ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that the Belgirate conferences function as an ongoing intentional community (village) whose primary task is mutual support. As such, the Belgirate conferences share many characteristics with another mutual support system, the Twelve Step fellowships based on Alcoholics Anonymous, which have also been described as intentional communities. The members of the group relations community, including those who populate the Village of the Belgirate conference, have a wide variety of professional identities and theoretical orientations. These areas of differentiation may easily lead us into Basic Assumption Fight/Flight, where one avoids the primary task of supporting each other and wasting energy in trying to prove each other wrong. The traditions of group relations (and recovery from addiction) offer us incredibly wide latitude in reaching our goals with a range of adaptive behaviors, providing that one is able to let go of dysfunctional patterns that may or may not be in his awareness.
