Solarpunk and Spirituality/Community event movement? Does it exist? And what do you think: should this even be a thing?

[u/Skylar2144]

Hey everyone! New to this space here on reddit <3

(For TLDR scroll down to last paragraph where the core question is ^^)

Over the last few years I've gradually gotten more and more entangled into Solarpunk. First by chance overhearing the term here and there, later I encountered more and more artworks, literature, etc - and finally I also started getting a lot more involved with my local communities which then actually brought the term and movement prominently to my mind.

And I have to say: I love it. The hopeful approach to even the ever-dire problems we face in this world, the literel groundedness and level-headedness, and the immense positivity and peace radiating from Solarpunk content - it is seriously such an enrichment to my life.

However, while I do notice that I often find meaningful connections with likeminded people in the spirit of Solarpunk (explicitly or implicitly), and I also love all the little self-injected trails of it in my daily life, habits and mentality....I do wonder to what extent there actually is any form of somewhat unified cultual / spiritual / "religious" movement associated with it....and also to what extent there even "should" be?

Now, don't get me wrong, I love the multicultural and open and free spirit which often comes with Solarpunk, I am not looking for anything which would be "enforced" on people to be "real Solarpunkers" or something haha. I am not even looking for any classically religious aspect such as anything of higher power to worship or so - not only due to the largely scientific influences (which not always but often goes hand in hand with significant levels of atheism), but also not to create yet another clash with existing cultures and religions; after all the mission is to unite, not divide.

But historically speaking, community rituals, traditions, etc. not only gave people peace, joy and meaning, but it really is a big part of what brought people together consistently. It gave them the feeling of being part of a bigger whole. And isn't this precisely what in an ideal Solarpunk-esque world we would have - strong, healthy communities? Communities which have a strong tie and "devotion" to each other, on the mission to pursue and celebrate common values? As such I wonder... 1) are there any such movements ongoing &/ 2) What would opinions be on starting such movement(s)?
EDIT: To clarify, while I also am interested in hearing about how existing religions, spiritual paths, etc tie in, I am particularly interested in what it would/could look like to build a sort of community around Solarpunk ideals - INCLUDING and in harmony with - all kinds of paths that people may be on :) F.ex. a collection of "Solarpunk holidays" which could be celbrated internationally and cross-culturally!

I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic and I'm looking forward to hopefully many more exchanges on this space <3

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[u/GM-the-DM]

Honestly, a lot of convents and monasteries in the Catholic churches have operated this way for millenia. Same with some Buddhist monasteries. 

[u/SocialistFlagLover → u/GM-the-DM]

https://headwatersblog.substack.com/p/secular-monasticism

This post attempts to sketch out how a secular monastery would function, may be of interest!

[u/GM-the-DM → u/SocialistFlagLover]

That's a really cool article! Thanks!

It would be really cool if the Church of the Atom could set up something like this. 

Edit: Ducking autocorrect 

[u/wunderud]

I don't think it has to be a particular religion. You and GM-the-DM are both right, religion has held communities together from near to far for a long time, from worshiping the land around them, to universal spirits and gods. The Sikhs put their religion to practice for everyone and will feed and house those in need.

As a Unitarian Universalist I have learned that person practice and belief doesn't prevent people from practicing rituals or sharing community with each other. Some solarpunks will be part of unified movements, from monotheism to animism, and other will be atheists practicing because fire and singing is rad and it's good to think about the biggest picture and communities every once in a while.

[u/Skylar2144 → u/wunderud]

Hello! Oh, I actually have never heard of Unitarian Universalits before! ...but the aspect of "person practice and belief doesn't prevent people from practicing rituals or sharing community with each other" sounds basically EXACTLY like what I mean! :o Will be looking more into this, thank you!

[u/songbanana8]

If other people find meaning in religion that’s great, I’m happy for them. But personally I don’t think it’s good for society if people believe things that we can prove aren’t true. So I don’t think a solar punk society should have a strong spiritual element. 

Plus it’s not realistic. Religion and spirituality evolve from existing practices and speculation, not from an artificial reworking of socioeconomic ties as solarpunk is. Solarpunk doesn’t attempt to change or engage with elements of culture like food, holidays, language, etc beyond sustainability. So a solarpunk society in Asia will look different than one in Europe or South America, that is natural and sensible to me. 

[u/Skylar2144 → u/songbanana8]

Personally, I would actually find myself closer to your opinion on Religion. I understand and appreciate the immense value that faith can have for peoples lives, but I myself find more comfort not to believe in any mystical higher powers. But I DO appreciate all the community events that come with such traditions.

