Back to August 2007
Los Angeles – August 2007
TRIBAL OASIS
Building A Community
in Topanga Canyon
by Dlight
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“Because we don't expect to overthrow governments, abolish world capitalism, make civilization vanish, turn everyone in the world into walking Buddhas, or cure all social and economic ills, we don't have to wait for anything. If ten people walk beyond civilization and build a new sort of life for themselves, then those ten are already living in the next paradigm, from the first day. They don't need the support of an organization. They don't need to belong to a party or a movement. They don't need new laws to be passed. They don't need a constitution. They don't need tax-exempt status. For those ten, the revolution will have already succeeded.”
— Daniel Quinn, Beyond Civilization
Tribal Oasis is an artistic community that lies deep within the Santa Monica Mountains. It originally evolved out of Moontribe, a musical full-moon gathering in which, these days, hundreds participate. Converging in the harsh and rugged desert landscape many hours from Los Angeles, at Moontribe we learned how to take care of each other. By the end of the gathering, we had become a tribe, buoyed by a powerful sense of harmony and the potential for a new way of life.
As a result of our experiences at Moontribe, as well as others through the Dream Theatre and the Solids Art Collective in Los Angeles, a large tribe was formed. Before we knew it, we had clothing designers, furniture makers, builders, architects, performers, organic chefs, scientists, web designers, thinkers, welders and others as part of our spontaneous “community.” We realized that we had all the skills necessary to create a self-sufficient village. And as we became involved with the Burning Man festival, an entire city built from scratch each year, the sense of our ability to create a new way of living was dramatically heightened.
On returning to Los Angeles after these events, it was always a shock to feel our budding tribe diluted and scattered by the myriad energies of the city. We began to ask ourselves: How can we live together permanently? What would be the ideal base for such an amazing group of people?
In 2002, Tribal Oasis was born to make this a reality. The idea was to buy a large piece of property and turn it into a thriving, creative village based on the principles and vision of the world we had been preparing for. We were motivated to start living the vision NOW, rather than simply talking or dreaming of it. We felt that owning our own land was important. That way we could control our own destiny.
With each property we attempted to acquire, we became more knowledgeable in real estate. In 2005, we were able to purchase a beautiful 13-acre site nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains. With two streams running though large oak forests, this sacred land was home to indigenous people for 9,000 years and already included numerous living quarters. It was a ready-made community.
Our first project was to renovate the main stone house that we've since turned into a beautiful shared living room and kitchen. We meet there weekly for a potluck dinner and meeting. We also hold other weekly events that help us to feel like an extended family. We've also been learning how to live together in community—what works and what doesn't. As many communities have discovered, making collective decisions can be challenging.
We've found that by focusing on our vision and keeping the discourse positive, issues can be worked through and we can continue to inspire each other. Choosing residents carefully is important. As a result, we have an amazing group of powerful but fun-loving people who are each burning in their own way to see this experiment in living take flight.
We are dedicated to green solutions, have already implemented gray water systems, have 4 wind turbines and will be installing passive solar heating in our main community house. Several of us have biodiesel cars and we hope to be producing our own biodiesel fuel soon. We have numerous gardens and have already grown lots of vegetables. There are several compost bins producing rich soil.
Our most ambitious vision is to create a retreat and healing center. We're currently building several workshop spaces including a large Sound Temple, a meditation space deep in the canyon and an octagonal structure for classes and workshops. We will be making space available for workshops by world changers and deep healers, as well as creating our own events promoting our uniquely empowering perspective.
In a nutshell, the Tribal Oasis philosophy is that all limitations come from within. By taking full responsibility for our lives and doing the deep inner work necessary to fully release our creative imagination, anything becomes possible. Living this concept has already enabled us to come quite far. Yet it feels like only the beginning. We welcome more highly skilled and passionate visionaries to enable us to continue building and sharing this beautiful dream in harmony with nature.
Dlight is a visionary and a creator of Tribal Oasis who resides deep in the magical forest of the Santa Monica Mountains. Dlight can be reached at vision@tribaloasis.org