Greetings Jerry,Jerry wrote: Tue Jul 14, 2020 12:53 pm I've now read the section you mentioned in Book 10 about the “Dark Brother” . I don't see where he had anything to say, specifically, about LLC’s or the Uniform Commercial Code. What he’s railing against is “anti-rationality” and its modern technocratic manifestations of supermarkets, overworked cashiers, bad food, urban high-rises, and too much pavement.
There's another chapter in Book 10 that I'd like to call your attention to, entitled "The Anti-Rationality Mortgage". This tells the story of a man named Andrei, from the city of Vladimir who buys a hectare plot at a deserted location 30km away from the city for 30,000 rubles and builds himself a simple house. It seems there's no problem with the idea of saving up 30,000 rubles to buy some land.
I've been slow in responding because this is our busy outdoor building season and we have much to accomplish before winter. Also I've had some technical issues getting this forum to work with my computer's and phone's security internet settings. Thank you for this question and the opportunity to clarify any confusion in my earlier post. I certainly didn't intend to associate the Dark brothers' discussion with specific reference to LLC's or Uniform Commercial Code. My words in that sentence were specifically in reference to, "the entrapments of the global commercial lifestyle". The not-so-hidden suffering in commercial lifestyle shown by the Dark brother certainly is fully built on and with the commercial lawform of the Uniform Commercial Code. The commercial lifestyle described so well in the Dark Brother's discussion is inseparable from the commercial structures that make the lifestyle possible. LLC's are one example of those.
Also, thank you for pointing out the chapter on Anti-rational Mortgages. Saving up money to buy land is what we did and the only way in our modern commercial system that land can be bought without the multiple entanglements and burdens of debt. That requires that we buy only what we can afford without debt. It requires that we begin learning to supply our own lifestyle systems rather than depend on the commercial supply of technology, food, and comforts. Its a transition that is best supported by a stable kin's domain environment free of debt.
I cannot speak about every community in Russia but I have been in communication with some of them. The largest community in Russia was founded by a small group of people (five, I believe) who bought a large parcel of land without debt. In Russia, land is never "owned" by the people. It is leased for a period of time not to exceed 99 years, and can be renewed indefinitely each 99 years by the heirs. The cost of this lease is infinitesimal in comparison to the costs of "buying" land in America. It was described to me as an amount in the hundreds rather than tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands. The young man in the chapter on Anti-Rational Mortgages bought his land for 30,000 Rubles. That converts to $423.00 in our currency, an amount he could save easily by working six months as described in the chapter. His payment went to repay the founding entrepreneurs for their original purchase of the 99 year lease plus a small amount for administration and set-up of the community opportunity. The largest Russian community, KOVCHEG has shared with me their by-laws translated into English. It is extremely clear and detailed in disclosing to the prospective community members what is being offered and what is expected in return. It's not a model I would want to use but it's an excellent model for clarity and a well thought out path. KOVCHEG is the Russian version of an organized development that is Not-for-Profit-Making (taken directly from their by-laws). Because the cost of acquiring land in Russia is so low, a majority of people buy a domain and slowly build it into a livable space of love during holidays and vacations while they continue to live and work in a nearby city. KOVCHEG, for instance, at the time I was in communication with them (7 years ago) had many more families that still lived in a city than full-time resident families.Jerry wrote: Tue Jul 14, 2020 12:53 pm But there's more going on behind the scenes. Megre says that some fifty families from among his readers have purchased hectares in that same area. How did that happen, that there were so many little plots for sale there? How did everyone agree to buy in the same place? I find myself conjecturing that there might have been some entrepreneur involved, and perhaps a subdivision process, and maybe there are agreements. I want to know more.
Other communities were formed by a small group of people who pooled their savings and bought land for their dream. Some of them sell portions of their lease but others simply hold the land they leased as a core to the new community while new families buy leases adjacent to them. Some people simply moved into abandoned houses in one of the numerous abandoned villages.