I am particularly interested in what it would/could look like to build a sort of community around Solarpunk ideals - INCLUDING and in harmony with - all kinds of paths that people may be on :) F.ex. a collection of "Solarpunk holidays" which could be celbrated internationally, cross-culturally. No dogmas, not even necessarily a "you should do this and this and this on this day", but simply occasions for people to come together and celebrate, reflect on progress made, bring awareness to important issues etc.

Kind of like how the same religious holidays can be celebrated very differently across various pars of the world, the same core idea or purpose could be there, but given local cultural influences then these days could indeed flourish into localized unique expressions of the core idea!

Regarding the point on culture, food, etc - Of course the focus lies on sustainability and community! ....but I would argue it is hard if not even impossible to 100% separate them. Culture, tradition and habit are core driving mechanisms of behaviour. And it is beautiful to see such a variety internationally - don't get me wrong! But there also are a lot of issues - particualy in the field sustainability - which NEED global cooperation....so isn't it almost inevitable that to some extent all these fields will get touched?

[u/songbanana8 → u/Skylar2144]

Yeah I agree that sustainability affects all parts of life, but people don’t make meaning out of a desire to be sustainable. There’s something else that drives us: desire for community, appreciation of aesthetics or art, the need to work together to obtain food. Solarpunk is the how, not the what or the why. 

Think about how little atheist art there is. Atheists of course create art. But belief in something fuels the desire to create. The divine demands offerings and the human experience of spirituality requires things a certain way aesthetically or meaningfully.  

Solarpunk doesn’t assign meaning to anything in that way, so I struggle to picture what a holiday with no dogma or dictation would look like. Every country has a political holiday where nothing is observed culturally, and I don’t think those serve much value besides giving a day off work for some people. So what would such a solarpunk holiday even look like, anywhere in the world?

[u/A_Guy195]

Religion does have a place in Solarpunk. Almost all religions have something to say about the natural world and Humanity’s place in it.

From what I understand you’re asking about religious/spiritual movements that are connected with the ideas of Solarpunk (correct me If I’m wrong here). I’d say that many Neo-pagan/wiccan groups count, together with other new religious movements like the Terasem movement. Again, traditional religions like Christianity can be connected with Solarpunk ideals imho.

[u/Skylar2144 → u/A_Guy195]

Thank you for your quick reply! True exactly, that is also where my thought process was...it does definetly tie in there and also feels like a good direction, but I at least often meet a lot of people who do have their small local communities or clubs....but then miss having traditions which would help them connect with more likeminded people.

So, while I also am interested in hearing about how existing religions, spiritual paths, etc tie in, I am particularly interested in what it would/could look like to build a sort of community around Solarpunk ideals - INCLUDING and in harmony with - all kinds of paths that people may be on :) F.ex. a collection of "Solarpunk holidays" which could be celbrated internationally, cross-culturally.

[u/phionix33]

I think solarpunk is getting popular in new age spiritual groups which is really bad considering those practices has a strong tendency towards fascism and reifying purity politics. I'm not talking about different local cultures having a spiritual connection with the land and nature they live in. I'm talking about white westerners consuming eastern spirituality to create eco-village cults, which often can look solar punk aesthetically.

[u/jimthewanderer]

Having a stall at markets or other community events is probably the best way to spread the ideas amongst normal people.

In the UK at least, most people are of no religion, and it does seem like humans benefit from having an equivalent structure, whether that's a cause they believe in that has community elements, or just regular time with a community.

This is why cults are so effective.

That said, no successful movement has ever existed without relying on the natural human need for community and bundling that up with a cause to believe in. And many a movement has probably failed before it started because the tools That Work were considered cringe, or dangerous.

Having a small DIY, Right To Repair, or community gardening festival, or market stalls (why not all?) that is designed and catered to specific local communities is a great idea. Bundle in some guided nature walks for peoples wellbeing, maybe some lectures for nerds, something less formal for others.

Being totally eclectic with the spiritual side of things is likely to dilute the effectiveness. In order to be worthwhile you'd need to distill the elements that are pretty uncontroversially agreeable to everyone, and make those a pillar around which eclecticism can frolic.

[u/UnusualParadise]

Something like solarpunk will probably accept every faith, altho given the focus on science and pragmatism, solarpunk itself might lean more towards agnosticism.

This being said, the word you are looking for is called "Lunarpunk", which is kind of a "witchy spiritual" artistic variant of solarpunk.

The social aspect is just the same as solarpunk, but acknowledging spirituality, religion, rituals, and rediscovery of ancient cultures. Socially wise is not developed at all, since it is just a small spinoff that has had no traction on its own.

