What does it mean to belong

I often sit in full movie houses and wonder to myself whether the experience is indicative of community experiences in the 21st century.

People, surrounded by people all of whom are craving connection but who sit there in silence. We do not acknowledge our neighbour, offer them some popcorn, share a laugh, a tear, a shoulder or a tissue. Yet in those moments where everybody laughs or cries all who are present light up and the energy erupts like a charge through the audience

Then the curtain closes, the lights go up and everybody shuffles out in silence looking neither right nor left , just staring at the floor and avoiding the possibility of eye contact with one another.

This past Saturday night I went to movies for the very first time ever on my lonesome. I would like to say it was liberating. The only positive was that I managed to escape the summer heat.

It was confronting because I feel so clear that human beings are not meant to exist in isolation. We are community creatures. We crave connection, we crave like, we crave touch, we crave belonging.

So what is it that is creating this community of people who are able to facebook anyone, anywhere, anytime yet are unable to connect with the person sitting right next to them ? And what is it that sustains us in this crazy world of ours.

That question has been my passion for the past 17 years and the primary motivator behind creating evolution group training now known as KLIK's. The original idea was this:

' to create a context in which a group of people could authenitcally engage with each other in the pursuit of their own (and the groups) betterment.

he second layer of that community was the community of trainers (evolutionaries) who would become a group of people empowering others to create, nurture and sustain these communities.

These communities would then go out into their world, their greater communities and spread this sense of community.

To an extent i feel we have achieved that. We have an amazing sense of community within each an every ne of our groups. And each group seems to reflect the unique nature of it's leader.

So far as the evolutionaries go i am not sure. I am not sure how deeply the commitment goes to creating and leading lives that make a difference. And I am not sure how much of that is about me or whether I just push to hard instead of allowing things to flower in their own good time. I push the evolutionaroes hard. I can see there potential and the potenital of what evolution can mean to them from a personal and fincaial perspective. And i don't settle for less then the actualisation of that potential n the process. Perhaps I drive some of htem mad in that but I only take on people who I feel have it in them to actualise that potential. IAnd sometimes I see them as much greater then they see themselves.

How does that relate to community ? I am not totally sure. I guess I se part o their potential as creating this amazing sense of community around each other. Deep meaningful friendships, a corproate culture that is unique in its authenticity, and vulnerability, a group of people who liv hanging out with each other. who recharge when they are together as they share their highs and lows, their dreams and ambitions. A group of people who truly learn and grow together and absolutely support one another in creating lives that they love.

Thats the vision. I am not sure how close I am to achieving it.