How can people successfully align with others?
Cultivate Shared Purpose & Values
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Just declaring shared purpose and values is like planting a tree and not watering it. Shared purpose and values need to be cultivated.
Commons seldom begin with shared values and purpose. Instead, they gradually take shape through shared experiences. Cultivating shared values occurs through routine, reflection and ritual. It requires all participants to accept the existing diversity of people engaged in commoning,and to be willing to work cooperatively as a whole.
# Examples
- The shared purpose of Community Supported Agriculture 
is to cultivate and divide up fresh, healthy local produce – a process that brings about togetherness and shared purpose. In order to cultivate this togetherness, the farm hosts parties, members may work together in the fields, recipes are compiled and shared, and workshops may be organized around topics like healthy eating or growing your own vegetables.
- During the Spring and Fall meetings at the Commons Institut there are storytelling evenings where people are asked, “What brought you to the commons and how did you end up at the Commons Institut?”
- The Longo Maï Co-operatives are a group of French agricultural cooperatives that evolved into an international network. Its founding principles, which include autonomous provisioning and “transnational solidarity,” are kept alive through frequent reflection and specific acts of solidarity with other political causes.
# Related Patterns