for people who like what the group is doing but don't fully buy into it or want to live in an Earthseed community -- very little "othering" unless another group is actively hostile to Earthseed

...in the books, the community seems to prefer being under the radar, avoiding conflict w/hostile groups, rather than using "them vs. us" to foster cohesion

8. the leader has normal human desires to have a legacy that lasts forever, but does not seem to need fawned over by needy people to preserve her own ego

she accepts that what she builds will go on and change without her input -- this sometimes annoys her but she *accepts it*

9. the community does initially build itself by attracting people in need -- but only people in need who can also contribute. it puts just as much effort into attracting people who are independent and competent in their own right, and simply align with the goals of Earthseed

10. (inferring from the books) the community, while being sexually and racially diverse, doesn't spend time policing sexuality or getting into Identity politics -- they have better things to do, as long as ppl's individual choices aren't affecting the health of the group

11. they are, at least in their early days, relatively harsh about ejecting people from the community if they steal, harm others, or commit other infractions

even if the person is sorry and wants to stay

(idk how this is handled when the group is mature, the books don't say)

12. they have a scholarship program for any promising young people, where they invest in their education fully, in exchange for a few years of the young person volunteering their time at one of the many communities or other projects that move towards the Vision

...and it seems to be acceptable for people to leave when they like, once their volunteer work is done

ok, I think that's everything. on to addressing the points in detail.

if you like this thread, pls pressure me to write this up as a blog post -- might be easier for me to update/add stuff as I think of them, w/out splintering the thread

gah I split the thread accidentally D:

here: https://twitter.com/selentelechia/status/1296871236262232064?s=20

2. "the goal of Earthseed is to take root among the stars"

this is a multi-planetary vision, compelling, long-term, hard work...and simple. at least, simple in its desire if not its execution. it has the virtue of being *explainable* even to people who are slower or uneducated

like it or not, a simple, explainable Vision is pretty important if you want people to work together. the fact that it's hard and very long-term both fosters bonding and also filters for people who are really committed.

it also sets things up such that the community has multiple offshoots and opportunities to thrive.

and, going back to (1), it is *intrinsically open* to the possibility that the methods of executing on the Vision may change, and almost certainly *will* change

3. ruthless pragmatism about how humans *actually are* is a running theme in the books, and this point is, maybe, a possible answer to the "tyranny of structurelessness" problem (link below, highly recommend)

https://www.jofreeman.com/joreen/tyranny.htm

there *are* authorities, there *are* high expectations for leaders

but (again, inferring from minimal detail) Earthseed seems to encourage everyone to become such a leader

4. there are many, many paths to status, adulthood rites (becoming a "Shaper"), and even those doing "lowly" work are valued

(again, inferring) Olamina does not seem to *want* a permanent needy underclass, and in fact *wants* people to *not need her* eventually

she expects everyone to become valuable, recognizes *every* type of value

she expects everyone to *grow up*

the fact that Earthseed has a combination of IRL communities, members pursuing useful projects outside of the communities, nomad types, roles for supporters-who-aren't-members, schools, nonprofits, etc...also implies that people have a lot of different ways to find a niche

multiple paths to being valued and respected -- this is really important if you want people to be healthy and happy.

*lots of status ladders to climb,* and climbing any one of them makes you valuable to the broader community as long as it's aligned with the Vision

this is good for the monkey brain

taking a quick break brb

5. oops this one can basically be rolled into (4)

6. this one is pretty simple -- you need new generations

there are welcoming ceremonies for new babies, funerals ceremonies, and flexible marriage/partnering ceremonies

ppl can have the families they want and are actually *encouraged and supported* in this

there are also godparent roles, which take on shared responsibility for the child's growth. there are people who are chosen as primary godparents, but also, the broader community is implied to take responsibility for *all* of the children.

this does a few things, some of which are obvious, but one thing it might do (IMO) is act as a built-in protection for the children

having lots of access to trusted adults is good for child autonomy. it's implied but not stated that child abuse is just generally unacceptable

...and also implied that there is a *mechanism* for getting the kids away from abusive members, and for the kid to have the freedom to pursue this

and...it's non-bureaucratic, which seems good to me. that, +the implication that members aren't shunned or punished for leaving...

...*might* mitigate some of the child-abuse issues that can crop up in insular communities

see also the "multiple paths to status and community" point -- kids who want to get away from certain individuals do not *have* to sacrifice their community

7. this one is pretty obvious in its benefit

opportunities for alliances, groups working on different, non-Vision projects, implication that adults who leave can still spend time w/people within Earthseed

opportunity for alliance, and potentially mitigates coercive patterns

8. Olamina begrudgingly accepts some idolization, but never becomes completely comfortable with it. she doesn't spend time pitting her members against each other, raising and lowering status, mucking about in their personal lives unless she really really has to

given that she is a true believer and drinks her own kool-aid, it is basically mandatory for her to accept that people will change, that people will grow up and need her less, that she must relinquish control over certain things, and, eventually over all things

she does not want to be a boss, or a mother, or a ruler

she wants to be a Shaper

she also has a healthy ego -- a human ego, but a healthy one that doesn't need to micromanage small hurts and fluctuations in ppl's dispositions towards her

9. the Vision means that, for the most part, people who are sufficiently destructive have to go

early in the books there are descriptions of ruthlessly ejecting thieves, zero tolerance for rapists, zero tolerance for people who want to hurt others

idk what Earthseed might do with, say, the occasional mentally disabled or physically disabled person

there is, at least, room to support those people providing they are not a net drain or committing active harm

10. this is important, and downstream of having a shared goal and a well-defined set of shared values

there is simply no *time* to get mired in identity stuff

the books are pragmatic about race, gender, -isms, etc, but they seem to take a stance of "do what you need to do, don't hurt us, just contribute where you can be at your best"

11. oops already covered this in (9) lol

12. this is a potent attractor, a good pipeline for new members who aren't just children raised in the community, a good deal for a group that has money but needs talent

and, yes, somewhat manipulative to pull young people into communities during their formative years

but probably necessary, and again, people don't seem to be punished if they leave

I have a few more things I might want to add later, as I flesh them out, but I think that's all for now.

pardon my accidental redundancy in a few spots -- that's why I should write it up long-form.