Course description and syllabus

Your journey as an agent of change begins with the transition from toxic individualism into holistic community building. Becoming a mature, engaged, and embodied steward of the commons provides you with profound meaning and contributes to much needed cultural transformation–whether you already live in community or are looking for a community to join.

Becoming a Communitarian offers a comprehensive look at how to thrive in cooperative culture using relational resilience as a roadmap. You’ll learn about the emerging science of trauma, discuss the celebrations and challenges of intentional living, explore best practices for self-knowledge and care, and cultivate effective skills and attitudes for community success. You’ll work with tools like the enneagram, nonviolent communication (NVC), the Zones of Intimacy and more.

Longtime communitarian and instructor Lee Warren, will guide you on setting personal goals, engage you in contemplation, guide you in dialog with fellow students, and help deepen your understanding of conscious relating in all areas of life.

Classes and topics in the Becoming a Communitarian syllabus include:

1st Class: The water we swim in – Exploring the biological and cultural landscapes

• evolutionary wiring of our nervous system in relation to community
• the nature of our culture in relation to community

2nd Class: Ahh Community – The celebrations and challenges

• community celebrations and challenges
• three helpful attitudes

3rd Class: Right relationship to the collective

• zones of intimacy
• wisdom traditions and culture repair

4th Class: Self care and self literacy – The basis of all relating

• self care, self knowing and self articulating

5th Class: Building intimacy with others

• communicating the self
• cultural messages
• intimacy with others

Your instructor

Lee Warren

Lee is a devoted community builder. She is delighted by community of all kinds, shapes, sizes, and intentions. Her life purpose is to provide leadership in the building of community in accessible, natural, and blissful ways.

To that end, she is committed to reweaving the cosmologies as well as regenerating the cultural wisdom that allows for us ALL to “return to the village.” The village is a metaphor for the collaborative approach to life that will repair historical damage and create a sense of coherence and unity. Cultural repair looks like conscious relating to self, to land, to dying, to living, and to other. As we return to the village, we create cohesive, supportive, inclusive, and life-giving systems that tend to the whole, most especially to the “more than human world”.

In the midst of this deep reverence, we will come to see the divine in all things. All aspects of life are sacred opportunities for presence and soulful engagement. sustainable economics, conscious dying, and community of all kinds.

Learn more about Lee and her work here.

Testimonials

“This is a great way to introduce yourself to the idea of living in a community. You will get a light into to the basics of socialized connecting and living with others from someone who has been doing it intentionally and with awareness for a long time, and the info is delivered in a very easy-to-follow format. Plus, you get to connect with some really interesting and heart-based people. It’s perfect even if you’re not ready to join a community or if you have already live in one and want to learn more about it.”

-Angela Conte

“I enjoyed Lee’s breadth of knowledge and experience and her ability to introduce and articulate important concepts that may be completely new to her students. She is open, welcoming, charismatic, and passionate about her subject. She offered exposure to a multitude of rich resources for further exploration, and I think this was the main strength of the course. She also created a very affirming, inclusive environment among the participants.”

-Sara Bruya

“Lee Warren was very knowledgeable and passionate about the topic of living in community. She provided a great combination of high-level systems perspective and personal down-to-earth actionable approach. She facilitated a robust conversation during the course, and provided many excellent resources on the course portal. I would highly recommend her course and the FIC organization.”

-Maria Zayas

“The course with Lee was a deep learning experience for me. I learned more about myself and where I come from upon reflecting on the prompts Lee presented. Her lived experience infused all the material with heart and wisdom.  Loved this course.”

-Celine Godberson

You might also be interested in

• Becoming a Steward of the Commons (Inside Community Podcast episode with Lee Warren)
• Understanding Diversity in Community (10-hour pre-recorded course)