by James | Dec 23, 2011 | Exploration I
Each person joining the community should be given an equal starting point. Transitories (short term members of the community) and guests need not have such stringent demands placed on them.
An equal starting point would mean;
- An equal economic level or ownership within the community
- An equal level of respect
- A lack of judgement, or even knowledge, of the life of the member outside the community prior to becoming a member
- An equal expectation of motivation, diligence and hard-work from every member
- An acceptance and appreciation of different talents, abilities and skills learnt prior to joining.
by James | Dec 22, 2011 | Exploration I
Culture?
- The sum total of all the beliefs values and norms shared by a group
- A large pool of experience composed of learned programs for action and passed on from generation to generation
- The collective programming of the human mind
- The conditioning within a group or society that establishes acceptable norms in actions, beliefs and conduct
by James | Dec 21, 2011 | Exploration I
Entry 21 is fairly typical of my original posts it was written without much thought or study into the subject and on many points seems very incoherent.
I have since writing this entry read a lot more into anthropology and revised my studies of sociology, psychology and listened to speakers who discuss such matters.
Culture, is so difficult to define or describe that it has been the subject of entire books and discussions on it’s own. While I can say that the 3 things I mentioned could be considered a possible framework to begin a community they aren’t strictly necessary.
I think what I was trying to express was twofold;
Firstly, it was considering the problem of how to define a community in my own mind so that I could better understand what it was I was trying to create or build. To this extent it was more a thought process than a point to be made. (this is probably confirmed by e23 that then lists a number of anthropological definitions of community)
Secondly, it was trying to think of ways to create a community that would ultimately reflect and foster the values that I wanted the community to exemplify. It was my first foray into how to create a community that not only fosters a particular positive mindset but reinforces it.
by James | Dec 21, 2011 | Exploration I
When do we ‘enter’ a community? At Birth? Or do we emerge slowly as we are educated by our peers, teachers and parents? Or is there no fixed community but many different ones with an over bearing national culture layered over, or underneath it? For example, in many countries, the sum total of beliefs of the catholic church does not impinge on the culture of the country the catholic resides in, but the churches are certainly a considered a community. Similarly, political advocates of either right or left-wing policies may like the same music or brand of comedy and yet the political parties are a community.
What is a culture? How do we produce a community which correctly reflects that culture? It requires a a few things:
- A clear definition of the purpose and principal reason for the community (the founding philosophy)
- A clear an marked organizational structure for the community which helps promote and exemplifies the precepts of the philosophy
- A clear structure of seniority in disciplines and also a clear form of initiation growth and reward.
by James | Dec 20, 2011 | Exploration I
Meditation has been shown to increase cognitive levels, acuity, ability to concentrate and a variety of other benefits, neuroscience also has shown that at a physical level meditation has an apparent effect on how we think; However, it needn’t be hours of meditation in a secluded monastery to get such benefits, studies (Zeidan et al., 2010) have shown that merely 20 minutes a day can have a broad number of benefits to practitioners. So as a community we should ensure that Meditation is taught to all residents and occurs every morning and evening, for all ages, as a communal activity.
