Tag Archives: Community

When it comes to vision, just do it!

I have lately found myself “consulting” for a number of friends regarding matters of community, vision, and spiritual growth. There is a sentiment that consistently comes up in our conversations. People have ideas, they have visions for something better, they have intentions… and they wonder how to get there from here. My answer is very often, “Just do it. It’s not that complicated.”

How do I make this restaurant more like a community? Just do it… be a community. How do I commit more time to my spiritual growth? Just do it… commit more time. How do I develop a community that it going to be motivated to change the world? Just do it… be that community that changes things. How do I live more like Christ? Just do it… live like Christ.

Many people might say, its not that simple… and I would say, it’s not that complicated! Life is not that complicated! It’s important to remember that all vision is a journey, a process. All transformation is never complete. We are always moving… and if our vision is finally complete, it is not a vision that is going to motivate people into the future. It was a plan all along, not a vision.

With this awareness, we must remember that vision very often cannot be explained, it must be experienced. So rather than asking how can this vision be accomplished (through some strategy, tactic, or effort), we have to ask how do I live in this vision right now? What decision to I make for this growth path that I am on right now? It’s all a choice folks. It’s all a choice.

The marks of a progressing civilization

I’ve been reflecting on a quote from Thomas Moore, in his book, The Re-Enchantment with Everyday Life. I posted a part of it on Facebook and it has raised some really good questions.  Moore writes,

We mark our progress as a civilization by what we see as advances in hardware, and that criterion, assumed so readily by the population at large, blinds us to other possible values such as community, reverence, wisdom, the care and education of children, and the condition of the natural world. I would wish to be a member of a community that judeged itself on the happiness of its children rather than on the unhindered flow of its mechanical inventions… Enchantment arises whenever we move so deeply into anything we’re doing that its interiority stirs the heart and the imagination.

An enchanted ecology comes into being when our concern for the environment goes beyond materialistic elements in nature and culture: to children rather than machines, trees rather than excessive paper products, and home rather than shelter.

When I desire the happiness in our children, and mark our progress as humanity by that, I am not referring to children as never crying. I am not ruling out other marks of a progressive society, but merely desiring a shift in priority. What does our society claim as proof of our progression? Happiness is something more than self-satisfied, self-interested, and self-serving. It something greater than an innocent or unaware naivety. There is a fantastic article in YES! Magazine on the History of Happiness.

The Lakota Indian tribe have a value that they seek to make their decisions with a full consideration of the next seven generations. Do we do this? Continue reading

Time… what is it good for? Absolutely everything!

How much of your time is dedicated to the life of sustainable community? How much of your time is given to caring for the earth or cultivating relationships that will make a difference for generations to come?

This is a big question as I have heard so many times that there is just too much to do or too many taps on the limited time that we have. I really think it comes down to what we value. Some would put a dollar amount on their time as their income is based on how much money they can make per-hour. They would rather just write a check then commit a couple hours to volunteer. While this helps in a financial sense, it doesn’t help too much in a relational sense.

I could never be where I am today if I had worked full time for the last four years. I’m not sure if I could even do it at this point. Then again, all that I do is work, life, play… its all time committed to one vision – building the Village. I had a conversation with a friend yesterday as she is wrestling with starting full-time work. What if we could build a value structure into our country, maybe just our city, where people didn’t feel the need to work full time jobs?

We could do it… it would mean a major shift in lifestyle, but we would have so much more time to share with each other, so much more time to cultivate and grow our own food sources. Gone would be the frantic rush from home to work to home to work. Gone would be the meaningless stockpiling of money to use on the self-centric pursuit of happiness. Maybe our lives would slow down a bit and we could eliminate “business” from our vocabulary.

Reflections on tradition and community

My friend Marc, had some questions regarding tradition and community in response to my reflections on our ceremony, and I think it’s worth a post.

I am curious to know what place (if any) you think tradition has in the concept of community. Communities are constantly changing — people come and go, they age, structures are built and torn down, etc. — but perhaps ceremonies (weddings, graduations, national anthems sung before ball games, etc.) play an important role in maintaining a steady hand amid all the flux. Certainly, there are plenty of ways to have a wedding, but at what point is a wedding no longer a wedding and becomes something else? Is it OK if it becomes something else entirely? How does that affect the community? Are certain communities more adaptable to change and, if so, is that adaptability something that can be intentionally developed or does it just happen?

I am currently working toward a Master’s in Public Administration, so I am so eager to hear your thoughts about tradition, change, and how communities can address the two. (Government is infamously slow to change, but I think the public’s longing for tradition can play a big role in that.)

There is a huge place for tradition, ceremony, and ritual in community. As Marc said, communities are constantly changing and yes, government has been slow in adapting… I would say, to an extent, religion has as well. Tradition helps us stay grounded in history which is absolutely essential if we are to adapt to change well. It’s a paradox really. Adapt yet ground in history. So, we as a community must know and celebrate (or even lament) our history, and yet we must continue to build new ways of doing ceremony and ritual.

Tradition often gets developed unintentionally, but ritual and ceremony MUST be developed intentionally. Continue reading

Reflecting on Ceremony, Celebration, and Weddings

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Kat Seltzer and I got married a couple weeks ago (be sure to check out the slide show at the bottom!!)… it seems like a long time ago, and yet the whole event is still very fresh in my mind. There is some reflection that needs to happen in regards to our event and as to how we decided to include and celebrate with the community. How does one envision a wedding as a community transforming event? How do two people hold space for a celebration out of deep authenticity and steer clear of the “shoulds” and appropriate ways to do a wedding?  My Foundations in Community are hardwired in my mind and always effect how I hold space for such occasions. Continue reading