|
Think about a time where you felt a strong sense of belonging. Perhaps you can point to a direct situation or experience, or perhaps what you remember is a cloud-like feeling that doesn't appear to be linked to anything in particular. Often, "belonging" and "connection" is not something we can articulate as it happens, because it happens in the present, before we've processed the meaning of it. The verb to be present carries this notion in its Latin roots: prae (before) and esse (be). In other words, to be present is to be in the space prior analysing and meaning-making.
As you know by now, I'm a big believer that community is not a finite, solid object, but a series of qualitative interactions between people part of a distinct group. If we look at it from that perspective, a qualitative interaction - one conducive to connection - is quite transient. It's simply a moment in time, a phenomenon, something that happens here and now. If we stretch this idea a little further, we can see how connection (and eventually, community) is only created and only exists moment to moment. As facilitators, curators, designers, artists, and community builders, I believe the most important role we have is to create moment to moment connection between the people that we hold space for. The same way that art and nature can arrest us, conversations and shared experiences can bring us to the space before meaning-making where we're simply being, simply being moved.
|
