Auroville – from suburb to community?

Reflection — By Stuart

Stuart, a student of Sociology from Canada, has visited Auroville three times since 1981. This year he hopes to become a resident of Auroville.

Auroville stands sociologically as an example of values taking precedence over individual material interests. The individual relationships with the divine and the recognition of the divine working in a collective context give meaning to words like human unity, freedom and individual development – a far cry from the value placed on competition in the capitalist world. Yet Auroville is part of a world capitalist system which increasingly includes even the world’s so-called communist nations. It can therefore be no surprise that Auroville itself is taking on a normal capitalistic development pattern: free enterprise, the internal exchange of money, wage-labour, and the loss of an ethos of sharing and trust.

In my view, Auroville cannot expect a different pattern of development to occur ‘naturally’. But Auroville has a distinct advantage over other places. It has been given the mandate to organize itself.

The two-day seminar, Auroville: The Next Step – Unity without Uniformity, could be another step in a renewed process of organization that gives real hope to transform what could otherwise be routine economic development. Where is the hope to be found? In the eyes, the words, the very presence of many of the participants shone a vision which is there in spirit but not yet manifest in organization. The hope therefore lies with those same people, and others like them, who are willing to say, “There is this work to be done and we are the ones to do it”. This work is to come together to say “no” to a pattern which is presently natural and expected, and to begin to find a different way, by at least working together on it. Auroville can give hope to everyone by invoking in the modern mind the recognition that there are forces beyond those of egoistic desire and self-interest that don’t just fizzle out when it comes to people relating to other people on a large scale. Auroville’s opportunity to really shine and lead as a community in the world comes from its capacity to create this understanding through its example.

Certainly the present answer is not to control each other through a centralized economy that limits and restricts. Perhaps the answer starts to take shape when people come together, and by seeing the beauty in each other’s eyes, start to give more than they thought possible.

A collective is not a collective by virtue of its people living in proximity to each other. That’s a suburb.