Evolution's Movement

Building Community

“We know that where community exists it confers upon its members identity, a sense of belonging, and a measure of security. It is in communities that the attributes that distinguish us as humans, as social creatures, are nourished. Communities are the ground level generators and preservers of values and ethical systems. The ideals of justice and compassion are nurtured in communities.”
John Gardner

For most of our existence, humanity has been governed by hierarchy; top down, with many at the bottom, few at the top. The people at the top were comfortable, but carried the burden of leadership and providing for the needs of those beneath them. Some were more competent and compassionate than others, and some were simply despots who chose to subjugate those below them for their own benefit. From feudal fiefdoms to slavery, this was the case. Those at the bottom of the pyramid were almost never comfortable, and spent their lives simply toiling to survive. They were like the worker bees in a hive—essential to the survival of the hive, but also numerous enough to be expendable on an individual basis. We still have these systems today, and almost all governments are set up this way. But the hierarchy is not the form of the future. Community is.

Community is not built in the shape of a cone. Brother David Steindl-Rast, in his interview with Krista Tippett (On Being), said that the organization of the future will be a network; it will look more like a “well-worn path from door to door.” We are seeing movement in that direction in this twenty-first century—and we are also seeing the polar pull of its opposite, as the old hierarchical arrangement tries to hang on to its power. What this creates is a time of flux as we move from one to the other. The backward pull can slow things down, but it cannot stop the movement. Evolution moves in only one direction and that is ever expanding.

Already we see this shift in innovative businesses with open work spaces, and in collaborative enterprises such as entrepreneurial start-ups and non-profits. We see it when organizations choose to equally pay both men and women, to hire a racially and culturally diverse workforce, to increase pay for everyone and not just the CEO. We see it when everyday people organize to care for a sick neighbor, or an entire town devastated by fire, flood, earthquake. I heard just this week about an agricultural project that provides hay to ranchers in the mid-west whose hay fields burned to the ground. Not a government response, but a door-to-door response in which ranchers from other states simply bring hay and give it away. “Paying-it-forward” is the catch-phrase of this psycho-social shift.

Community is created when we care for one another. It is born when we care for people we know, and it comes into full maturity when we don't pick and choose who is worthy, but simply do what we can for whomever needs it. Community is open-hearted and inclusive. It is the way of the future, and increasingly, the way of the present. It feels like hope, like a breath of fresh air.

In the Spirit,
Jane