Community written by Karen Harper

Community
It is a living, evolving entity, this community. The common denominator among us is Dane McCullough, but is that all? Certainly not, but for some it may be the only commonality we’ve experienced. For some of us, participating in Dane’s blog will be a first peek at each other. Hmmm…what commonalities and contrasts shall arise?

We Americans are an independent lot, so used to standing on our own two feet. Even when we go seeking greater wholeness, we have a tendency to engage then withdraw again, taking our regained wholeness with us, intent on standing alone. It’s rather like going to the doctor for an ailment, getting treatment and returning home with no intention of going back to the doctor until we are again sick enough to require it. If we partnered with a holistic healthcare professional who coached us to practice health on an ongoing basis, we might find ourselves repeatedly in the company of others who gather for aerobics, or yoga, or nutritious cooking—sub-groups that expand our commonality and knit us together. Surely that model would generate more health and fewer illnesses among its participants.

Dropping the specifics of a healthcare scenario, which model (independent or communal) better represents your way of being in the world? I am more the former but feel myself shifting toward the latter. Individuals in our group will run the gamut but one constant is that each of us has taken steps toward greater wholeness, a significant commonality and distinction of our community.

It’s cliché, but change really is difficult. People are hard pressed to keep up with the existing order, let alone create a new one. But what alternative is there? Status quo fails us here. Reconcile to only be what one has been? Unthinkable! I am not dead yet; I can do something. I can begin with this community of truth seekers finders. These are three steps I have chosen:
I am redefining the part of my ethic that strives for independence. Instead I will strive for ‘self reliance’. Human beings are not independent; we are demonstrably interdependent, and fare much better when we allow for that. Interdependence and self reliance marry well!
I am adding Dane’s blog site to ‘My Favorites’ so I visit regularly and share the adventure of being alive—the brilliant moments and the dark ones. It is wonderful to hear and be heard by those of open heart and mind, many of whom I may eventually have the pleasure of meeting face-to-face!

I am elasticizing my circles. Confining myself to the company of those I am accustomed to is not always best for me or them. Loosening or breaking patterns that no longer serve, broadening the context of my life while holding sovereign the solitude that keeps me balanced—that is what works for me.

We, too, are evolving entities. Community becomes a telling expression of that evolution. Sometimes that feels like an unwanted challenge. Sometimes we prefer to keep ourselves tucked away in our own personal space, but safe havens become cells if one never comes out. If we think of community as we think of our life, as something we do instead of something we have, it becomes an opportunity. Could our community be more? Could we?