Invitation to Learn

On Saturday 24th May six of us gathered at The Community Project, Laughton Lodge, Ringmer, East Sussex, to discuss ‘Rules and How to View Them’. Two members of the community also joined us. Although we were disappointed that our planned four-day ‘retreat’ had to be reduced to a one-day event, condensing the discussion in this way did not detract from our enjoyment. There was a particular focus on the kind of rules which are not stated, but which we obey, sometimes without even realising that we do so.

The location of the study day at Laughton, and the participation of two of the Laughton Lodge members was extremely fortuitous, for the Community Project has an issue about rules. Some maintain that their only rule is that there are no rules. Sarah Berger addressed this whole issue during the second session and we were given a fascinating insight into the working of this remarkable co-housing project. Sarah and Julian Morgan-Jones also gave us a most informative tour of the Project in the afternoon.

The last session addressed the issue of self-imposed personal rules, and the degree to which one should feel bound by these. This brought matters much closer to home, and to quite a degree of soul-searching.

We didn’t reach unanimity on this whole subject, but a number of interesting ideas came up. I guess we all accepted that rules are necessary, but that they should sometimes be disobeyed. Breaking rules may be because they are bad - that is they require us to do bad things -, or simply because to feel fully human we need from time to time to experience freedom from restraint. You might say that this reflected a rule that we should be allowed occasionally to break many rules, though how you distinguish between the breakable and the unbreakable rules, and how you decide what is more than occasional was unclear. We probably all agreed that our own self-imposed rules should be flexible enough to allow for self-development.

Three of us non-’communards’ stayed on overnight and the next day went for a two-mile walk through the lovely surrounding countryside to Laughton village and back. By good chance the forecast rain did not materialise!

Feedback on the study day was unanimously favourable. Thanks are especially due to Christine for the absolutely delicious food, to Sarah for making the arrangements for our use of the Community’s facilities and for her talk on rules in the Community, to Julian for his lively discussion of the issues in relation to the Community Project and help with the tour, and to all the other participants for their enthusiasm and openness.

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Please note that next year’s programme of weekly classes will be on the subject of ‘People and Power’. You can now find the detailed programme by clicking on the ‘classes’ tab at the head of this home page. You need to scroll down to the end of the current programme ending this July.