I have always had a lot of thoughts and hopes about community. I also became a community leader and enjoyed such a role for a while. The recent online meeting celebrating the 7th anniversary of the Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox made it clear that there is a sense of community among the readers, and I am happy to contribute with Matthew and the rest of the team to such a feeling.
I am not gregarious or an extrovert. Just as I long for community, I also need my space. Lots of space. Yet I have come to realize what Jungian analyst Steven Herrmann says well: We cannot individuate in a cave, in complete solitude. It is impossible. We need friends to balance out our introverted and extroverted functions. Then, in the company of friends, brothers and sisters alike, or in a soul society, we can approach the goal of life, which is fullness of character: attainment of our innate individuality in meaningful relationship with a supportive community.*
Herrmann seems to define the archetype of community as a protective uterus out of which we are reborn gently. I understand such a longing very well. But I have also experienced how hard it is to find a situation even just similar to the one described, and I would warn anybody from getting obsessed with this archetype.
Today, there are many forces actively impinging on the strength of communities, as we well know, or on the possibility itself of forming one. Modern individualism reached its height some time ago in philosophical circles, but the capacity of consumerism to break human ties and isolate people seems to increase with no end in sight. We have almost reached the dystopian dream of an atomistic society — each of us attached to our machines. This situation makes the community archetype shine even more, which is not necessarily a good thing, as it engenders unrealistic hopes and frustration.
I often wonder how it is, or was, for people in other social configurations. In late-Medieval Europe, in the context of the newly revamped and enlarged cities, many new religious communities were born. While villages continued to offer a traditional setting for communal life, cities as large as Milan — which counted about 180,000 people in the 13th century — presented a new challenge. Without discounting the true religious motivations for the new communities of that era, I see a strong psychological need for intimacy as an important ingredient of them.
My own community at this time is mostly dispersed. My friends live in many different places, even though I talk to some of them almost daily. In many cases, they don’t know each other. When they do, we hardly operate as a community anyway, as relationships remain one-on-one. There have been situations in which, however, while teaching online and touching on some deep mystical truths, a profound sense of participation has emerged.
The archetype of the community is very powerful indeed. It has been perverted and used to keep people in chains, through guilt for non-conformity with the rules of the group and the withdrawal of affection. It has been shunned by modernity, which exalted the individual at the expense of community. It is being rediscovered by post-modernity, now often including animals and plants.
Community, together with wholeness, is to me a most precious archetype. They are both round and beautiful. They defy the fragmentation to which too much art and thought of the 20th century paid homage irresponsibly. Yet, because they are important, they both need to be managed carefully.
Just as you don’t build up your personal wholeness with an act of the will, or with a wish, but through painstaking efforts in the course of your whole life, so you can’t approach the building of community with superficial expectations or the wrong tools.
*Steven Herrmann, Meister Eckhart and C.G. Jung: On the Vocation of the Self, p. 27
Banner Image: Sharing circle gathered around a fire. Photo by Camilo Contreras on Unsplash
Queries for Contemplation
What is the relevance of community in your personal spirituality? What are your tools for building community?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human
The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood For Our Time
Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest
A Way to God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey
5 thoughts on “Community”
Thanks for mentioning the Beguine communities of women.
I was hoping you might also mention the early Carthhusian community of men and their unique solitary/community housing arrangements.
I live in a neiighborhood, Heritage Commons in Grand Rapids, MI, that appears to resemble some of the Medieval Carthusian communities – though on a greater scale of residences with one, two and three bedroom units. I can only surmise the architect must have been influenced by them in our very Dutch community.
Any comments?
Thanks you.
Paul Milanowski
You are right about community often being an instrument of control and oppression. Community is necessary, like your Herrman quote says so well, but it can also be dark and cruel. How to strike a healthy balance?
I’ve always sought community. I raised my kids with two other stay-at-home parents. Each parent had all five boys on alternate weekdays, plus my daughter once she was born. My best friend, now deceased, lived in of the first co-housing (intentional) communities in the U.S.; and I’d considered moving there. Instead, for ten years I owned a lot in and paid my dues to a co-housing community here in Prescott. In the end, I didn’t build there as they were too dysfunctional for my taste. I’m used to doing things my own way so perhaps actually living in community is a bit much for me. In 2012 a friend and I formed a monthly discussion group with wine and tapas. Along the way, we’ve encountered stumbling blocks, but our core group is still meeting. This year, I invited a group of five female artists to meet quarterly at a local historic hotel just for fun; and for two years, a friend and I have been leading a monthly Celtic Christianity group. I also attend retreats, hoping to find kindred spirits, and I find them! I believe that, along with all the other animals on this planet, people are rather amazing creatures.
Due to abuse and bullying I experienced as a child, I built up a shield of individuality around myself. For a long time, I told myself I needed no one else and sought knowledge individually, through books and solitary internet searching. After all the time, I complained to a professional that life felt unreal, or “theoretical,” as I put it. I feel like community puts all the theoretical into practice. Recently, I joined a local faith group and have felt so heartful as I met many people I’d never usually choose to talk to. Through that and practicing lovingkindness meditation, it’s felt easier to do the painstaking work of building social connections. It takes practice and is genuinely painful (cringe LOL) but it feels REAL!
I went almost completely deaf 15 years ago, and I’m an introvert, so communication is extremely difficult in person. I communicate with my family online daily, but otherwise I have a very solitary practice of reading, contemplation and prayer.
I’ve shared the Mysticism I’ve discovered, online on this spot in the comments sections, and in a few other places. I feel it is very important to tell people about the Mystical roots of both their religion (Christianity) and Judaism, (Neo)-platonism, Sufism and some Hinduism. I can’t go into all the details of similarities and differences in the space set aside here for comments, but I can tell people there are places that do. People can choose what to do with this Mysticism, but they’ll at least know what it says and what its roots are. They can then add other beliefs in, but they should know that this Mysticism is THE FOUNDATIONAL belief of Jesus (and Moses), according to the Bible.