To all the excellent friends and family i know well and count myself part of, who wish to live off-grid, to be closer to nature, to find that idyllic peace of land and cultivate an alternative and conscious way of living, where people and planet come before or at least equal to profit.

To creating a place for adequately raising and educating our children in joy and health in these unsettling times of uncertainty, corruption, overwhelm and despair, I dedicate these outrageous thoughts, philosophies and experimentations in social visioning. ????

I offer this with love and appreciation for the intentions, and good-hearted ness of all contributions so far in this movement, over generations.  But I must simply speak directly and with clarity for due and urgent consideration, given the nature of these times.

Are we all on the complete wrong track, an old model tried many times by many different very conscious people of privilege, over the last years?

With regards to off-grid eco-villages, what if the solution is not to separate further and to isolate ourselves, but to pro-actively engage communities from the majority peoples of this land? 

What if there is a solution to creating alternative community that takes this below video as a part of the spectrum of possible ways forward? It is by no means the solution itself but perhaps it hints at what is possible if there was a will.

Perhaps a next step lies in something inbetween this and what so many groups keep discussing?

As the curator of this experience of language learning, cultural reconciliation and conscious, sensitive rural development (YhoXhosa – (yoga and Xhosa learning) – as we call it, although it is a newer model of the old UBuntu Bridge Village Experiences I used to run in the late 2000’s), I am the first to point out the many problems, shortcomings, restrictions, challenges and outright impractical idealism of the grander idea (some kind of collective re-ruralising), and its practical manifestation the last two years (Dec 2019 and 2020, the third being this December 2021).

But is there something to this that addresses the longer term issues of cultural and social disharmony that awaits our children, even if our generation manages to navigate and accept this period of comfortably distanced quasi-compassion or convenient resignation to the indisputable stats of inequality and unemployment that are so wonderfully easy to blame on a government corrupted by the very economic system that created this situation and indeed built the foundations of our privileges (and resultant sufferings)?

Philosophical debates and personal opinions aside, our children will be dealing with what we ignore or spend energy only debating.

Is collecting and spending many millions of rand on land, and thus investing in the exact same system of ownership in a colonised country, social divisions (except for convenient labour) and inequality really an awakened or wise solution?  

I don’t even care about ‘ethics’ or ‘morality’, what about the ‘practicalities’ beyond the next decade?  How long can little hippie bubbles last?  For us fine, maybe, but for our kids…? 

Could we not take a collective pooling of resources and invest in a way of living in harmony with indigenous people’s that does not require private (even if “communal”) ownership, in the garden route?
Can we not forge new relationships and ways of being in this land and on this planet and co-create an extraordinary solution that really paves the way?
My lord, what would it even look like?  How would we avoid the pitfalls of cultural arrogance and unconscious beliefs in blanket superiority (i.e. racism)?  Which communities or people would be open or willing to experiment?  How can we trust peoples we approach? How do we build trust and how long will it take? How do we avoid the contrivances and discomforts? How do we guarantee safety and security, (as if anything can actually do that)? How would we manage all the ego’s involved, all the soft, self-centred, set-in-their-comfortable-way souls, like me?  

Eish, I think I have convinced myself not to get involved or dare to believe in such audacious and irresponsible thinking, but I still I wish to contribute this one ingredient and potentiality to the cosmic pots being here brewed and visioned by this community of awakening shamans and light beings.

Let us dream big, aim high, fail grandly and die at peace with our hearts. Indeed, if ever there was a time to do so.

Or keep clinging and running.

Blessings, OneLove and Camagu

Craig Makhosi
Errant Social Entrepreneur, ridiculously funny and effective teacher, mediocre leader and amateur drama-queen.

WATCH THE VIDEO:

FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/LetsLearnXhosa/videos/what-happens-when-whities-learn-xhosa-in-a-village-ubuntu/469009994055588/
YOUTUBE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6ycMc2Hqww