Ashram suffers from flaws of collectivism

[A deeper justification for free trade is that it civilizes and enlightens.  … But the most fundamental reason I support free trade is that it is immoral for me to tell you how to spend your money and for you to tell me how to spend my money. An Open Letter to A Correspondent from Cafe Hayek by Don Boudreaux, 3 October 2010]

[Ken Wilber developed a useful way of marking the distinction between the two, referring to the "interior collective" and the "exterior collective." The interior collective is to we as the individual is to I -- that is, an internally related center of order. For example, a passionate marriage is a true "we" at every level, body, mind, and spirit (and that is indeed one of its purposes, since it helps develop the "I" to its true potential, even while allowing us to transcend it in the "we"). 

But the exterior collective is not a spontaneous order. Rather, it is something that you are essentially forced to be a part of, like Obamacare. Ironically, collectivism can never be a true collective, since most people don't want or choose to be members of it. It is imposed from the outside to varying degrees, so it's only a "we" for certain constituents, eg., the MSM, Hollywood, the tenured, the stupid, the envious, the immature. 

But this is what defines the leftist spectrum, from Obama/Euro style democratic socialism, to authoritarian fascism, and on to totalitarianism. Disordered Reason and the Illegitimate Force of Obamacare from One Cosmos - Mar 27, 2010]

[The human spirit--a spirit which strives always to throw off the shackles hold it down; which constantly veers toward freedom and away from slavery--cannot ever be completely extinguished and will always rise from the ashes of the left's next failed utopian experiment. THE LEFT'S UTOPIAN AMBITION from Dr. Sanity, 3 October 2010]

The Ashram as an economic organization has many distinct advantages. A strict division of labor entailing commendable specialization involving dedicated hands at economical costs should have worked wonders. But the flaws of collectivism play their part. Lack of ambition and thirst for commensurate incentive keeps the production units moribund. Absence of exit route, product shifting/shuffling, and diversification are other probable factors for the commercial ventures not becoming competitive and successful.

The genesis of the Ashram invokes the aspirational aspect of the human beings, whereas the more mundane projections of human psychology play out in everyday functioning. Economics belongs to the latter category and unless its demands are met it languishes. Mythological pictures of an ashram tends to keep people bonded to the bygone days and nostalgia rules. The challenge, however, is to build a vibrant community by suitably responding to advances in media, machinery, and methods of learning. [TNM]