From an artistic point of view, aesthetics wise, lunarpunk is more around the night, bioluminiscence, gemstones, glyphs, etc. With a colder color palette and strong contrasts between light and dark. It might mix old mythologies and its props with a more modern or futuristic oriented style.

All this being said, what is "lunarpunk" is not defined at all. Again, it's nothing but a nebulous artistic style and a couple of ideas mashed together.

https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Lunarpunk

[u/raicorreia]

I was an atheist my whole life(my parents are too), but now after 8 years of buddhist reading and practicing I'm participating into a Sangha and yes it changed my life for the best.

I also believe that solarpunk and the building of a new society go hand in hand with buddhism and with socialism(because the historical materialism made sense to me after all that) but to convince people of that I would need to create pretty much a cult which would divide my local solarpunk community, so I don't see this as a net positive.

I think is much better that people see how I am when they live and work with me, and the positive karma I am bringing and if they ask me how do I do that in the shitty world we live in I tell them a bit about my journey.

[u/krateitonpternan]

I'm against it. Solarpunk should accompany a political movement for a better future with aesthetic visions of a better future, but it should be open to all cultures and religions. Filling it with some sort of religiosity itself would make it inaccessible to a lot of people who already are religious. I for myself for example am Catholic and I would not engage with Solarpunk if it came across as some New Age spirituality or something. So no, let's leave it at art. BUT I would be extremely open to specific "cultural interpretations" of solarpunk. There is already something like this with African culture/religiosity, which is aesthetically set into the future by some Solarpunk artwork. I would be interested in this for other cultures as well (would be a HUGE fan of Catholic Solarpunk, if it existed - like, cathedrals and windmills: AWESOME). Generally Solarpunk could experiment more with connecting with existing cultures, spiritualities and traditions - this would make it far more accessible to a lot of people who feel kind of alienated by the prospect of an entirely new and to some degree purely "scientific" atheistic future. But don't invent a new spirituality or something.

[u/FlyFit2807]

I've thought about this quite a lot before and written some drafts in my ongoing draft proposal for a Solarpunk Co-housing and Co-operative businesses Community. Tldr of my ideas about it is to collectively agree on a positively minimalist common core of ethics and spirituality which purposefully is as inclusive and pluralist as possible without inviting or allowing divisive exclusionary or long-term indirectly harmful variants in.

What I mean by 'positively minimalist' is that it positively establishes as a common core the simplest, most minimal set of requirements and expectations, so that we protect ourselves and our place from effectively exclusionary divisive and exploitative variants invading and occupying a vacant cultural-ecological niche. It's positively setting up just enough to occupy the niche for a collective ethic and spirituality to keep it inclusive.

And it seeks to include the most humanistic and universalist (also with regard to the non-human rest of the world or universe) systematic variants of old religious traditions and communities, with a preference for the continuous versions which have more anti-exploitation anti-domineering norms and procedures already integrally built-in, rather than the fragmentary versions built around the personalities of particular leaders, i.e. effectively wrt. Christian traditions (as an example, because I know enough on this part) that means preference for Catholic and Orthodox, but not the Church of the FSB or 'Moscow Patriarchate' which I consider null and void as such.

The excessively unbalanced Romanticist cultural systems, including Hippy or New Ageist casually Orientalist syncretism and arbitrary subjectivistic idealism, culturally misappropriating bits and pieces of Colonialist subject cultures, taking the outer forms of their symbols without respect for what they meant in their original context, smooshing all 'Eastern' religious traditions together as if they're all compatible or agree with each other (e.g. mashing up the Upanishadic Hindu Vedic-orthodox traditions with the Buddhist, non/anti-Vedic heterodox, wandering ascetic origin traditions), without a sense of ontologically real personal ethical responsibilities, is one of the 'long-term indirectly harmful' variants which I don't want to allow to capture and co-opt the place. Also obviously I don't want fundamentalist, chauvinistic, exclusionary variants of the big three monotheistic religions coming in.

I'm aiming towards establishing this Solarpunk Co-housing community in the Transcarpathian mountains in south-west Ukraine (first preference of about 4 locations me n my friends are intending to go look at when we're ready), which hasn't been invaded and is unlikely to be because of the terrain. Land is less expensive there because the economy is mostly mountain dairy farming or hot springs spas old sanitaria for people recovering from TB and now tourism. It's also culturally a bit distinct - historically mostly Ukrainian Rite Greek Catholic, which means they're Catholic with Orthodox style liturgies and spirituality. They also tend to be among the most educated and liberal wing of the Catholic churches, and used to harmoniously getting along with other religious communities as neighbours from a minority position.