That makes total sense, Jerry, and I've never thought otherwise. I too, have used mortgages extensively to buy and build homes to live in and as investments for profit. Before coming here I had been a successful builder and landlord for 40 years. I had enough inside knowledge in the commercial nature of America's laws and lifestyle to see the conflicts and pitfalls in building a kin's domain community on that commercial platform and under the commercial controls that exist in every county of our country, Canada and Australia. America's commercial lifestyle and thought patterns relative to money are very deeply entrenched and largely in conflict with Anastasia's community Dream. Russia has also become very commercial in lifestyle but it is not yet so deeply entrenched in the thought patterns of the people through generations of focused programmed public education. The very structure of Russia's "system" allows for a more affordable transition to kin's domain community living. That's both good and bad. It's easier to transition in Russia and consequently they have taken more of the commercial government-supported lifestyle with them to their kin's domain communities. These things still must be worked out. Vladimir wrote that at one time Anastasia needed to slow down the Russian people's move to communities because they weren't yet ready. They still have problems to overcome, major ones, but they don't appear to be as severe as those we must deal with in America. I think this is visible in the story Anastasia shared for the American movement into kin's domain communities. The Billionaire story in book 8.1 showed a non-commercial way to establish communities. Of course, everyone says, "Great Story but I'm not a billionaire." Neither am I, but I have enough inside knowledge of the commercial system and its fundamental conflict with kins domain community building to know that Anastasia's Billionaire story provides key elements needed here to allow for safe transition from a commercial lifestyle and thinking to non-commercial lifestyle and thinking. In book 6, pg 230, Black Cover, she calls upon people to build their family domains near big cities and gradually change their lifestyle to one more civilized and more favorable to one's soul and physical health. We simply cannot fully walk away from the commercial lifestyle at this time.Jerry wrote: Tue Jul 14, 2020 12:53 pm In Vedrica's case, the group bought the land with a mortgage, but there was no intent for this to become a burden on anyone for twenty or thirty years. The idea was to quickly sell a bunch of homesites and get the mortgage paid off right away. Unfortunately that never happened, and here we are struggling with the mortgage still ten years later. I believe Megre was right to warn of the dangers of mortgages, although in my own life I've used them and paid them off successfully.
You wrote, " It's better to have a mortgage, than to pay rent." That is true for many people within the commercial lifestyle but it looks only at two possibilities. I have lived mortgage and rent free for 7 years and I can definitely say that it's better to live free than have a mortgage or rent payments. In the true nature of law and contracts in our country, you are still a tenant with mortgaged land/property. The only real difference is that you are responsible to take care of all the maintenance yourself, the taxes, insurance, and so on. That's one reason your payments are less than rent payments. As a mortgagee you also have the option of making "improvements" and keeping the accrued value as you grow it. Home ownership in this country is a generally profit making activity. Kin's domains are absolutely a choice based on building a space of love; and love of that nature can never be sold for a profit but rather must be nurtured and passed on for love. People constantly ask us if they can sell their kin's domain (that they expect to be given for free). That is modern culture thinking and cannot support a kin's domain community.
The Vedrica example is a huge gift to American kin's domain dreamers. It makes visible the hidden anti-rational elements of our American thinking that are a severe threat to the success of kin's domain communities. It shows the fundamental conflict in Americans' relationship to money (nearly inseparable from debt) and the kin's domain dream. Of course, you and the other founders/investors of Vedrica never intended for the mortgage to become a burden, but the very structure of debt combined with the unpredictable vagaries of the market-driven economy (debt economy) places each of the participants in serious jeopardy. If you don't think so, look up the foreclosure and short-sale statistics across America and Canada. This is not a small threat and the threat is enlarged by the very fact that people moving to a kin's domain lifestyle are either wanting to not work an outside job or want to reduce the demands of an outside job to allow for the work of building their space of love. So their capacity to manage debt payments (paying three times as much as the purchase cost of the land), is even less than it is in the routine modern municipal lifestyle. I am so sorry that all of you have been through so much unpleasantness as a result of this fundamental conflict between our existing culture and our dream for a new one. But I do see that EVERYTHING brought by the dark energies (the commercial lifestyle and more) serves our new dream. It helps us to see the things that we must change and thereby supports us to expand our thought to new levels of insight and creativity that will resolve the conflicts and simultaneously grow our capacity and speed of thought. But it will require that we actually want the kin's domain lifestyle enough to let go of the commercial empowerments we are accustomed to.