Ethan Hughes interview

This morning I heard a wonderful interview on the Coming Out of Babylon program on KBOO, a community radio station in Portland. The guest was Ethan Hughes, the founder of the Possibility Alliance, a petro-free, radically simple community in rural Missouri, and of the Super Heroes, a group prepared to respond to different kinds of struggles and disasters.

Hughes shared about his journey toward this kind of life, why he has chosen it, and how it is making a difference for people. This conversation really resonated with me. Though some of the language is different, there are many similarities between his lifestyle and the life I believe we as the church are called to live. Some of the things in the interview that really stood out to me:

--Since chosing to live car-free about 10 years ago, he has only ridden in one 7 times (most were emergency situations). He travels mostly by bike, foot and train (when he and his wife went to Europe, they took a boat).

--He talked about how the community's ability to not rely on petroleum, electricity and similar systems frees them to respond to the needs of neighbors more quickly.

--The Possibility Alliance incorporates simple living with political activism and inner work. At different times during the day, there is a bell that rings to remind people to be present to the moment.

--Hughes talks about Ghandi's approach to his service--that all are connected and that when we hurt another or hurt the earth, we hurt ourselves. He invites folks to consider whether their next action will help the poorest person they know.

--We need to seek out people who will support us in living our hightest dream, our vision, our heart path.

--Most visitors to the Possibility Alliance find that they don't miss the internet after a while. Hughes shares the quote that joy is in us, it's not in things. Relationships and meaningful work are more enlivening. Tools like the internet are secondary to being alive and being with life.

--He talks about how political ideology does not necessarily correlate to how actively people are creating peace around them. For example, some who believe that war is a necessary means to arrive at peace (something Hughes and I both disagree with), but many of those folks are more actively creating peace in their families and communities than many of those who argue that war is wrong. This was one of my favorite parts of the interview (about 2/3 in).

Read more about Ethan Hughes here. Listen to the interview here.

I would love to visit the Possibility Alliance community. I feel that, these days, Eric and I are working more intentionally on living our heart path.