Musings on Utopia

People have always dreamt of a perfectly just society, and many have tried to achieve it, only to realize that the goal of a perfectly just society is unreachable.

I think that it makes sense to discuss the idea of Utopia in the context of self-sufficiency, the main constituent of our mission, if only to discard it as irrelevant and clarify things a little bit.

Utopia is a model of a perfectly just society, where all people treat each other fairly. And it is from this fairness that other perfect things emerge.

My favorite work on Utopia is “Republic” by Plato. I especially like the fact that such a society is only considered as a means to a goal. The process of constructing such a model begins with the quest of finding what justice is, in the hope that a model like this could help to examine this matter more clearly as if looking at a human being through the magnifying glass. Finding the origins of justice was Socrates’ goal.

Imagine for a moment that you don’t have to worry about food, water, shelter, and other such basic needs. Neither do you have to work. For the sake of the argument, it is irrelevant how it was attained.

Well, with all that taken out of the way, now what? What would you do? You would most likely try to entertain yourself somehow, do something that you enjoy. Most probably you would try to pursue as many new meaningful experiences as possible, and try to see what life has to offer. A journey of sorts. It is that journey that we must walk on our own.

It is the journey that we plan ourselves, and it is we who choose our destinations. It is the only journey that matters.

Could Utopia provide such conditions that would allow us to direct all our focus on that goal? I think so. But is Utopia required to achieve such conditions? No, I believe that similar conditions could be achieved without the dependence on such unattainable ideals.

I believe that material self-sufficiency, when it comes to the satisfaction of basic needs, is possible on a small scale. A small group of people with common sense can negotiate a way to take care of their basic needs together. The interaction doesn’t have to be perfect, but civilized enough that the needs are satisfied, and even satisfied in abundance. It is not hard to imagine at all, as such groups exist. It doesn’t even have to be permanent. At one time, it is this group, another time, it is the next group. But done in a way where they can satisfy their main needs.

Of course, interaction with the world outside the group is inevitable, and such a group will never be truly self-sufficient, but the dependence can be minimized to the extent that it is negligible. I believe that a person living a life like this would have a lot more free time and energy to experience life than a person who is not “self-sufficient”. A person living life like this will not feel guilty for not working and being a burden on others, as they can easily take care of themselves.