Tuesday, July 15, 2008

It matters more than we think

From Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner

"Where we are is vital to who we are. By 'where' I'm speaking not only of our physical environment but also of our cultural environment. Culture is the sea we swim in--so pervasive, so all consuming, that we fail to notice its existence until we step out of it. It matters more than we think."

How does it hang together?

Join me as I document my various experiments in building community. Here's the deal. I think that to live a meaningful life--each person needs to belong to a couple of different communities that help them to frame their own individual life against the big picture of lots of lives. In the secular US (ok maybe just in Palo Alto), but in the secular US work is the most readily available form of community. But I don't think it's answering people's most pressing questions about why we're here. At the same time, older forms of community, like church, etc, aren't working for us either. So what is?

Join me as I experiment in building community--through ShineOnWomen. As I embarass friends and family by asking them weird questions about life, and as I figure out how this life we're living hangs together.