Communities and Stability
It is common to see people lashing out against "communal" cultures, and at the same time swear by clubs, communities, farming collectives, open source, (un-)conferences, etc. Not realising, they are one and the same thing.
Indian society has predominantly been "communal" in nature. Not casteist. Caste is a feudal construct, and the Indian "caste system" that is considered characteristic of Indian culture is largely a European import.
Indian society had different kinds of communities that went with different names-- jati, mata, pangada, kula, gotra, varna, samuha, samaja, balaga, okkuta, sampradaya, etc. Of these, only kula and gotra pertained to blood lineage (dynasty and blood ancestry, respectively), while the rest were based on several other factors.
A community is different from a formal organization, or an amorphous crowd. An organization has formal, contractual association of its members to the collective, that comes with a legal binding. A crowd on the other extreme is completely disorganized and there need not be anything in common among all members of the crowd. Indeed, crowds are most effective, as in, they display the "wisdom of the crowd" when the members have very little in common. If not, they can reduce to herds or mobs or gangs, each of which are far less "wise" than crowds.
A community is neither an organization nor a crowd. It is a set of people who come together, driven by a sense of "kindred spirit". A community is a collection of people, who share some human condition across them. For instance, we can have a community of cancer survivors, a community of aviation enthusiasts, a community of data science enthusiasts, a community of sustainable farming enthusiasts, etc.
It is the common condition or common passion, that brings people together to form a community. A community does not have a collective goal like an organization. It need not offer any service or product to a "customer" outside of it. In fact, the beneficiaries of the community are the members of the community themselves.
A community also does not have formal, legally binding affiliations. If a member of a community decides no longer to be a part of the community, the community cannot legally force them to remain.
A community that has strict norms, memberships, ostracization, etc. is not a community-- it is a cult.
So if we can train our guns against feudalism or cultism-- it is fine.. But in this process, we should not throw away the importance of the community.
Communities are important elements that bring stability in a society. Over the past few centuries-- with the advent of factories and the industrial revolution, our societies have been slowly organized to become machines. Societies today are evaluated by its "productivity" rather than on life satisfaction and meaningfulness reported by its members. We are in a continuous loop of producing stuff, and tending to the health and social problems that it creates.
It is in this setup that communities become important. They bring together people that share specific conditions-- and help uphold the important social principle of kindred spirit. Communities help channelize one's passion and energies, as well as seek support from others facing similar challenges.
In a post covid world, if there is one thing that we should nurture, it is the idea of a community-- and help differentiate it from cults and feudatories.
Indian society has predominantly been "communal" in nature. Not casteist. Caste is a feudal construct, and the Indian "caste system" that is considered characteristic of Indian culture is largely a European import.
Indian society had different kinds of communities that went with different names-- jati, mata, pangada, kula, gotra, varna, samuha, samaja, balaga, okkuta, sampradaya, etc. Of these, only kula and gotra pertained to blood lineage (dynasty and blood ancestry, respectively), while the rest were based on several other factors.
A community is different from a formal organization, or an amorphous crowd. An organization has formal, contractual association of its members to the collective, that comes with a legal binding. A crowd on the other extreme is completely disorganized and there need not be anything in common among all members of the crowd. Indeed, crowds are most effective, as in, they display the "wisdom of the crowd" when the members have very little in common. If not, they can reduce to herds or mobs or gangs, each of which are far less "wise" than crowds.
A community is neither an organization nor a crowd. It is a set of people who come together, driven by a sense of "kindred spirit". A community is a collection of people, who share some human condition across them. For instance, we can have a community of cancer survivors, a community of aviation enthusiasts, a community of data science enthusiasts, a community of sustainable farming enthusiasts, etc.
It is the common condition or common passion, that brings people together to form a community. A community does not have a collective goal like an organization. It need not offer any service or product to a "customer" outside of it. In fact, the beneficiaries of the community are the members of the community themselves.
A community also does not have formal, legally binding affiliations. If a member of a community decides no longer to be a part of the community, the community cannot legally force them to remain.
A community that has strict norms, memberships, ostracization, etc. is not a community-- it is a cult.
So if we can train our guns against feudalism or cultism-- it is fine.. But in this process, we should not throw away the importance of the community.
Communities are important elements that bring stability in a society. Over the past few centuries-- with the advent of factories and the industrial revolution, our societies have been slowly organized to become machines. Societies today are evaluated by its "productivity" rather than on life satisfaction and meaningfulness reported by its members. We are in a continuous loop of producing stuff, and tending to the health and social problems that it creates.
It is in this setup that communities become important. They bring together people that share specific conditions-- and help uphold the important social principle of kindred spirit. Communities help channelize one's passion and energies, as well as seek support from others facing similar challenges.
In a post covid world, if there is one thing that we should nurture, it is the idea of a community-- and help differentiate it from cults and feudatories.
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