There is no alternative to community. It is an essential human function, to be part of families, that are part of communities, and insofar as we're not immersed in them, we are deprived of basic human functions and attributes. I am very sorry you do not feel you are part of a community. It is a very sad thing.
I have arranged my affairs deliberately so that I am immersed in my community and it is my actual wealth, rather than stuff that I have possession of. I provide services for people all the time without thought of pay and as a result I have to pay for very little because people pay for stuff I need as compensation for stuff I do for them, for their neighbors, or just because I do stuff they want done in the community. I know everyone in several blocks radius from my home, and even the disreputable drug addicted children of little old ladies that gossip incessantly keep an eye on my stuff. I don't have to lock my doors. I don't have to feed my cat. I don't have to cook. Sometimes I don't have to do dishes, or clean my house. I don't pay my phone bill, rent, or etc. Other people pay those things when they come due so I don't have to have a bank account to pay them with, because my bank account is the goodwill I have with my neighbors, my community.
People aren't perfect, and life isn't either. Little old ladies that gossip incessantly can be pretty toxic, and sometimes a batch of cookies can come with a price tag I am unwilling to pay. I hardly need to point out that alcohol or drug addicted people aren't very reliable, and often can't take care of themselves, much less stand guard over my worldly possessions. But, all in all I reckon I am in a much better position than most old men that live alone because of my immersion in my community. I hope you can feel connected and protected by the people that live around you, because as we get older we need more connections and protection from cold, hard facts of life as we age into frailty.
Thanks!
I must confess I can hardly imagine the sort of life you describe. I know I'm not a social creature by nature, but I do know people who are more outgoing, community-oriented, ready to offer help, etc. Still, they do not enjoy the life and the community you describe.
As for not having a bank account, this is still possible here, but I expect it won't be for long.
Yes, there is no alternative to community, as you say, but I don't know how we could bring that back in our increasingly isolated world. As I see it, it would take a giant leap to a post-scarcity future were people are no longer at each other's throat... or a post-apocalyptic world where community would be our only chance to survive.
Working with people, like working with wood, paint, clay, or any other task, is a skill that can be learned. I am not particularly drawn to that endeavor, being an introvert by nature, but in the wake of repeated catastrophes in my life have recognized the importance of the people I live amongst to my life. While I have developed skill at carpentry and the use of tools to make and repair structures, despite my natural preference for such work I have become assiduous about working with people.
Regarding the circumstances under which working with people can become successful, it is the case that all people have very similar needs and environments in which we live. We have many basic similarities that make working together easier, and there really aren't circumstances in which people can't improve their lives and happiness by working together to produce economic benefits and social comity. If people are at each other's throats, either some of them are simply pathological and cannot comprehend and avail themselves of social comity, or they aren't trying very hard to understand and work with others and are being set against each other by an external power. Such external influence can be overcome locally by diligent and informed action, because people in your neighborhood have far greater ability to affect you then those distant from you.
I have very little in common with addicts. It makes it difficult for me to relate to their concerns and interests. Something we do have in common is a desire to aid and assist those they love, their families and friends, to be well and enjoy their lives. Because I do what I can to help them, even such inveterate ne'er do wells appreciate that work I do, so they have good reason to care that I have the tools and means to do that work. I have had things stolen by addicts in the past, because addiction is a terrible motivation that disregards even familial bonds, but by application of the skills I have gained through diligent practice, I did recover what was stolen eventually. What has been taken from me I have not recovered was done maliciously, intentionally to harm me, and such malevolence is usually able to be perceived and avoided through due diligence. It's why I don't use banks. Banks are ubiquitously malevolent and cannot be trusted. I find that institutions are all that way, while almost all of the people working in them - at least those not executive officers of such institutions - are ordinary, good people.
Even those we have come to regard as terrible people, whether through reputation, or direct experience, have ordinary human motivations and needs. Finally, in extremis, there are people we just cannot abide or work with, and sadly this is a lot of people. Those folks I just ignore as possible, avoid as necessary, and am particularly vigilant when I am confronted with them. When I am building stuff, some boards are just rotten, and I don't use them.
Community is our only chance to survive right now. We would all more or less quickly die without being members of a community that provides all the benefits of civilization we depend on every day. Even introverts like me can learn to operate and succeed by diligent practice in the community of good people we are in. It would be a terrible place indeed that was mostly pathological people, and if we are in such a bizarre and horrible community we should get the hell out of there without all due dispatch, because such places are few and extraordinary and most places very different.