It is a truism that Auroville is founded upon very high ideals. But how do we deal with the fact that there is obviously such a big gap between where we are now and what we are asked to become?
Some people feel crushed or, at least, completely inadequate to the realising of these ideals. This often gets reflected in a determination to focus only upon immediate ‘practicalities’ and to adopt conventional methods to organize our lives.
Another response is to use the high ideals as a magnet to pull us upward. As Robert Browning put it, Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp,/ Or what’s a heaven for?
At present, both of these responses can be found in our organization. Our economy, for example, is in many ways a conventional one as it is money-based, yet experiments with providing goods and services ‘in-kind’ reach ‘upwards’ towards the cashless ideal. Our community decision-making policy contains elements of the conventional approach – voting – but also of a somewhat higher id...
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