Community

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“Know all the theories. Master all the techniques. But as you touch a human soul be just another human soul.“- Carl Jung

This was originally published on 4/20/2022. Heads up – you may have already read this.

This last weekend, I was out listening to live music for the first time in two years and suddenly the people, the place and the context overran me with a sublime feeling of community. I was with my brother and his wife. The lead singer of the blue grass group we were listening to went to high school with my brother so the audience was filled with many of his high school friends and families that I’ve known from 40 years ago.

The place stirred up this feeling of connection because it’s a community center in my neighborhood that holds classes, the farmers market in the summer and my daughter went to pre-school there.

And the context struck me because the last time I was in this performance hall, two years ago before the abrupt pandemic shutdown, it was for a story-telling night for all the kids of my daughter’s preschool and the same twinkle lights were hanging from the ceiling.

As a consultant, I work alone and as a single-parent, I parent alone. Although I see, email and text family and friends all the time, it’s different than being in a room filled with people listening, singing and clapping.

It reminded me of a powerful mediation led by my meditation teacher. We close our eyes and picture an aspen grove. We see the individual trees, the way they stand tall, the singular leaves that blow in the wind. Then as we focus on those trees and start to relate to them, we go underground and see how all the roots are connected. The health of an aspen grove is a web of interdependence because it’s one root system. They, like us, all come from One, and the image of separateness is just an illusion.

And so it was with my moment in the auditorium last weekend. It was if I have been going about spinning the threads of my life and then I received one beautiful moment of perspective that gave me a glimpse of how they all tie together. Which went beautifully with the music. Here’s the thread of a story about a couple spun through one of the band’s hit songs, Be Here Now by True North:

They were on their honeymoon, and the bride said to the groom

I just can’t forget the dream I had last night.

I saw John, Paul, George and Ringo, In the church yard playing bingo on the gravestones

This is how the groom replied:

He said “Be here now

Be with me, look into my eyes, kiss me

Make this a moment we will savor, and will put aside for later

We are young , our lives begun

But it will not last forever, they’ll be days we’re not together

So be here now.”

They’re in their middle years, pretty deep in their careers

And he called her from the plane in Amsterdam

I just heard John, Paul, George and Ringo , from that dusty old single on the muzak

It made me want to hold your hand

He said, “Be here now

Be with me, look into my eyes, kiss me

Though our hearts still feel this hunger, we won’t get any younger

From the start our days were numbered

So be here now.”

It was after visiting hours

And he’d rearranged the flowers

And she hadn’t recognized him in a week

And the nurses heard him sing “Hey you’ve got to hide your love away”

And she opened up her eyes and began to speak

She said “Be here now

Be with me, look into my eyes, kiss me

Every breath becomes a treasure, in my heart we’re young forever

My race is nearly run, I no longer feel the sun

But I can face whatever comes just…

Be here now.”

The word community is defined by Merriam Webster as “a unified body of individuals” – maybe because of living in a particular area, or a common interest, whether it be social, professional or religious. But community brings unity – a sense of togetherness.

As I was sitting in that audience last weekend, I felt the ease of collective energy in a room full of great music. The physical reminder that we are in this experience together and it was a thin place. Thin place as explained by Bishop Michael Curry of the Episcopal church as those places, moments, people, experiences when you get a sense, “Wait a minute, God just touched me.” Something beyond me just happened to me. Those moments when time is intersected by eternity.

As I got that tell-tale shiver, all I could think was “Be here now.”

I’ve written a related piece on the Wise & Shine blog about how community helps to make our writing findable: Promoting Your Writing With Search

(featured photo from Pexels)

39 thoughts on “Community”

  6. Your post touched me today. I feel like our WordPress Community keeps me connected to so many kind, caring people. The aspen tree exercise was excellent. Love how how all the roots are connected underground.

    Liked by 2 people

  8. A lovely description of life’s trajectory. Gone before we know it. Marcus Aurelius wanted to be so reminded every day, the better to “be here now.”

    Liked by 2 people

  10. I had not known where the term”thin places came from,but had heard of the term before, and had even written on them myself. I can so enter into what you described here Wynne. Good stuff. It actually takes me back to a trip we made in 2010 to Portland via Amtrac. It was a good trip. Ended up going to live music in downtown Portland w/ a musician friend. Glad you had that sense of community wash over you.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Oh, DM, I’m get a little flavor of that trip from your comment. How lovely. Yes, those moments are worth remembering, aren’t they? And you have a new icon for your name? Sweet (pun intended)! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  12. Nothing beats the experience of live music with a group of people. I know virtual concerts were a thing during the early days of the pandemic but this just can’t be beat.

    I have yet to go to my first post pandemic concert and. And wait – Madonna in January. I can just feel it already from your post that it’ll be so worth the wait to be surrounded by that communal energy again.

    Liked by 2 people

  13. The image of the aspen trees, roots all joined beneath the surface of the earth hidden from view, is a wonderful metaphor for our human selves—each appearing as an individual yet joined together and connected as one, hidden behind our conscious awareness. 

    Liked by 2 people

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  16. Oh, Wynne, this made my heart flutter -“It was if I have been going about spinning the threads of my life and then I received one beautiful moment of perspective that gave me a glimpse of how they all tie together.”

    Liked by 5 people

  18. Wow! What a wonderfully serendipitous moment in time where heaven touches the heart and it expands to understand it’s place within the spaces of connectivity!

    Liked by 1 person

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