Founding of Aurora
spurred by idealism
• By John Terry/ OREGON'S TRAILS •
A group of
folks looking for an ultimate paradise have
been comparing notes in Aurora the last few
days…Not that they expected to find it there,
or anywhere else on Earth, for that matter.
But the fact is that some people still long to
live in some ideal society, an Eden, if you
will.
That's why the Communal Studies
Association was with us once again, in a place
conceived, and to some extent once regarded,
as a slice of heaven on earth --- the Aurora
Colony.
English
statesman/philosopher Sir Robert More used the
word "utopia" (Latin for "no place"), as the
title for his 16th century treatise that
visualized an ideal society.
Communal Studies Association members study
utopian ideas and concepts past, present and
future. As the name indicates, their interest
lies in idealistic forms of community life --
societies divorced from, perhaps blissfully
oblivious to, the world's traditional turmoil.
"We
not just an academic organization," said
Kathleen Fernandez of Canton, Ohio, executive
secretary of the association headquartered
in Amana, Iowa.
"Most academic
groups' members have similar backgrounds, but
we have a wide array of people, everything
from anthropologists to historians to
sociologists. We have people from historic
sites, from current communal groups, and just
ordinary people who are interested in the idea
that people can come together and share,"
Fernandez said.
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