Our Story

Saṃsthāna is the concept for a progressive sustainable living community.

Saṃsthāna is the concept for a progressive sustainable living community. It will provide an alternative lifestyle, growing and living according to the ethics of permaculture, creating a utopian-style social architecture while bringing people closer to nature and cultivating collective consciousness. The community will strive to be plant-based, zero-waste and powered by renewable energy. Our goal is that over the span of 6-8 years Samsthana will become a successful model of a self-sufficient, small-scale circular economy. We hope that this pioneering revolutionary establishment will bring value to Sri Lanka in terms of regenerative tourism, and by providing multiple solutions by example to the social and ecological dilemmas we face. Education will play a major role in the community’s dynamic. This will be an opportunity for people that are aggrieved with the current system to come together and cultivate their collective vitality, find space for freedom of expression and become involved in environmental and health activism.

We envision

A decentralised people’s collective, utilising the varied skill sets of individuals to build and manage a property including a permaculture farm, herbal garden and co-living spaces etc. Members will undertake the different responsibilities and tasks in rotation, according to their capacity and capability. Members will stay and commit on their own volition and remain on the basis that they maintain a mutual exchange with the community, and participate in collective decision making processes. In addition to permanent/semi-permanent members, students, volunteers and visitors (through regenerative eco/agro-tourism programs, open workshops etc.) will also participate under the same set of principles. By networking with like-minded people from around the country and around the world we intend to invite professionals and teachers of various skills and expertise to come and conduct classes and workshops in the community to diversify the knowledge of members and visitors in areas of sustainability, health, philosophy and spirituality.

The landscape itself will be designed according to permaculture principles, taking advantage of the topography and climate to obtain yields while regenerating the ecosystem and nourishing the soil.

We envision Samsthana being a model for sustainable, zero waste, organic- plant-based living. A model which can be replicated and adopted by people elsewhere, and a model that proves through its existence that another way of life is not only possible but better. Our vision includes centering education and sharing of skills and knowledge, fostering a new kind of social interaction, whereby one helps their neighbour rather than competing with them. As part of our long term vision, we hope to use Samsthana as a space for hosting internationalist meetings and networking events with likeminded people from similar communities in other countries, as well as a hub for organising social and environmental justice campaigns. We plan to kick-off a reforestation program where we can attempt to restore once lost eco-systems and habitats in degraded sites around our community.

Self & Community development

To become the best versions of ourselves and grow as individuals while we grow a healthy and functional community we believe the investment of time and conscious effort to educate oneself and engage in spiritual practice is integral. Education is an important value to be upheld in building our community in hope that we are well equipped with the knowledge necessary to understand and deal with the issues faced in community living and in the wider society. Any form of non-dogmatic spiritual and healing practice will be encouraged and facilitated. We hope Samsthana will become a place where people can develop their spirituality and find their own paths to raising their consciousness without fear of judgment or discrimination.

We also intend to empower the local surrounding community, providing opportunities to local rural Sri Lankans to work with us and benefit from our workshops and educational activities.

We intend to invite teachers and experts in various fields to host discussions, training, masterclasses, courses and workshops for community members to provide the opportunity to broaden our knowledge and explore our interests. For Samsthana dwellers certain aspects of day to day life will be done together as family such as garden work, cooking and eating at least one meal a day together, bonfire nights and other activities that will help us bond and nurture our relationships with each other, to ensure people feel sense of safety and community. This will also help in situations where conflicts may arise, in that people feel safe and open enough to engage in mature and constructive conflict resolution.

Our values

It is evident that the values cultivated in modern society such as individualism, competition, control, and accumulation, have bred greed, intolerance, unchecked ego and ignorance which have led us down a path of destruction, hatred and apathy.

We are currently facing climate and ecological disasters of global proportion, along with numerous humanitarian and political crises across the world. This signals that the social fabric and societal norms on which most people rely do not serve us to prevent disaster, let alone achieve our highest potential as a species. A new and alternate way of living would require the identification and ridding of existing values that do not serve us in our purpose, and the prioritisation and upholding of values that do.

Therefore, the values upon which Samsthana will be based, centre around sustainability and morality, and are as follows;