Building a community

I once read a piece on Thích Nhất Hạnh’s site langmai.org that I have never been able to find again, about why the Plum Village centres around the world are able to have such an important effect on the communities around them. Thích Nhất Hạnh said that it comes down to this: live as living proof, as an example, and make communities like that.

I thought at once of Lá Library, because Lá Library has done exactly that.

At Lá Library you learn about building with natural earth, about forest gardens and about sustainable agriculture. Everything used comes from the earth and goes back to the earth (my own favourite has always been the wastewater system for the kitchen and the toilets), and even living with those habits for only four or five days in a row, I felt genuinely refreshed — very different from merely reading about them and doing them in fits and starts.

Lately I have realised something: short, unfamiliar experiences, shared with a community, usually bring about a great many important changes.

I took two courses at Lá, over the New Year holidays of 2022 and 2023.