Community

It may be that I regard "Community" so highly because I was transient nearly all my life, moving every couple of years for as long as I can remember. For those blessed with a rooted life it may feel natural, to be connected and part of a grand circle of family, friends and aquaintances. Now I live in a small town, a very small town, and I treasure my community.
A community is like a group of people in a boat, each with ideas and paddles. Now, it is fine to be paddling around, every person willy-nilly rowing, unless there is a storm coming or it is close to suppertime. Missing a meal isn't big deal; a raging storm is life threatening. Everybody should row in unison, to get to safety. So I will stretch this analogy a little more: sometimes to get everybody rowing in the right direction, a good calamity is necessary. Calamities, around here, are rare; a flood, a wind storm, some snow. We have it pretty good, all in all. Of course, not all calamities are as apparent as a noisy storm. Some are slowly undermining the foundations, hidden from plain sight. They don't advertise themselves; they need the darkness of ignorance and inaction to prosper.
Communities serve to make life easier, funner. We are social, we need humankind and humaness. Helping out and being helped, cooperating, creating and maintaining, tackling problems where two heads are better than one. Obviously communities work, there is a long history of settlements, after our adolescence as hunter-gatherers. We create institutions to safeguard our lives and culture. If there is a calamity, we chip in to get things back to normal, clean-up and learn from the event.
Community is more than a neighborhood, a town or city. It is an agreement, a promise, a state of mind, a spirit. It is the foundation on which we build the great places to live. It is the life-blood, the blueprint for a prosperous, generous and affirming congregation of people, houses and streets. It is a garden tended and cared-for; a stunning work of art or musical masterpiece.
Here is a poem by a guy that lived 800 years ago. His name was Hafiz:

Out of a great need
we are all holding hands
and climbing.
Not loving is a letting go.
Listen:
the terrain around here
is
far too dangerous
for
that.

So, watch out for the storms and calamities and if things are going well, admit that you love being on the water with your paddle and ideas. Remember, splashing water is fun. Go home when you get hungry.

Protracted Adolesence

It's possible to remain young-at-heart and never really grow up, while knowing how to play the Adult Games required to survive in Adult Society. This is called "neoteny" or Conscious Adolescence, and is genetically innate to only two creatures on Planet Earth . . . Humans and Dolphins.

Neoteny is catalyzed through a careful, non-judgmental study of adolescent characteristics and their acceptance and integration in a creative lifestyle. The spirit of experimentation so crucial to Adolescence necessitates a certain daring. No daring is fatal. What's deadly is our FEAR of: Making Mistakes, Taking Risks, and Being Awkward. This is because all three are essential to relating with uncertainty. Neoteny is dependent upon improvisatory skills . . . of quick, in-the-moment adjustments to new information. The Japanese refer to mistakes as "God Leaks" and so when they're made, we see that Life is what happens when we're busy making other plans. The fear of mistakes can be subdued by including them. The secret to taking risks is being just safe enough to do so and not too safe to feel threatened. Being awkward becomes an art form of considerable beauty when allowed its natural expression through the body. Its genuine vulnerability endears. Its groping, searching spirit brings truth to the moment it beholds.

—Antero Alli, Angel Tech: A Modern Shaman's Guide to Reality Selection

Chew on that. For a while. What did Jesus say: become a child.

Yeah, the things of Adulthood are important. Paying the bills, keeping the roads maintained; security and safety. After that comes the fun. Not fancy stuff, but joyfull gleesome whoop de doo zinging balalaboom. Dare ya to be childlike!!