Community

Community

Traditional Definition:

1. a) A group of people living in the same locality and under the same government.
   b) The district or locality in which such a group lives.
2. a) A group of people having common interests: the scientific community; the international business community.
   b) A group viewed as forming a distinct segment of society: the gay community; the community of color.
3. a) Similarity or identity: a community of interests.
   b) Sharing, participation, and fellowship
4. Society as a whole; the public.

New World Definition:

In biological terms, natural communities are formed based upon relationships. All living things are attracted to each other. More often than not, communities obey a built-in mandate to gather together. The rules of community that are found in nature have preserved life on this planet to this day and will most likely stay in place for some time to come.

If the sense of community exists, both freedom and security exist as well. The Community then takes on a life of its own, as people become free enough to share and secure enough to get along. This is the spirit of community.

Articles

Creating Conscious Community by Angie Bailey

"Most have kids, and some do not. We enjoy very interesting conversations about spirituality, children, sex, food, music, books and everything else under the sun. We drink wine and laugh at incredibly crazy and silly stuff. These are the people that we have no problem leaving my children with when we need a break -- and we do the same for them. These are the people who are excited about coming to my new home for a house blessing ceremony and will bring their whole families to shine their loving lights for us all. These are the kids who play with my kids and talk together about their angels and special prayer rocks."

Building Community by Wanda Urbanska and Frank Levering

""There is a huge amount of public data that says incontrovertibly that connections make a huge difference," Lewis Feldstein, president of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation and co-author with Robert Putnam of Better Together: Restoring the American Community, told me when I recently met with him in Cambridge, Mass. For instance, data shows that if you are not a member of a single social, civic, religious or fraternal organization and you join one in a particular year, your chances of dying that year will drop by a staggering 50 percent. "If you join another organization that year, your chances of dying drop another 25 percent," he said. The effect levels off after joining two clubs. If you join too many, he cautions, you place yourself in danger of social overload."

Quotations

"It is about our personal responsibility to strengthen our community. This is about making us strong enough and leaving a legacy."
~Blanche Lincoln

"When all is said and done, the real citadel of strength of any community is in the hearts and minds and desires of those who dwell there."
~ Everett Dirksen

"Gardens, scholars say, are the first sign of commitment to a community. When people plant corn they are saying, let's stay here. And by their connection to the land, they are connected to one another."
~Anne Raver