In my last bit of writing I stated that I would launch a series soon. Sorry it took me 4 months!
You left the claptrap of urbanity behind. You’re taking a risk. You rusticated. Safe harbour is behind you. If you weren’t able to assemble you’re crew before leaving shore, don’t worry. They are out there!
Consider this the first instalment of Go, a series of opinion pieces written as a labour of love for present and future rusticators.
When I was 21 I lived in Toronto, one of the finest cities on this vast Turtle some of us call Canada. All day every day the attraction of community pulled me to and fro, in and out of neighbourhoods. I wanted to belong somewhere. Little did I know I was building inner community.
What is Inner Community?
The definition of ‘community’ is pretty consistent in the English language. Here is a definition that I fancy—”the condition of sharing or having certain attitudes and interests in common.”
Notice how our understanding of community depends on others. This is important.
Walt Whitman famously said in Leaves of Grass that “I contain multitudes.”
No youth living through the 2000’s can easily forget the bittersweet symphony of Richard Ashcroft hollering that he is “a million different people from one day to the next.”
Inner community means bringing all these people together inside ourselves to serve the whole.
Creating cohesion within is a lifelong endeavour, but endeavour we shall. My path forward as a rusticator depends on how I negotiate with the colourful neighbourhood of my soul. We’re all peopled with certain attitudes and interests! We have an inner community!
Can you imagine how our external communities might reflect our inner ones? Think about it and get back to me. Better yet, get back to yourself about it; I’m busy. Well, someone’s busy.
As an inner community begins to crystallize in yourself, you might find an outer community taking shape in parallel to your efforts.
For the record, inner community is not a prerequisite to the formation of outer community. It could very well occur in reverse. Whether you rusticate or not, your pull toward common interests with others will spur your indwelling neighbours to suddenly call you up in the middle of the night and say “HEY. LONG TIME NO TALK.”
Why is all this relevant to the rusticator?
Because your success as a rusticator will depend on what you bring to a community, a community of animal, plant, and mineral.
Rusticating is not about going it alone with unfettered individualism, though that is one version (with questionable outcomes). It’s about moving forward through the morass of a dying culture to greener pastures.
So gather your million different people. We won’t be able to do it without your multitudes.
In the next instalment of Go, I’ll get into the meat and potatoes of Building Outer Community. Until then…
Happy Tidings.
Aeron
therusticator.com 