What Makes a Great Community

One thing is clear to me– great communities don’t happen by accident.   They are formed by strong leaders with vision and purpose.

The greatest community I ever belonged to was the community of Bryn Madoc in Athens, GA.   I look on my ~7 years with them as a golden age in terms of being part of a connected, purposeful, creative community.

I’ve been thinking about them a lot recently.  What made this community so special?   What makes any community strong?

I don’t have all the answers, but Madoc gives me some clues:

1. Several Committed Leaders

Bryn Madoc had not just one, but several strong and committed leaders.  They all shared a vision of inclusiveness and teamwork.   The leaders acted as strong mentors to younger members (like myself).  They articulated a clear vision– and more importantly, they embodied it.

2. Shared Purpose

The community of Madoc cultivated a sense of shared purpose.  While each individual’s talents were nurtured, there was always a sense of creating together.  The group’s leaders held frequent workshops– mostly informal.  They also hosted frequent parties and social events.   Most importantly, the group hosted 2 or more large events every year– during which we played host to attendees from other groups.  Hosting events gave the smaller workshops and practices a larger purpose.

3. Loose-Tight Structure

As I mentioned, these kinds of communities don’t just happen.  They are created and cultivated.  Bryn Madoc had structure–  there were officers, meetings, planned events, awards, and rituals.  These rituals created a sense of meaning and focused the efforts of the members.  At the same time, the structure was very flexible.  Eccentricity and individuality were not only tolerated, they were strongly encouraged.  The group was a sanctuary for any and all creative talents.

So there we have a few key community principles:  Structure, Purpose, and Leadership.  Each of these, I believe, must be cultivated consciously and with great energy.  They cannot be taken for granted.

The simple truth is that modern Western life conspires to isolate us.  If we just “go with the flow”, our existing communities will naturally break apart.  The forces of entropy are strong in our culture– community goes against this.

This is why so many of us find it difficult to find, create, maintain, and grow a vibrant community.  I have complained about this difficulty for years.  I’ve cursed it as I watched wonderful communities slowly fall apart.  I’ve bemoaned their fate, and mine.

But what good does this do?

I recently saw the Dalai Lama speak at UC Berkeley.  He was as playful and humourous as ever.. and as wise.  In all his talk, one statement really stuck out to me.  Someone asked him for general life advice and he said (to paraphrase), “The best advice for life is not to expect it to be easy.  It’s not going to be easy.  Just accept that and value growth, not ease”.

That’s an excellent stand to take in regards to our lonely isolated Western life.  Communities are extremely difficult to build, maintain, and grow in our society.  Yes, it’s very tough.  Yes, the forces of work and economics conspire against it.  Yes, the chronic busy-ness and consumer distractions work to erode the strength of our connections.

All true, but so what.   If human love and connection really are most important to us, we’ve got to fight for them.   We’ve got to make tough choices.  We’ve got to devote our energy and passion to the cause.  We have to accept that it will be a tough fight, and will always be a tough fight, and do it anyway.

Because when dear friends die, and we feel our own mortality creeping in– it is the people in our community we instinctively value most.  That’s when we gain clarity.

Our simple task is to seize the opportunity offered by the clarity, and take massive action!

That, at least, is the challenge I’m giving myself.