It is natural to need one another. Humans evolved in small close knit bands. It is hard wired into our brains. Without this connected feeling extending to all in this planetary culture of today, we are doomed. Because if we see each other as not in our group, we now have the means to destroy everything.
These days we act like we don't need anyone else. Yesterday I saw a group of a dozen park invasive removal team members pulling ivy by hand together. But the group was shockingly silent. Normally I expect to hear chatty banter in such a situation, but each person was in a world of their own, with little headphones in their ears. Is this really what makes us happy?
Usually community forms when we need each other. One way to know and feel we need each other is to bond in small groups of close friends by going hunting together. This is a very bad idea for many reasons, not the least of which is we'd need a dozen or so planet Earths to support all the current population of even the humans in the way of hunter gatherers.
But the brain wiring is still there. So we can learn to hunt (shop, websearch, salon, meditate, invent, design, lobby, lead,) for ways to fix the problems... And we can gather (converse, communicate, consciously consume, contribute,) to find ways in which we can share what we have found.
One connection forming game that I like is playing music with my band. We really have a lot of fun, thanks to each other. But we also really need each other. We learn how to deeply listen to each other. We must be very much tuned in to one another in the now. Our creation is shared even though each person is doing a different thing. It is creative collaboration combined with individual expression.
"We spend millions on sports because it promotes teamwork, dicipline and the experience of learning to make great progress in small increments. Learning to play music together does all this and more."- Linda Ronstadt
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