There is no need to construct a world where we have to choose between systems and the communal path. There are limitations to localism, just as there are benefits to systems. The point is to overcome our isolation …
We want to construct a communal world, one in which the functions that systems perform are congruent with what the community needs. When communities are fully functioning, when they are doing all the things they can do themselves, then we can re-discover what systems we need and what for. We might ask then: What would a system look like that built neighborliness and covenantal relationships? It could begin with the question of how a human services system can create for its own workers the same cultural experience that it is intending to bring into the world. This would enable systems to support the kind of communal culture we are exploring.[1]
To seek the Common Good takes time, community, and patience. It’s not a simple choice, trading one transaction for another. It is not just a change to buying fair trade. Not a simple school transfer for our children. Not a better hospital, or better funding for NGOs.
Consider a “human service system” that you participate in (school, hospital, safety), and explore “How might I treat those in the system I engage with as neighbors with gifts?”
[1] Block, Peter. An Other Kingdom: Departing the Consumer Culture (p. 6). Wiley. Kindle Edition
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