I'm also imagining that one aspect of the community's activities could be hospitality for pilgrims/ hikers on the Camino Podolico, lead-in path to the Camino de Santiago, and that we'd explicitly invite and welcome people from all religious communities and none, with a 'Syntemplon' conjoined church-mosque-synagogue + humanist contemplative space around a central garden with a semi-abstracted sculpture of the Hospitality of Abraham story "and when the three strangers had left, Abraham remained standing in the presence of the Lord" - Abraham's first recorded spiritual experience was through hospitality to complete strangers. That area in southwest Ukraine, before the Romantic Nationalist and then fascist period, was the most religiously diverse part of Ukraine and probably in all of Europe - large stable Jewish and Muslim local communities were there for centuries, so we'd be inviting their surviving cultural descendants back.

My draft also includes the catholic/ universalist practice of integratively reinterpreting older non-Christian communal symbolic traditions into a more universalistic context, but in our case it'd be Inclusive Humanism primarily. So I drafted versions of the local/regional pagan seasonal festivals and rituals, including an integrative version of the winter festival around fire as a symbol of purification and starting the new year with all old grudges or relationship injuries left behind, and in my version it's led/ choreographed by the oldest matriarch and the youngest child who's old enough to be able to walk and participate with her. (When I say 'Inclusive Humanism' the 'inclusive' is meant to include the beyond humans world too.)

Another aspect of what I mean by Inclusive Humanism is not the Western Secular Modernist, cultural supremacist and chauvinistic version/s, which have become the majority since 9/11 and the reactionary New Atheist / Islamophobe movement. Instead, we'd focus on, among others, Terentius Afer, the 2ndC BCE playwright-philosopher from what's now Libya, the paleo-anthropology of human prehistoric spirituality, African and Indigenous religious traditions (especially the most inclusively humanistic and universalist versions, e.g. Ubuntu philosophy of relational ontology), and the broadest sample of human poetry we can possibly find, like in Jerome Rothenberg's anthologies.

[u/skyzoomies]

Yeah it’s an interesting question. I think there’s ’community event’, ‘spiritual’, ‘religious’, and nebulous spaces in-between.

Like the synergy of nature and technology, I’d like to see a harmonious relationship between spirituality and science.

You may enjoy The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk. It’s pretty Solarpunk and includes witchcraft and science.

She helped found this tradition of witchcraft: https://reclaimingcollective.wordpress.com/principles-of-unity/

[u/Taiyo_Osuke]

Hello there, I know I'm some random nerd-of-a-teen with OCD, but as a SolarPunk, off grid community living, and zero-waste enthusiast, who genuinely plans to design some sort of major town or village with all these characteristics, I'm also a self-proclaimed theologian, and linguist - so thinking about how people can interact and be similar is what I'm all about.

Now, I'll try to keep it short, but I don't really identify as any specific religion. I was raised 'Christian' by my mother, though in all actuality she wasn't truly, and had a Muslim father who was back then dwindling on his Deen, or religious coherence. So, at age 10, I came out and send I would not like to participate in either religion, given my experience, and converted to Hinduism - the oldest religion in the world. There I learned deep and extensive history of religion, how they came to be, and some cool and interesting Hinduism lore and ideals not quite known by the general public. After this, I gradually moved into Buddhism, and was for a while Hindu and Buddhist, before dropping Hinduism, so I could focus on this one. For those who don't know, Buddhism is really a rabbit hole when it comes to phycology and spirituality, so learning all that wild stuff did me good, and influenced my thinking. Now, after this, I began making a slow introduction to Islam. My father had never learned me, and was in prison, so it was all on my own, but I eventually established a firm foundation there. Alas, I decided to go into Christianity last summer, but not by the common way. I started with those quirky and weird denominations such as LDS to see what differentiated them, before exploring around with the better spoken of Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Methodist, and so on. Now, at age 14, I have completed the better most of my journey. Throughout it, I made several little looks into minor religions and dead mythologies such as Zoroastrianism and Greek/Roman G-ds respectively, and in total, was so shocked to learn how every religion was connected.

There is so much that I could never explain without hours of deep delves, on how the Biblical flood is shared, the similar creation story, which mind you, is actually longer than just Genesis, and the ancient cosmology and what not - it's so interesting!

Thus, for a while, I've now been practising a bit of each religion; I follow the 613 commandments, celebrate Torah holidays, and observe Shabbat as a Jew, but also pray five daily prayers like as a Muslim, and read up on and study deep Bible lore such as the end times like a Christian.

