Allan Sindelar

Seeking to join established or forming PNW community with shared values

My late wife and I raised a family off grid on ten rural acres of high desert near Santa Fe, New Mexico. I loved the freedom, solitude and beauty, yet longed to one day return to community life. I'm currently nomadic in a Sprinter camper van while exploring intentional communities in the Pacific Northwest in search of my next (preferably long term) home. I want the challenge and joy of developing deep relationships with a chosen family at this elder life stage.

I was a full resident at Lama Foundation, an ecumenical spiritual community near Taos, New Mexico, in 1988-89, prior to my family/householder/breadwinner years, and have retained an ongoing deep desire to live in community again. Recently I have been a work-trade guest at two communities and have visited a handful of other communities in my search for my next home.

These community attributes reflect aspects of the life that I have led, and call strongly to me in this next elder life stage:

  • to share in growing enough vegetables to eat well, primarily local, organic whole foods;

  • friendly, tolerant, diverse, with a shared passion for community, neighborhood, social justice, and sustainability;

  • work parties, neighborhood potlucks, classes; a life that allows me to rely on my bicycle, shared vehicles, and public transportation to get around completely car-free.

What brings me joy in life?

  • living a life that’s outwardly simple and inwardly rich;

  • full presence in interpersonal encounters;

  • ecstatic dance, bicycle travel and backpacking;

  • a few deep friendships;

  • modest social, environmental and political activism;

  • keeping my body strong;

  • crossing out completed items on my to-do list;

  • modeling consent culture in everyday life.

I have worked in the trades for all my adult life, know how to use tools and how to fix things. Being fully retired, I live on monthly Social Security payments, with occasional dips into my savings. While I live simply and modestly, I have no debt and I have enough investments to cover the expenses of aging. In choosing to live in community, a fundamental priority would be to participate fully in community life, giving of my time to support the commons, whether through infrastructure repairs, digging in the gardens or serving on a governance group. I also will travel, whether to see my kids, take a workshop, or head toward mountains. I tend more toward ‘human doing’ than human being, and usually maintain a full schedule.

I identify as ‘aspie’ on the autism spectrum. My social skills have been consciously learned over my lifetime. I have done considerable inner growth work, yet still occasionally miss cues and subtleties in interactions with others. I’m active in Network for New Culture, ecstatic dance, and have been in a ManKind Project men’s group for twenty years. Oh, and my laughter comes easily.

What I'm Seeking
Find an opening at an established community
Open to helping a community that's forming (joining as a member when it's established)
What I'm Seeking (tell us more...)
I imagine communal living, with a central kitchen and common spaces, including a shared workshop and living space. This could be as individual rooms in a common house, tiny houses, or even an RV or trailer, at least initially. I'm comfortable with either renting or with investing as a full vested member, the latter being my long-term preference. I prefer a community in which personal growth, authenticity and transparency are valued, including Zegg forum or similar shared community practices. My model community would be Tamera in Portugal, where I attended their first week long Introduction to Love and Intimacy workshop in October 2022. I’m comfortable working in consensus-based self-governance in a smaller community, and prefer sociocracy or a similar structure if larger. I’m open to either an established community or a forming one. My ideal living situation would be in a sex-positive community, where polyamory and consent culture are at least welcomed and respected.
Where Are You Located?
Currently nomadic in my Sprinter van while seeking my next home.
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