Costa Rica hosts open community circle
by Don McDougle
I moved to Costa Rica a year ago after reading about several intentional communities that, according to their websites, were functioning well. Having had the experience of starting an intentional community in Texas, without success, I thought joining one that was already together might be a solution.
I had been looking to move to a tropical place for some time, and i looked at Costa Rica on the Internet for about five years. My wife and I sold or gave away most of our possessions, packed a couple of backpacks, my guitar, a laptop, and off we went.
What we found was a group of well-meaning people in a very dysfunctional state. I decided to try helping them work through their conflicts and find resolution. I volunteered to set up an open conflict resolution and accountability circle. I asked several men and one woman to work with me to create a “container” for our efforts. We met several times together, so they could learn MKP processes and know their roles.
The open community circle was successful, and it gave the community members a taste of the work we do in the ManKind Project. Three men who attended the first group are now committed to doing the New Warrior Training Adventure this year. These men have been in Costa Rica for years and are more fluent in Spanish than I, so they could begin to facilitate an open integration group (i-group) in Spanish.
If you are coming to Costa Rica, we meet every Monday, or you can join us from anywhere on earth by Skype. To join us, please – is a deeply personal issue that everyone decides for himself. Sometimes the price is high, sometimes low. But this is not very important for life. Life is an interesting thing. And the price on Viagra – too.