So, yeah, it's obviously the Abrahamic religions which are the closest, but like I'm saying, I believe all cultures are diverse yet one in humanism and should be expressed, valued, and appreciated. My father who has recently gone back to being a more just Muslim, was seemingly happy to see me praying and fasting, and my younger siblings enjoyed doing Chanukah and Purim with me ( Next I'll be trying Passover in a few days, but haven't acquired Matzah yet since I don't have any money to buy it on my own [Mum doesn't let me or 15yr old sister work anything, yet complains when we need money for school 😂], and am too scared to ask my Mum for the following reason - ).

My mum on the other hand ( mind the spelling, but I'm American ), doesn't like it as much. She says off grid living sounds cultish, especially in how the community form I mention, which is understandable, but she never lets me explain my side, goals, or intentions. I, similar to religion, have studied off grid living, its struggles, and more for a while, and am almost certain I can plan out one. I want to improve everything, from the economy to education, and I already have most of it, like a school system and library economy, already mapped out. It hurts me most though, when she makes fun of or laughs at religion, sometimes also scrutinising it. It really kicks in the realisation that I'm the lone single person with these interests, and might never achieve to build the diverse and inclusive community I seek. She criticizes me for practising these, and tries to make them look bad, searching up on Google, any negative things she can find... 😔

But at length, I digress, for I am steadfast and stern. When I say off grid, I don't imagine little log cabins, but larger apartment like buildings that look like something out of a light academia photo. I am a big scholar on history, and am learned on how ornate and wonderful grand structures like Greek buildings were built back then. I envision these tall mansion looking apartments to be built of many natural materials we can gather around on, outside and in, and each decorated indoors like a Victorian rich person's home ( as a certain historical progressive politician would say,Every Man a King ! ). But, we're sadly not here to discuss housing or markets, so I'll get to the point.

Many people envision modern technology, but I'm often completely zero waste and natural, always thinking of elusive mechanical machines built of wood, or other materials that don't require machines to search, so it's not as futuristic as modern SP, but definitely as meaningful. We won't work on regular clocks, but the day would be divided into halachic hours, with Islamic prayer times as points between ( ex; School and work start at sunrise and end at Zuhr, or solar noon, which is when people have lunch. Or, dinner at Maghrib/sunset and tea time at Asr/late afternoon between solar noon and sunset. Bedtime at Isha, or nightfall when all the dark blue of sunset has passed, and became black. ). I advise you to search up Islamic prayer times, to see, how this works. I think the shole community gathers at a giant building I simply call 'The Temple' ( not to be confused with the long lost Jewish first and second temples of Israel, nor to be associated or serve purpose of ). Here, they can do communal prayers at those times, but it will also have large rooms for gatherings, games, music, and meals on holidays, like the traditional Jewish ones, or Iftar and Eid during Ramadan, where the community would rally around for lots of food and fun. We'll also meet every Friday night for Shabbat dinner, and of course Shabbat service in the morning in another room with pews.

There's honestly a lot, and I explained my vision terribly, but I have been sitting here for more than half an hour typing this, so if you're intrigued, I'd love to give responses and and answers, and go deeper into any pects.

[u/Taiyo_Osuke → u/Taiyo_Osuke]

A note that traditional Jewish holidays are quite seasonal;

Sukkot marking the begining of Fall harvest

Chanukah being a light in the dark midwinter

Purim being the fun and colourful transition between Winter and Spring

Pesach was literally commanded as a Spring holiday

Shavuot which marks Summer with flowers, fruit, milk and honey, dairy products like cheese, ice cream, and cake, and much more like pretty white dresses, and people singing harvest songs whilst carrying baskets of their newly grown food to the temple for a communal lunch, with a giant bread loaf baked from a lot of the newly harvested wheat. It's my favourite, but is relatively unknown and made minor in the diaspora, but I hopento go all out in June, staying up all night and whatnot 😀

[u/Taiyo_Osuke → u/Taiyo_Osuke]

Also be aware that, as someone who used to be quite introverted, I would never force anyone to participate in these events, but instead, they'd be highly recommended. Not solely for religion, but for the sake of gathering and expression.

Look into Reform Judaism ( RJ ) , a modern branch of Judaism with many diverse followers of all colours, which prioritises culture over religion, and is much more focused on the community aspect, than the devotion aspect. In fact, there are also many secular RJs!

[u/Adrestia716]

I'm atheopagan so kinda? 

[u/Icy-Bet1292]

I'm a pantheist, I recommend the Pantheisticon by John Toland. I think a lot of what he wrote could be incorporated into Solarpunk.