"You can't start swimming till the water is waist deep" ... but you can build a raft!
What other wars will there be? How on earth did humans decide creating armies of robots is a good idea? How might the illusion of being separate from our Earth lead to ecological collapse?
The reality we’ve known as set in stone for hundreds of years to many of us is feeling shakier and shaker.
We are building a raft to ride these mysterious times, and eventually to rock up somewhere together where we are safer from the deluge.
Practical skills, spiritual inquiry, and an active citizenship are all necessary dimensions of the engaged contemplative approach we will cultivate together.
We want to offer a sense of fellowship and a well-rounded community that can deepen together, sowing resilience before collapse, and growing towards a sound civilisation.
Our
Purpose
At the moment, we are meeting online on a monthly basis and in person 3-4 weeks a year.
Many of our in-person gatherings are in the residency format that was co-developed by Liam Kavanagh. There:
Everyone contributes to the cooking, cleaning, and/or gardening
We share meals, exercise (including dance!), spiritual inquiries and difficult conversations
Time for people to work and explore personal interests
Lots of negative space, when the informal magic happens!
Affordability: all-inclusive cost per participant usually £300-650/week
Our
Gatherings
Our Landing
In the medium term, our aim is to establish an inner and outer adaptation hub (or several!) – cultivating the practical skills we need to grow food, cook, clean and fix together while emotionally and philosophically grappling with the challenges of today’s world in a local context.
This will be a meeting point for people and an example of community living centred around people, land, and spirit – for those of us who there must be a more beautiful, meaningful way of living to experience, take inspiration from, or even live in. Part of our work consists in developing relationships with local communities across the UK, and we intend to land where the land and people call us.
This project is ripening out of decades of experience in community living.
We’re not rushing it, as we are aware of both the practical and subtle oversights due to which communities often fall apart.
Our principles are developing based on conversations with The Raft community on the practical and ephemeral qualities we want such a space to have.
If this is something you’d like to get involved with, please contact us.
“The only certainty, it seems to me, is that those who believe they are certainly right are certainly wrong.”
― Iain McGilchrist, The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World