Thoughts on “Community”

Have you ever asked yourself about how your community, be it family, a circle of friends, or your whole town or neighborhood, your church, etc. are actually forming? What makes a community a community? And than of course why do we want and often deeply crave a community that we are part of?

 

The term “community” for me brings up a number of different associations, like co-op housing, ecovillage, commune and also family – specially when coming together at my grandparents house during my childhood- and also friends and neighborhood. All this in this one word and at the same time the a romanticized feeling of wanting to live in a great community. Amazingly, the opposite or a somewhat reserved attitude is true too, like if community, then not too much and on my terms, or with plenty of room to allow for my privacy anytime I want. All this is influenced by my cultural background. There are countries where living quarters for many are so small and so tightly packed, they are more like one-person sized storage lockers. Or, like one of my neighbors, where a family with 5 kids lived in a house where a childless couple could feel cramped in.

 

Community obviously can form around many different aspects, ranging from various types of social relationship, common interests of professional associations or issues focused communities. There are long lasting communities, like villages, towns or monasteries or short lasting ones, like when meeting while traveling and deciding to travel together for a bit.

 

When talking about community it brings up a sense of sharing and mutual support within the community. I think that is what it makes attractive. Inherently, as a human, I do believe that we need close relationships to others to thrive. When we find people that share similar values, ethical principles and purpose, it brings an experience of great enrichment to life.

 

Community can also be intentionally created. That is what happens for example with ecovillages. Folks want to live in a way that they share some assets, like land, and together plan and make decisions how the land, buildings and other property is managed as well how they want to organize the internal structure.

 

Community can provide the resource for making larger projects work that are pretty much impossible to do without helping each other. Like in our town, the community, folks came together to save a theater that otherwise would have been demolished. Against many odds, including the amount of finances needed, today this theater is one of the main focal points for a great cultural diversity of events, right in downtown, and gets upgraded every year with renovation and equipment, etc. People love it and it has become an example of what “our community” is all about. It is run by a non-profit organization and board members are elected from the local citizens.

 

This brings up a subject for another write-up. What are the makings of a well functioning community, from 2 to any number? How does one form and build community and make it something lively and nourishing for its members? What is a successful community? And, of course, how do we build “green” communities that are thriving?