| What is
Communuty
In their book Journeys to
Wellness; a Workbook to Discover Personal Paths to Wholeness,
(published by Global Learning Connections, 2000) Marilyn
Hamilton and Barry Stevenson write:
"The term 'community' has its origins in the notion
'of serving together'; of being 'in community'. Teams
that work "in community" work as a system where
all the parts contribute to the whole, but the whole is
larger than the parts. Ken Baskin i uses the body as a
metaphor when he speaks to this 'organic' nature of community.
How could the heart or kidney 'go on strike' when the
hand reached for a bowl of cherriesunless of course the
body was sick. In a healthy body, all parts serve the
wholebut it's more than partsit's the relationship that
gives meaning to movement as the notes give music through
the relationship of the chord. While our beliefs and assumptions
about community are as old as our history, the essence
of 'community' as Land and Jarman ii have suggested, is
a relationship in which, "people yearn to live among
people without fear, where trust is given and received
freely, a place of belonging, where a sense of interconnectedness
and unity provides a foundation for life sustaining and
enhancing interactions."
From their point of view one can see that one can be 'in
community' with oneself, with others and with the earth
and all its creatures. It is impossible to be 'in community'
and not relish diversity. Community is an emerging process
that never stops becoming. It is not in the things that
we see, it is in the spaces between the things that we create
community.
A number of authors have observed that the process of becoming
community evolves through multiple phases. Jarman and Land
have suggested that we evolve through three phases of community.
First, is the phase that helps us find patterns that support
our 'survival' (such as families). Second, is the phase
of 'commonality', where we find likenesses (e.g. the 'in'
group) and finally, the third phase of 'reciprocal sharing'
where we accept and celebrate the richness of diversity.
Joe Schaefer iii who works with this concept of community
says, that for him, community is a state of being "in
which he cannot not be in community".
M. Scott Peck, in his four phase model of community building,
recognized the power of an extra phase of emerging community.
He called this phase "emptiness", recognizing
that groups who not only connected through similarities,
but who were able to accept real differences without having
to 'change, fix, or convert' one another, not only had the
highest probability of coming into community, but had the
greatest opportunity to hold real diversity in the community.
Peck suggests that the path from pseudo-community is through
chaos, then emptiness and finally into (real) community.
Like Peck, Isaacs and Bohm agree that in the community building
process we must move through chaos and breakdown before
we come into community.
Coming into community is 'a process of becoming'. For most
of us, being in community occurs when we are in balance,
when our minds, bodies and souls are serving each other's
needs. Perhaps we could say we are living in balance and
in community with the earth when we, as complex adaptive
systems, connect and serve each other's needs in a symbiotic
and coherent way.
Community then is more about 'relationship' and all the
interconnectedness that pulls us into unity.
Community is a journey into wholeness for individuals and
groups of people.
Endnotes:
i. Baskin, Ken, Corporate DNA,
Butterworth Heinemann, 1998
ii. Jarman, B., Land, G., Beyond
Breakpoint - -Possibilities for New Community, Community
Building in Business, San Francisco, Sterling & Stone
Inc., 1995
iii.Schaeffer, Joe, The Stone
People: Living Together in a Different World, Waterloo,
Forsyth Publications, 1996
| Marilyn
Hamilton, BA, CGA, PhD
 Dr.
Marilyn Hamilton is Founder of integralcity.com,
TDG Global Learning
Connections, and TDG
Global City Strategies. She meshworks
global intelligences in the global village.
As a researcher, facilitator, teacher, and
writer, Marilyn creates conditions for the emergence
of healthy ecologies in people systems at multiple
scales: leadership, team, organization, community,
city, eco-region, country, globe. (Her research
and writing can be accessed at www.globallearningconnections.com)
Marilyn is a Founding Member of the Integral
Institute and Integral-Ecology, Canadian Sponsor
of Spiral Dynamics in the Integral Age, a Certified
Spiral Dynamics II Facilitator, Certified Cultural
Transformation Tools Consultant and Ginger Group
Collaborative affiliate. She has 25+ years of
multi-sector, international organization development
experience. She teaches and/or supervises graduate
research at Royal Roads University, California
Institute of Integral Studies and the Adizes
Institute.
Marilyn is Alumna of the Foundation for Community
Encouragement and Past-CEO/Chair of Consulting
Resource Group International Publishers.
She has authored and co-authored learning and
leadership assessments, several books on leadership
and wellness, and a discovery learning game.
Marilyn has served numerous NFP and professional
associations, from All Quadrants, many levels,
in executive and leadership positions.
Marilyn is a graduate of University of Toronto
(BA, English; Diploma in Translation) and a
Certified General Accountant. She completed
her Ph.D. (Administration and Management) in
1999, applying All Quadrant All Levels constructs
within an integral methodology, to research
learning and leadership in self-organizing online
community systems (her dissertation can be accessed
at www.globallearningconnections.com
).
For more on Marilyn and her work www.globallearningconnections.com
To contact Marilyn:
marilyn@globallearningconnections.com
Marilyn Hamilton
Global Learning Connections
Unit 24 - 4001 Old Clayburn Rd., Abbotsford,
BC, V3G 1C5
V :604-855-8478 F:604-855-8870
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