Experiencing ourselves as seperate seems to be a function of our senses and really embedded in the westerm way of experience.  Thich Nat Hann wrote of his training that when he drank tea to was so all beings could be refreshed, when he cleaned a bathroom it was so all beings could have adequate hygiene, etc.  The culture seemed to culture an awareness of interconnectedness.  Ours cultures a sense of seperateness.  I like that you are speaking of individuality and differences and of Source.  I am interested seeing these in relationship to each other not as either or.  It seems often that ideologies want to hold the place of Source and define Source in a way that favors a particular people, group, or view. 

Amazing art work. It is obvious you see something very special in nature, symbols and spirit. I keep coming to your page to look at these images. They are great.

How do we balance or hold the tension between the individual needs and the needs of the community or group? How do we get groups to honor integrity more than conformity?

If we think of ideology as a systematic view of the whole from a specific or limited perspective, how do we create perspective big enough to include the actual community? How do we define the commons and organize from a perspective that does not become embedded in a particular ideology? How do we work to create community for all rather than community that works for some at the expense of others?

Both ideas are great and necessary. Finding a way to link the individuals that are already into this and live near each other creates great momentum. We do need contact people in the different geographic regions and organization and networking. We also need events that attract alot of people to spread the word and then an easy way to connect them locally. The idea is to leverage everything and everyone's passion. Many of us can't do more, but networked we can do better. You have listed two words I think we can come together over, Love, and Peace. What would happen if we made love, joy, peace, wisdom, compassion, tolerance, health, beauty, and humor the organizing principal for community. If you are working for these values you belong. Another way to say this that is shorter, we are alive and connected and promote this in a variety of paths, personal growth, music, nature, social justice, etc. I think we will be top notch. Let's co-create.

How do we imagine a commons that is inclusive enough to allow everyone in, but not organized around a limited perspective? Every individual or every group wants to put themselves in the center and organize the others involved in the commons in a way that most benefits them. What are possible organizing principals that truely protects the commons by organizing around the common good. How do we move past limited perspective to define common good in a more inclusive way?

I am looking for people interested in using the great tools and networking provided by WE to create actual community in specific geographical areas. I hope we can co-create this. I will start by contacting the organizations and people already listed on WE and then start using the tools. If anyone has ideas, time, or the desire to work at this you are very welcome to help create the communities we have been waiting for.

I am from the state of Georgia in the United States and became really excited then realized how easy it is to think I am the center of the world, however I still very much support the idea that virtual meetings cannot do what face to face and place based meetings can. For example, you would never make the mistake I just made in the "real world". But perhaps it was meant to be because I am very passionate about place and face to face community. There are three types of community: 1. Consciousness based like wiserearth, 2. space based like an actual town. and 3.time based like a concert or conference. For me it is not real community unless all three elements are present space, time, and consciousness. Two out of three or one out of three or none out of three creates alienation. What I am envisioning and would like to co-create could include a center in your Georgia for meetings, seminars, trainings, and recreation, but as a peice of a larger puzzle. (By the way the pictures in the Gallery are beautiful, what a great site for meetings of concern to wiser earth orgnaizations.) We have a community in my Georgia of 71 people who share a similar consciousness and who are involved in the issues addressed by wiserearth. What we are always in need of is local meeting space for seminars, conferences, and other events. What if we work with wiserearth to create a network of base camps and facilities. There is a need for meeting space within thirty minutes travel of everyone for local, frequent meetings. There is also a need for state, regional, and even global meetings accomodating different size groups and needs. What if this was organized through wiser earth, so that, as a wiser earth organization, if you needed a meeting space or facility you could search for ones that met your needs. There would also be the need to develop meeting places, perhaps one in Georgia as the first official wiser earth base camp. I would like to think as our community as a different kind of base camp. Some base camps are actual facilities, others are local communities, so if someone in wiser earth want to conduct a meeting, event, or conference there is someone locally to contact and an infrastructure of marketing in place. It could be as simple as setting it up in a local coffee shop. I am dreaming of a both/and sollution not either/or to our need to meet face to face.

I jsut joined after running across information about wiserearth in 4 different places. It is a great site and seems to align perfectly with my person values and intentions and those of a community group I helped found called joyful being. I will post it as an organization soon. We are working in a specific town to create community around helping people feel alive and connected and increasing the love, joy, peace, wisdom, compassion, tolerance, health, beauty, and humor in the world. WE have formed into tribes where individuals can do their soul work or follow their individual paths while belonging to a larger community that is local and shares their values. I just wanted to make contact because you seem to be working in similar ways. Thanks for what you are doing.