Life's primary mystery comes in various flavors, but they all taste of the transpersonal: unity, bonding, oneness. Even the least spiritual among us experience this self-transcendence in the phenomenon of love. We identify with the other, consider her feelings, put her needs above our own, save her the last piece of cake. Ok, maybe not always, but such is love.
We also see this supra-personal identification when we go to a rock concert or a sporting event. Sure, we could just buy the album or watch the game on TV, but it is there in the communal experience of the theater or arena, the magic of us all coming together.
Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, is all about this togetherness. The rabbis ask, first, how an undifferentiated Divinity divides into and creates from Itself this multifaceted world. And, second, how we can elevate these distinct, worldly parts of Divinity back into a homogeneous whole.
But we don't have to appeal to mysticism. As I wrote, we can feel this special unity, this returning to wholes, in moments when the division between subject and object dissolves, as with loved ones or when we, along with the crowd, roar our applause.
Capitalism rewards individual accomplishments. And individual incentive has its own powerful magic. But what we need to balance this individualism, and what we are lacking today, is community, belonging to something larger than ourselves. More and more, nation, region, neighborhood and family are old hat; civic association and religious affiliation are passé.
Far from fellowship being some soft-hearted sentimentality for yester-year, a sense of belonging results in healthier, longer lives. We humans survived, not because we are fast or strong, but because we cooperate. We took turns feeding the fire at night to keep the wolves at bay. I can lift 40 pounds, and you can lift 40 pounds, but together we can lift 120.
Futurists wonder how we will ever stop society's race to the bottom, the incentive to cut corners, cheat, pollute and generally act in ways that give us short-term individual advantage at everyone else's expense. The obvious solution is to foster a communitarian point of view, to value and enjoy the rewards which accrue to the community. That's my passion. I've spent many thousands of hours and many thousands of dollars building an online platform that promotes community.
Social media is all the rage. Facebook is a social network, an online community, built around personal contacts. Instagram and Tic Tok are social networks that focus on images and videos. Lokkal is an online community that focuses on our real-life, geographically-specific community. Lokkal builds the actual local community and strengthens the local economy.
I write that community is the obvious solution to the problems facing society, but it's not obvious to the people I meet. I am genuinely surprised, when people cannot relate to my obsession with community. I am forever disappointed that people who want to help the world don't roll up their sleeves (join and upload content) or take out their checkbooks after I talk with them about Lokkal: "If you are going to start a world-changing technology, San Miguel is a good place to begin."
And these are not people who are struggling to pay the rent. They are folks with a lot of personal accomplishments to their credit. Anyway, the point is that the best way to help the most people who are struggling to pay their rent is to keep more money circulating in the local community, and Lokkal does that.
I've been staring at community so long that I see it even when I close my eyes. Meditating on it so strongly, working on it so hard, I've got it on my brain. More than once, in this regard, I've questioned my sanity. Now and again, I find myself singing that line from Dylan's Visions of Johanna, you know the one, "We can hear the night watchman click his flashlight, ask himself if it's him or them that's insane." But then, it's such a sweet madness.
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Dr. David presents Lokkal, the social network, the prettiest, most-efficient way to see San Miguel online. SMA's Community Wall shows it all.
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Please contribute to Lokkal, SMA's online collective:
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Discover Lokkal: Watch the two-minute video below. Then, just below that, scroll down SMA's Community Wall. Mission
