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We used to need each other, I mean really need each other, but today things are different we need our government but never actually have to interact with it. We need food but only have to nod a the cashier and we are out of there. We need money for all these things but can work from home. But you see things were not always this way. Once a long time ago we actually had to depend on our community for our daily needs.

It’s clear to see that the progress we have made as a society and the progress we are going to make is only going to make us more self sufficient. The more we innovate the more automated our lives become and the less we actually have to do for ourselves but there is something lost that is really sad.

In 1693 Jakob Ammann lived in Switzerland and was fed up with the encroachment of new technology on his life (I know what possibly could have been that invasive in 1693?) and decided to start what is today know as the Amish lifestyle or as the call themselves “Plain Folk.” The idea is simple really, cut yourself and your family off from as much of the technology and progress in the outside world as possible. It means for many of the strict believers that they do not have electricity in their homes nor do they drive cars or use telephones. Many of them have little or no interaction with the outside world and are content with the community of likeminded believers. Whole communities are built around these beliefs and what results is a group of people who really need eachother and are knit together by that need.  When someone needs work done on their house the whole community comes out and gets it done in a few short hours or when a barn needs built they have a barn raising and everyone gets their hands dirty. Their self imposed denial of technology creates a need for their community that in turn strengthens the bond they have with each other.

The interesting thing about this seemingly aggressive approach to community is that it continues to grow. Not only are they adding new members by way of converts but their children who go through a time in their lives they call Rumspringa (German/Deitsch, “running or jumping around”) Its essentially a time between childhood and adulthood where the rules are relaxed and they are free to travel around and see the outside world without worrying about the way they dress or use technology. But the astonishing thing about this time is that instead of choosing to go their own way after they have seen the world nearly every one decides to come back and root themselves in the community they were raised in.

Now I am not saying we all need to get rid of our cars and start living with no electricity but there is something we can learn from the intentional way the Amish do things. There is something so pure about their need for each other that we simply do not understand. In the absence of a interdependent society we need to work that much harder at creating community. Because we will never need to get together and build barns or plow fields as a community we instead need to make a point of building communities.

Levi