Make It What You Do.

"You are not anyone,

you are someone.

As someone, you are not just anyone. 

You are everyone."

                            -Chip Conrad

I was talking to a friend a few years back (before joining the doomer ranks) and I told him that I was having trouble attracting a client base. I asked him how he had developed his practice. He said it is a simple two step process. Step one is to pick a time that you want to train and step two is to tell anyone you meet that they can come and train too. He told me that this can have only two possible outcomes:
1) No one comes and you get to work out.
2) People come and you get to train them
Either way he came out on top.

I have been trying, over the last several months, to follow that process with people who understand the nature of what we are threatened with and realize the importance of community. So far these attempts have been unsuccessful. I have called, e-mailed, and posted on face-o-gram groups all to no avail. It would appear that community is no longer a priority in our lives if it requires that we actually go out and talk to real people.

For all the, supposed, benefits of interacting online I am finding it to be a pale comparison to real life encounters. I find myself pining away for the time before the interwebz when people got together or called or went out or started clubs or just hung out. I am sure that there may be friendships formed in the digital arena but unless there is some actual face to face time it seems kind of hallow.
Chip Conrad said, in his book Are You Useful, that, "Awareness by any name is a dying art, since our virtual world is destroying all of it. The illiterates of the next century are those who cannot participate in real life. They can read words, but their comprehension of real life will straight up suck."

Awareness of your immediate surroundings is a vital part of any community. If you have ever looked up from your device or devices at Starbucks you will have noticed that the majority of people in there have no idea what is going on around them. Being aware of what is going on in your environment is a crucial part of a community. If you know what is happening in your neighborhood, if you are aware of changes in the natural world you will be much more likely to band together with others that are aware and work to improve or defend that neighborhood.

When the time comes and I don't believe, based on what just happened in Zimbabwe, that it is too far off the only thing you will have is your community. If I were to ask how many people you could gather together right now to work towards a common end what would you say. I am not talking about people you go to movies with but people that you could rely on to pull their weight and have your back and support each other. Can't say for sure but I am guessing that it would be a short list. You can prove this to yourself by letting it be known that you are moving and need help. I would think that a fair percentage of your friends would be out of town that weekend and you can bet that none of your facebook friends would be around.

The internet has limited our ability to interact with live humans. We have more de-contextualized information than ever before but our ability to utilize that information in a meaningful way has deteriorated. C.A. Bowers in his 2014 book The False Promises of the Digital Revolution said, "...(there are) many ways that digitally mediated (that is, primarily computer mediated) thought and communication reinforce a form of consciousness that is radically different from that found in cultures where the spoken word is the primary basis of thought and communication." As we drift more towards digital interaction and away from face to face encounters we lose the subtleties of an actual conversation; the body language, the facial expressions and what is created between two people when they sit down and talk.

Native populations had an oral culture. The food they ate, the shelters they built, the things that were important to the survival of the tribe were all passed on orally. This information had a, pretty much, 1 to 1 information/action ratio. The things you learned and internalized were things that would help you survive and flourish in your area.

Sebastian Junger said in Tribe, On Homecoming and Belonging that,"We have a strong instinct to belong to small groups defined by clear purpose and understanding - - Tribes.This tribal connection has been largely lost in modern society, but regaining it may be the key to our psychological survival." There is a lot of talk these days about tribes, groups separated by vast distances call themselves a tribe, the fitness community particularly the outdoor gurus call themselves a tribe but they are missing a crucial element in that they are not banded together in a single location and there is no clearly stated purpose or goal. A tribe is a group of people that act as one entity for the betterment of all. They function as a unit, they laugh and love and cry and fight together, there is no I only we and there is no possibility of this being recreated in a digital environment.

Digital groups may be banded together by a shared interest but there is not a shared purpose. Purpose is a baseline element. In order for a group to prosper the entire group must have a reason to exist. Absent this purpose you can have a bunch of people who are interested in the same thing but not really have a community.

The importance of having, around you, a group of people that you can rely on can not be overstated. To that end I am working on finding a venue where we can gather on a regular basis.
So...
Step 1) A time: 11 AM, a date: 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month, a place: Pasadena CA, venue TBA
Step 2) I will be there starting February 3rd.
Possible outcomes:
1) I get to enjoy a coffee and a pastry.
2) I get to enjoy a coffee, a pastry and the pleasure of your company.

The purpose will be to talk, commiserate, and plan for what we know is going to happen. I hope to see you there.