It’s been said that the reason for the “success” of the human species is our ability to adapt to almost any environment. We make clothes and housing to mitigate temperature changes, cook inedible foods to make them edible, etc… However, in modern American culture and much of the industrialized world our environment is becoming increasingly homogenized. You can walk into any Taco Bell, Wal-Mart, gas station, you name it and know exactly what to expect. The seasons only moderately affect our daily routines as we go from an air-conditioned/heated home, to an air-conditioned/heated car, to an air-conditioned/heated office, etc. Henry Ford’s assembly line ideology has been applied to our lives, it accelerates our interactions and reduces stress caused by negotiating unexpected situations.
Here at Maya Creek our environment is constantly in flux. The weather and seasons have a much more direct impact on our lives and routines. Newcomers have to be shown such basic things as how to use the bathroom, how the sink works, how to take a shower, how to use a rocket stove, etc. In the future things like the sink and the shower may come to look and behave more as their common counterparts, but for the meantime the standardized environment doesn’t exist. In fact, the environment that exists right now didn’t exist a few weeks ago, and has been constantly changing and evolving over the last 4 years. We’re passing through customs on a regular basis.
Starting out here with nothing but wilderness and a tent forced me to start addressing immediate needs. There was no outhouse there was just a shovel and roll of toilet paper, then there was just a bucket with some sawdust, and now the outhouse. Every time we upgrade a system we have to learn new ways of interacting with it, and through that we develop new techniques. Some of those techniques get left behind, but some of them carry forward into the next incarnation and affect our future plans. In essence, we’re reacting to our environment and our needs, and the systems we’re developing are evolving from that. Sure, we have some long-term goals in mind, but huge portions of my initial plans have changed and continue to change.
Living in an ever-changing environment has its challenges. Every new visitor has to be trained on all the different aspects of life here, and even the people who live here full-time have to be trained once modifications have been done or someone figures out a better way to do something. Things often get broken, misplaced, and none of our systems are where we’d like them to ultimately be.
That said, I believe the pluses drastically outweigh the negatives. Because we’re constantly looking at our customs and how we do things with a critical eye we’re developing great problem-solving skills that extend to all aspects of our lives. There’s a sense of self-confidence that develops when you figure out a better way to sift clay or empty dish water, and that too spreads to other facets of our lives. When unexpected challenges arise, which they inevitably do even in the highly controlled mainstream world, we’re better equipped to address those challenges.
At some point I expect our evolving culture here to slow down, and while I won’t miss cold bucket baths for example, I know that the experience has made me a more adaptable and resilient person. Passing through customs at Maya Creek may not require a passport, but you will certainly have an eye-opening foreign experience that may leave you a better person for it. I know that’s been my experience thus far.