Our communal culture revolves around our core values. We continuously commit to live in a harmonious balance with opposites: the yin and yang energies as they express themselves through feminine and masculine traits, being practical and yet fully honouring our natural idealism, making time for group activities as well as one's inner life, and the ability to value laughing and playing as equal in importance to working and manifesting.
Connection, in all its multifaceted aspects, is central to the way we choose to live on a daily basis. We view this as the meeting of a trilogy of deep human needs. The first and foremost is the connection to one's self through yoga, meditation, time alone in nature, and developing our own individual lots and parcels. Second, connecting to the natural world in an honourable manner is an ongoing challenge when living in the jungle. Considering its abundance of thorny plants and large variety of biting and stinging insects, making peace with nature can be difficult. Yet those realities are more than balanced by the incredible biodiversity of plants and animals, some of them strikingly beautiful and others almost completely unafraid of us humans. Finally, connecting to our own species in a respectful, healthy, and loving manner is the ideal of any community of human beings and can certainly be viewed as a spiritual practice.
Non-violence in all its forms has been at the core of our culture since the beginning. Veganism and a mostly raw food diet was the norm and continues to be our preference, especially since we grow an ever increasing amount of our own fruit and vegetables. Honouring all life, as most aboriginal cultures worldwide have always done, is very important to us and our sense of well-being.
During its initial stage, this community was called Pura Fruta and it promoted itself as raw and vegan. Its philosophical stance was focused on not killing animals for food and, as much as possible, eating the diet of a hard-core fruitarian. Well, things evolve, and so did this place. We've become holistic in our approach to health and our desire to be of service to this beautiful planet and its inhabitants. Eating only fruit is definitely an ideal way to cleanse and heal one's body and mind. Yet for the vast majority of people, for various reasons, it's best done for shorter amounts of time. Some people, including several who live here now, do well after living the life of a fruitarian for multiple years.
Eating a healthy diet and living a clean lifestyle is central to our culture. Nevertheless, over time we've become very flexible. People's bodies and needs change and it's important to honour and respect this reality. Still, there need to be boundaries and limits. Drinking alcohol, inappropriate drug use, smoking tobacco, cooking and eating meat in communal areas is not appreciated, and such behaviour is unacceptable in the eyes of some of our members. Although these types of activities are accepted in people's private kitchens and lots, we ask that they be done in a conscious and respectful manner.
Sustainability, in all its subtle nuances, is of utmost importance to us. We utilise permaculture methods to grow our food, and apply those same principles in our ongoing work with the land. We harvest trees sustainably — fallen and occasionally standing — which we've used in the past to build most of our structures. We are in a constant learning process, honing our knowledge and skills.
Freedom of expression and acceptance of diverse perspectives is another foundation. Although we share common values, we do our best to practise a philosophy of "live and let live." This helps keep conflict, as well as the need for constant debate, to a minimum. Since we share decision making responsibilities in a consensus manner, this alleviates tendencies towards authoritarian control. Our commitment to a deep sense of freedom expresses itself in many ways. Although members often fly north to work seasonal jobs, no one living here works as an employee in a typical 9-to-5 job. Community members dress extremely casually, or don't wear any clothes whatsoever. Nudity has always been a part of our community.
Healthy Communication and Group Dynamics
Learning and practising healthy interpersonal skills has become an essential element of our community. Interest in the non-violent communication (NVC) philosophy, promoted by Marshall Rosenberg, is currently experiencing a renaissance at Valle Armonia. From the beginning in 2018, it was one of the foundations of our community, yet it was never practised consistently.
Sharing from the heart in our bi-monthly sharing circles continues to increase in importance, which leads to mutual understanding and respect on much deeper levels. This encourages active support and bonding between the people living here. Weekly member meetings are being held because we are presently in a time of transition and growth. One-on-one communication between members has always been prevalent in managing our community, but brainstorming in a group leads to a sense of greater unity.
More than likely, the main reason most intentional communities failed in the past was due to inadequate and hurtful communication. No one likes to feel judged; learning and practising non-judgement and compassion is vital to a healthy human experience. Presently, one of our core members appears to be a natural with her conflict resolution abilities, which is inspiring more trust in this type of process. Consistently choosing understanding and cooperation leads to an environment of love. We also have members with significant abilities in the healing arts, whose skills in helping a person access and resolve deep trauma can address root causes of ongoing conflict.