Introduction to A Visionary Transitional Community Called Purhaven

Many years ago now I started imagining what a high-level community in the near-future might be like.  I decided to name this community Purhaven.  This name was made by joining Pur and haven.  Pur represents  pure and also purr (as in cat purring).  Haven means a safe harbor or place for idealists to grow and live.  This community is meant for around 100,000 people – so quite a bit more than the typical 10 to 50-family kins domain settlement.  Eventually, all of humanity will fully embrace the kins domain settlements as the preferred solution, but in the interim there are many people that need to heal, have a lot of laughs, and learn how to play well with others.

Donald Waters (Swami Kriyananda) who formed all the Ananda communities during his lifetime opined that in order for a community to be successful, all the members had to have the same spirituality.  Purhaven is not formed around a spiritual principle – instead Purhaven is guided by the common idea that the purpose of this community is to support the upbringing of happy and healthy sparkly-eyed children and the creation and maintenance of happy healthy adults and families.  Everything in Purhaven is oriented around this core principle.

Much of the community design is formed around the kins domain ideas.  However, there are older people that simply don’t have the energy to tackle 2.5 acres – and yet they still do have a lot they can contribute.  In general, the older single people that want an easier life, live in apartments near the city core.  That way they  live close to services and facilities and they can easily get the support they need while also participating in community life and events. 

Since Purhaven is aligned to help raise beautiful children and wonderful adults, the primary focus of the community is education, from pre-kindergarten through the university years and beyond.  The educational campus occupies the central part of the community.  (We will discuss the educational aspect of Purhaven in much greater detail later.)  This is also where many of the stages and theaters are.  Purhaven is filled with music and various performances.  For example, in the midday during nice weather a large drum circle naturally forms in the central circle of town and for one hour, people enjoy themselves playing the drums and dancing.

Next article we’ll start looking at various design aspects of the community.