I just returned from a scholar's conference on Communal Societies. Spent the past week traveling to the Lexington, Ky area for the annual meeting of the Communal Studies Association. http://www.communalstudies.org/ http://www.communalstudies.org/
The conference is three days of scholarly papers on groups like ours here in Fairfield, Iowa multiple sessions with papers being delivered on 20 minute intervals. 2015 Paper schedule: http://www.communalstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Pleasant-Hill-Program-12-Sept-15.pdf http://www.communalstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Pleasant-Hill-Program-12-Sept-15.pdf They host their annual meetings at historic sites of communal societies. This year their conference was at the historic Shaker village of Pleasant Hill. The historic site at Pleasant Hill is of a historic ashram-like spiritual group with many features similar to our own here in Fairfield, Iowa. http://shakervillageky.org/ http://shakervillageky.org/ About 130 association members came to this years conference. Lot of the scholars teach at the university level who use the Communal Studies Association to be able to present papers in conference or publish in the association's journal. Also there were papers given by people who live in communal groups of various types. I've been attending these conferences for a number of years now. Most all the papers are interesting and relevant to Fairfield in some way by comparison as criticism. I always go away from these conferences with relevant things that I will think about for the following year. I have gone enough times to their annual conference that folks in this association know me as the person from Fairfield, Iowa and folks at the conference will then often ask me in conversation how it is going for the meditating group here? Of course there are layers to answering this question. Well, on returning home to Fairfield, Iowa from the CSA annual conference I drove in just in time for the weekly shape note harmony sing in Fairfield. In the Sacred Harp tune book there is a song titled, The Church's Desolation. The last verse of the text is a pretty good paraphrased succinct description of 'how it is going' in Fairfield for the contemporary meditating community. The Church's Desolation is a real fine tune to sing by example of the genre with great harmony and poignant narrative in the text. Verse 3, like meditating Fairfield, Iowa: Some few, like good Elijah, stand While thousands have revolted, In earnest for the heav'nly land They never yet have halted. With such religion doth remain, For they are not perverted; O may they all through men regain The glory that's departed.
