When the world was smaller and most individuals didn’t venture too far from where they started out, the word “community” was easily defined as the people and businesses located nearby. In today’s hyper-connected modern world, the word is characterized more by similarity of purpose and mission than physical proximity. Community—while it may still incorporate a physical place—more typically these days encompasses a feeling, a synergy of hearts and minds, an ethos. Community brings people together, connected by an idea, a common goal, a sense of purpose, a need for joy, solace or escape. 

This month we feature Linda Sechrist’s uplifting article, “The Emerging Power of ‘We’: Awakening to the Evolution of Community,” to further explore this concept of community. Her piece makes a compelling argument that collective wisdom, collaborative change and the need to evolve from a culture of “me” to a culture of “we” may well be the key to addressing the major challenges that confront humankind. What I wish and intend for our collective future is that more people are able to embody that humanity is a community unto itself. The stuff we collect and the subsets we choose to form—the “tribes” we seek and hold dear—may be precious indeed, but at this time they serve to divide us more than help. The time has come for us to search for common ground and connection with all others. While as individuals we may be mighty, as a human collective we could be unstoppable. 

The Wise Words department this month takes us on an inspiring spiritual journey, with the story of Mary Neal, an orthopedic surgeon and author of 7 Lessons from Heaven: How Dying Taught Me to Live a Joy-Filled Life. Neal shares her account of a near-death experience during which she believes she penetrated the veil dividing the physical and spiritual worlds. Her life-altering experience prompted her to pay more attention to those things that are truly important to her: faith, family and relationships with others. Having recently experienced a major medical trauma of my own (not nearly as major as Neal’s, I’m relieved to say!), I can corroborate that nothing helps put things in perspective like the clear understanding that your time is not as infinite as you might have fooled yourself into thinking. 

I hope this month’s articles provide pearls of wisdom or bits of inspiration to light your path as you expand your communities both near and far. From the whole Natural Awakenings team to you, your family and communities, we wish you the happiest of holidays and peace on earth for the coming year.

With love and light,

Nicole