Community:

There are many definitions for today’s topic. The common thread that binds these definitions is togetherness. To be part of a community members come together who share a common interest, goal, live style, i.e. the gay community, the church community, your local community, the community of saints, not to mention gated communities, art communities, and of course your starbucks community. But why have community? Would we all be better off if we just keep to ourselves? I find it fascinating that it is now possible to leave your house, go to the story, go to work, even go to public places like movie theatres, coffee houses, restaurants and never know a single soul. Is this what we call the communication age?

Observations of human being’s natural behaviors indicate that we are social creatures. Pack hunters if you will. We see support for this in scripture where Jesus tells his disciples “where ever two or more are gathered in my name I am present” (Matt 18:20). We see here that Christ calls for a community of his people. Not that an individual cannot call on God but there is strength in numbers when it comes to the healing power of faith; not just faith, but the spiritual healing of acceptance and belonging.

As seen in Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs the number one need is self-actualization. This can be achieved, I feel, through the acceptance others and self-reflection. But how does one gain acceptance? First is it necessary to know the community in which you belong. Wait! Isn’t it possible to belong to more than one community? Yes it is. By this I simply mean that one should find where they most “fit in”.

Fitting in:

I for one am the type of person that fits in everywhere. I belong to many social groups and friend circles. Being this personality type harbored great doubt on my search for belonging. The irony was that since I can fit in everywhere I felt I did not fit in anywhere. Through my life experiences my heart was opened up to see that this feeling of aloneness was just that... a feeling. The truth is I was never really alone. This world is full of “out casts” like me. Let’s not forget, Christ was an outcast too. The revelation I had I put into poetry:

There's a lot to be said
For this dangerous road.
Though the path that I'm on
Has been many times strode.
I have strength in numbers,
Though I walk alone.
My feel hurt!
"There's no place like home."

What this means is the path to belonging is one we all must walk, but it is a walk most of us must make alone. This is where we get the sense of aloneness. What makes the path dangerous is when there is no end in sight so you decide to give up on your search and blend in with the part of the road you are currently at. The problem with trying to blend in with the path is you will be trampled on my others who are also walking down that path. I feel this is where the feeling of aloneness takes control and you feel that since you don’t belong anywhere or to anything you, yourself, are nothing. It is out of this desperation that one may commit suicide.

Conformity:

How far will one go to belong? Many gay people, young and old, will deny their true self and attempt to “heal” themselves of this sickness called homosexuality. This is a perfect example of lying down and trying to blend in with the road. If one is to do this they will never reach the number one need of self-actualization. Self-actualization does not happen when you are accepted into a community based on the community’s standard, but when you are accepted for who and what you are. A community should be a safe place where you can express yourself and your ideas freely with out persecution. This is why you will find many gay people in the theatre community.

It is a stereotype to say that all gay people love theatre and it is an even further stereotype to assume that all theatre people are gay. The fact is that in this particular community self-expression is the number one goal. An actor cannot do their job if they do not feel safe. A good actor has the ability to be vulnerable. This can take many years of re-teaching. In most communities it is taught that one should be “strong” and be open out of fear of persecution by their piers.

Conformity is a result of fear. There are also those who refuse to conform out of the need to stay true to themselves. Some communities will trick you into conforming by claiming they are non-conformists. There is a brilliant South Park episode where Stan, due to a broken heart, decides to join up with the gothe kids. One of them states.“ If you want to be a non-conformists you have to look, act, and sound just like us.” Not that I’m criticizing gothe kids, but the satire was obvious. Another example is the quote on quote “red necks” that hang a rebel flag out of windows. The flag stands for rebellion against the union but in order to be a rebel and wave the flag you have to be just like them. Sorry, I don’t look good in boots. But you get the point. Any community that does not accept you for who and what you are is a false community.

The False Community:

The false community is a community in which the individuals that make of the community are false. They are false in that they are not being true to themselves and they force others to conform to their falseness.

One of the most dangerous of these false communities is the Christian community. This is not to say that all Christians are false; some individuals take it upon themselves to learn a deeper truth to their faith by not taking what is written for face value and dare to think about what it is they read.


In this country Christianity is used as a weapon. If one uses a baseball bat to hurt someone do we blame the bat? The answer is of course, no. Therefore it is not the Christian faith that is to blame but the community of fundamentalist Christians who use this beautiful religion as a weapon. Members of the Christian community are taught that it is not only good, but also necessary to convert others to their faith as opposed to respecting the faith of others. Christianity teaches not tolerance, but acceptance. Being a Christian myself I urge others to take a look at their faith again and realizes a deeper meaning to the scripture. I find it ironic that a religion that calls for love and understanding has produced a community of those who hate.

Self-reflection

I see myself in this looking glass I call the other. Socrates believed he can find the answers to the ultimate question “who am I” by engaging his fellow man in dialogue. Going off the idea that he really new nothing, he was able to ask subjectively about the mysteries of the world with out he, himself, having to answer them. He sought the answers in the other. By doing so he was able to find the answers within himself. If you read Plato’s works you see that Socrates, after raising the question, would allow everyone to answer and interject his own ideas and opinions, which only raised more questions. Some feel that when a question is answered with a question, then the initial question was not answered. This is not so. Depending on the question that was used to answer the initial question you can find many answers. Wise men, like Socrates or Christ, made it a point to answer questions with questions for the purpose of helping you to find the answers yourself. It goes back to the old saying, “Give a man to fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, he eats for a life time.”

The main difference between Socrates and Christ (other than the whole messiah thing) is that Socrates never offered answers while Christ did. His answer was simple: he is the answer. This answer, of course, raises more questions. If Christ is the answer, then who is Christ. As a Christian the answer there is: Christ is God. Well, who is God? God tells us that He Is who Is. From the first person perspective it reads “I Am who Am”. I Am who Am, what? From the second person perspective its He Is who Is. Well, who is He? He Is who Is? Is what? He Is who Is. Head hurt yet? You see this name for God is a perfect fit as that they are two verbs that will continuously circle each other. Therefore His name is infinite.

You might be asking what does this have to do with self-reflection. Everything. God telling us that He Is helps us to know who we are. The word “is” means “to be”. This means God is To Be. To be what? God. But what is God? To be. To be? God. Now I’m getting a headache. Is it possible to just be? Yes. We are all being. We are beings who be as He Is that Is.

Let’s take a second look at the question. Instead of asking, “Who am I?” Let’s ask, “How do I find who I am?” We already said the answer. The answer is Christ. This answer was unsatisfying to me for the longest time. Now after much reflection it makes sense. The reason why Christ is the answer is because he is the ultimate other. He is the alpha and the omega, who was and who always will be. If we are to be, we must be in Him who Is.