The discussion in its entirety begins with this article.
Q and A: A work in progress
Question #5 from a reader: Why should I bother with a whole community of people when “I” ……..?
Answer 5:1: Any standard definition of “community” will immediately tell you that a community is a group of people. So our question might well be “why bother with a group of people, instead of just “ME”?
Another version might be “why bother with anyone else but “ME”?
The answer to the question (which ever version you choose) is so complex and multi-layered I barely know how to begin answering it. For starters, allow me to invite you to join Jack Slattery, my radio show co-host, and myself for our program this week titled –
We are going to talk over our topic from many angles that will help the question and the answer be addressed from countless directions. You can join us with your perspectives in our the after broadcast portion for an open-ended conversation forum. Maybe together we can nail down a simple and direct answer.
Sound like a bit of hedging on my part?
Well as I said the answer to our question here, “why bother with a community when “I”……, is not a simple one. Perhaps the best I can do is angle around an answer until maybe, some time, in the future I can nail down an answer in a few words. And, you will, by then, be able to come right up close to your own answer.
Maybe! I hope so as this is a most important subject we are on here, exceptional community-building.
Answer #5:2: In the meantime, also, try these few key words or phrases I have come up with so far to help our conversation develop on “why bother…?”
Key words and phrases (for a start)
- Destination for human survival at its most efficient – synergy;
- Chaos versus order (Remember “9/11” was it self-centeredness that helped us survive in the earliest days of the tragedy?
- Pulling together is more fun;
- Pulling together gets more rewards in the long run (pulling for yourself is good too);
- Working together brings expanded ideas and options and more than twice the power
- From Ben Franklin, "We must hang together or surely we will hang alone."
New Post: Friday, November 13
Answer 5:3: Question 5, Why “Bother” With Community When I ……..?, begins leading us in the direction of developing a preliminary understanding of the powerful and profound message and guidance the GRAD theory which, in its entirety, offers us a basic map out of personal, societal and political dysfunctional into the Higher realms of human attainment. That is if we can interpret it accurately and learn to apply the tenets of its resolve.
What GRAD points us to is in the direction of understanding might best be understood by, first, rearranging the emphasis of Question #5, Why “Bother” With Community When I ……..?
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| "Whoever is not aware of this ...." |
Recall that “community” does not even enter the basic principles of GRAD until the very last point, #10. Up to that step the preceding details focus on the individual. In particular the individual as being bound and/or excessively controlled by a biologically-based survival ingredient of the personality.
(Re-visit this item to review the danger inherent in not paying attention to this personality component and its challenge.)
This inherent survival aspect of all humanity, bred in a culture such as ours as well as most others that currently inhabit planet earth, interacting with the culture within which it finds itself becomes inured to the basic, most essential human need -- connection. As a result “wants,” typically of an excessive nature, substitute for this basic need.
Since these wants are unable to satisfy the normal, natural need for human connection, the quest for higher and higher doses of the substitute can almost spiral out of control. So urgent does the sense of emptinesss become. This urgent drive is no different in terms of conscious experience, if one remains conscious of it, as a sugar addiction or drug or alcohol addiction. Here we can include addictive use of the internet and cell phones.
So the rearranging of the emphasis in our Question #5, Why “Bother” With Community When I ……..? might be more aptly restated as –
Question #5, Revised:
How Does The Intrinsic Need For Community That Exists Naturally in Humans Become Twisted Into A “Bother” Rather Than An Inherent, Biological Necessity?
Steps you can take to begin to understand what I am saying here –
- Give yourself the necessary time to take and score the Survivor/Addict Personality inventory;
- Pay particular attention to your answers on Survivor/Addict Inventory questions #1, 5, 6, 10, 14, 23 and 25;
- Be sure, then, to read or re-read the legend offered in the scoring section of the Survivor/Addict Inventory;
- Next ask yourself if you still think that “community” is a “bother,” even sometimes;
- And how and why your “yes” answer might reflect your personal aversion to “leaning in” to others so as to truly be “community” with them.
Comments regarding the application of answer/answers to Question #5, “Why “Bother” With Community When I ……..?” as it/they relate to the GRAD theory:
- Especially as an introvert I am well aware of the need for time outs from the force and fury that communal life can generate. So I don’t mean to imply that solitude etc. is a problem though it can be and certainly has sometimes been for me.
- I am attempting to emphasize here an attitude of seeing others as “The Other” or the “Enemy” along with the other attributes and their influence of the personality characteristics spotlighted by the Survivor/Addict Personality inventory.
Note to readers: As you can, no doubt, begin to see the answer to Question #5, Why “Bother” With Community When I ……..? is complex and multi-faceted as indicated earlier. Like all other parts of this unfolding discussion this is a work in progress.
Jack Slattery, my Possible Society In Motion Radio Show co-host, and myself made this question the topic of our conversation on last evening’s program. We ended up talking about many of the aspects of the topic and still were unable to zero in on its essence throughout the show.
There was a surprising culmination to our discussion, however, near the end of the show when Jack commented that the word “bother” had significance for our discussion that we had overlooked. Check out our discussion on podcast – and – the surprise turnabout near the end when “bother” came to the fore.
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