Topic: Pachamama Community in Costa Rica as a Social Utopia
Question: With reference to its core-values and origins, how is the Pachamama Community in Costa Rica an example of how modern-day utopias are ultimately unable to detach from societal norms?
Works Cited
D’andrea, Anthony. “Osho International Meditation Resort (Pune, 2000s): An Anthropological Analysis of Sannyasin Therapies and The Rajneesh Legacy.” Journal of Humanistic Psychology 47, no. 1 (2007): 110-113.
The source sets forth the argument that the Osho International Meditation Resort (where Tyohar spent months prior to his arrival in Costa Rica), located in India, offers therapies where Indian nationals are obstructed entrance, and are thus intended for a Western audience. Boatwright Memorial library’s “OneSearch” was used to locate the source. It is an academic journal by a University of Chicago PhD anthropologist, thus it is a scholarly source. It offers an insight into how the place where Tyohar gained inspiration to create his community, is intended to attract specific individuals: Westerners who can contribute to the financial maintenance of the resort. The link is then made between this source and how the community’s official website is intended for an English-speaking audience.
Goldman, Marion S. 2009. “Averting Apocalypse at Rajneeshpuram”. Sociology of Religion 70 (3): 311–27. http://www.jstor.org/ stable/40376079.
The source gives a detailed account of how the intentional community of Rajneeshpuram, established in Oregon, U.S.A, and lead by Rajneesh (nicknamed Osho), initiated a salmonella attack on nearby restaurants as a response of legal restraints the government was imposing on it. Boatwright Memorial library’s “OneSearch” was used to locate the source. It is an academic journal published by Oxford University Press, thus it is a scholarly source. It not only leads to the origins of Osho, the spiritual leader who Tyohar (leader of Pachamama) follows, but to how the community is absolved because of exterior social pressure (it is unable to exist when it detaches from societal norms), thus the leader relocates to Pune, India.
Kali_mon. “I Know the Crazy Control Freak.” May 4, 2010. Accessed November 17, 2015. http://www.gurusfeet.com/opinion/i-know-crazy-control-freak.
The source subjectively accuses the leader of the Pachamama Community, Tyohar, of not representing the values of his community, which are based on spiritual leader Osho’s teachings, when one of his disciples dies. Instead of acting serene, supporting his own words that the deceased was enlightened, the leader cries and avoids contact with his family. Search engine Google was used to locate the source. The source is a digital blog-post (an exhibit-source), thus it is non-scholarly. It serves to extract primary evidence of how Tyohar repels individuals from his community by presenting inconstancies between the institution he claims to follow (his beliefs) and his actions.
Pace, Eric. “Baghwan Shree Rajneesh, Indian Guru, Dies at 58.” The New York Times. January 19, 1990. Accessed November 20, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/20/obituaries/baghwan-shree-rajneesh- indian-guru-dies-at-58.html.
The source objectively outlines a brief biographical account of Rajneesh, nicknamed Osho, leader of the Rajneeshpuram community in Oregon and ideological founder of the Osho Mediation Center. It factually presets how he was deported from the United States after legal accusations of terrorism and outlawed immigration, and how he relocated to India. The New York Times’ search engine was used to locate the source. It is a newspaper article, thus a non- scholarly source. It serves as secondary, objective evidence of how the leader of an intentional community failed to maintain his ideological utopia in the U.S. after social pressure was imposed on him.
PachaMama Community. “PachaMama | Community in Costa Rica | Spiritual Communities.” Accessed November 20, 2015. http://www.pachamama.com/community.asp.
The source objectively outlines that the Pachamama Community in Costa Rica is rooted in the principles of simplicity and nature; its members seek self-awareness through being part of an eco-community and participating in permaculture projects. It describes that the community was founded by Tyohar (follower of Osho), and is still spiritually lead by him. The intentional communities search engine, http://www.ic.org/, was used to locate the source. The source is a website, thus it is non-scholarly. It serves to get hold of a background of the community’s core- values (awareness, simplicity, detachment from financial constraints, and serenity) and to lead to its origins (Tyohar’s background).
Travelpod. “Rebn’s Travel Blog: Ostional, Costa Rica.” TravelPod. December 7, 2006. Accessed November 20, 2015. http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rebn/cr2006/1165780560/tpod.html.
The source subjectively outlines how the actions of the leader of the Pachamama Community, Tyohar, raises a level of skepticism regarding his credibility. It ridicules the leader of the community by humorously pointing out how he is nothing more than a Trans music DJ who gets money from visitors. Google was used as the search engine to locate the source. It is a digital blog-post, thus it is non-scholarly. The source serves as more primary evidence of how the leader of a modern utopia relies on the financial contributions of visitors, and is thus unable to detach from societal pressure.
“I have neither received nor given unauthorized material during the completion of this work.”
x. Daniel Majluf