Arcosanti: The world’s least problematic cult community
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On the whole, cults are a contentious business. Their insular worlds most often give rise to highly problematic – if not illegal – ideologies, and no matter where you are in the world, there always seems to be at least one group cropping up to send their questionable messages. But what if there was another way? A vision of a world in which cults could exist, not to spout hateful rhetoric amongst themselves but to strive for a better planet? In Phoenix, Arizona, Arcosanti may be offering just that.
Under the blistering heat and the vast expansiveness of the Arizona desert, the norm is that you could travel for miles on end without having contact with a single other soul, and only in overpopulated, unenvironmental urban cities would there ever be any form of human connection. It was a concept loathed by the Italian architect Paolo Soleri, who found their cities to be “a fathomless sinkhole for immense waste” on his arrival on American shores from his home in Turin.
His vision, then, was to create an ethical, sustainable, but connective model of living in which human interaction was as paramount as its self-sufficiency. Thus, Arcosanti was born in the 1970s. Soleri’s idea was to have up to 5,000 inhabitants all living harmoniously in one expansive, multi-levelled concrete structure, relying on solar power for energy and using the natural resources of the valley to account for themselves.
The people who lived as part of Arcosanti made money through a molten bronze bell casting business, and subsequently, Soleri’s notion of ‘arcology’ came to life. Combining the fields of architecture and ecology into one way of life, his intention with Arcosanti was not to do with religious preachings or toxic ideologies, but to prove that real, meaningful communities could be built without having a seismically detrimental impact on the climate or landscape around it.
Since its inception some half a century ago now, it’s a legacy that the people residing in Arcosanti have had to carry forward in Soleri’s honour, after he sadly passed away in 2013. But throughout his life, the founder had already done so much – literally and metaphorically – in laying the groundwork, as he proved to the world that an alternative way of living was more than possible, without wreaking any kind of harm on the planet we should all so deeply cherish.
These days, the Arcosanti community is very much still on a journey – on the surface, it’s only built a tiny proportion of its proposed living quarters, with only around 50 permanent residents, but it’s nevertheless still well on the way to creating its vision of harmonious community. Spearheaded by Soleri, the inhabitants are joined by passing counterparts who attend the site for workshops and classes, in everything from its traditional bell-making to photography and glass-blowing.
Of course, as is natural for any such cult, the scrutiny over its morals and principles lands squarely with its original founder. But unlike other leaders of that kind, you would be hard pressed to find anyone who could utter a bad word about Soleri, such was his vision steeped so steadfastly in ethical principles and sustainability. Indeed, even upon his death 12 years ago, he left his entire life’s fortune to a foundation set up to continue Arcosanti into its future.
This is not to suggest that anyone should just immediately pack up their bags and head for Arizona, as there’s a lot to be left behind. Residents have to travel for miles on end just to access a supermarket and gather necessities, not to mention stable heat and energy supplies. But there is a lot to be said for creating a mode of living which inflicts no form of damage on the world, and one that many can learn from as the Earth edges closer and closer to crisis point. Arcosanti may be classed as a cult by name, but judging by its characteristics, harmfulness is not anywhere in its nature.
Content retrieved from: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/arcosanti-worlds-least-problematic-cult-community/.
