Community.

[Chillgirl]

Community.

Hey Spuddle! Im following you again....
We are all at different stages along the path and whats wonderful is there is always someone who has tread your path before you and can offer guidance.

However.... If you want a good kick up the ass I will be happy to oblige anytime :H

[hiddengoal]

Community.

Dissection & Review, plus more 'Peck-ism'

As happens with discussion threads, its easy to loose track of the original thought planted, so I will go back and re-post, & paraphrase, the start because we were invited to a healthy exchange of the topic presented. Agreement isn't the point, but, perhaps, the discussion of the topic at hand has gotten lost in the positioning of the contributors.

Hippie offered up the 4 stages of Community, according to M Scott Peck, (I’ll paraphrase to ‘Nice, Chaos, Quiet, and finally True Community’. Peck describes the characteristics of each in detail, but you can get to Amazon or a library for all that.) Hippie then asked us to think about this MWO 'community' in relation to these stages and then also to consider where we see our personal recovery as it may relate to the stages.

Hippie pricked us at the beginning with his own view, “I personally think it's impossible to obtain "true community" within such a large online community as this. Yet I also believe it's possible for people to personally obtain that level within themselves and guide people towards a feeling and sense of "true community".

Then followed more thought & questioning by members, such as:

1. Thoughts on “Nice” and how that impacts ‘us’ and ‘community’ (Rubywillow, bloggy, dancelot, Kate,)
2. Questions re: ‘Is it possible to apply this to an Online community, where you have so many new and changing members?’ (startingover, HG, pinhead, spam)
3. Then the thread begins a discussion/argument on the definition of ‘community’ (pinhead, cinders, guitarista, & more),
4. Thoughts are interjected on the benefits of the one-to-one contacts that happen within community (pinhead, guitarista, others)
5. And then questioning, “Is being part of ‘community’ necessary for ‘recovery’? (mario, stirly-girly)
6. Then a going back to discussion of ‘Nice’, “Self in community’, and benefits of 1-to1 groups
7. Then, arguing and name calling, and the real discussion gets lost

But the question of ‘WHO DEFINES’ community?' takes us back to the point. Hippie asked us to think about Peck’s characteristics of community in regards to his theory & stages of development, and how that relates to our own development with ‘recovery. So, getting back to Peck.....

I think it ineffective to take Peck's theory of the development of community and apply that to our personal journey of recovery, when Peck had another more clearly defined theory of Human Spiritual Development. (He developed a few noted theories - on Evil, Community, Love, Discipline, Suffering, in addition to his 4 Stages of Human Spiritual Development. Interesting reading if you are an Amazon junkie or visit your local library on occasion.)

Now, granted, we could seriously argue the point of whether a ‘personal recovery journey’ is indeed a human spiritual journey, or not. That would be interesting fodder, for sure. But, let’s just say it is, given the popularity of the 12 steps, and other faith issues that often are involved with addiction recovery.

Peck presents four stages of human spiritual development (copied & paraphrased from Wikipedia)
Stage I is chaotic, & reckless. Very young children are in Stage I. They tend to defy and disobey, and are unwilling to accept a will greater than their own. They are extremely egoistic and lack empathy for others. Many criminals are people who have never grown out of Stage I.
Stage II is the stage at which a person has blind faith in authority figures and sees the world as divided simply into good and evil, right and wrong, us and them. Many so-called religious people are essentially Stage II people, in the sense that they have blind faith in God, and do not question His existence. With blind faith comes humility and a willingness to obey and serve. The majority of good, law-abiding citizens never move out of Stage II.
Stage III is the stage of scientific skepticism and questioning. A Stage III person does not accept things on faith but only accepts them if convinced logically. Many people working in scientific and technological research are in Stage III. They often reject the existence of spiritual or supernatural forces since these are difficult to measure or prove scientifically.
Stage IV is the stage where an individual starts enjoying the mystery and beauty of nature and existence. While retaining skepticism, he starts perceiving grand patterns in nature and develops a deeper understanding of good and evil, forgiveness and mercy, compassion and love. His religiousness and spirituality differ significantly from that of a Stage II person, in the sense that he does not accept things through blind faith or out of fear, but does so because of genuine belief, and he does not judge people harshly or seek to inflict punishment on them for their transgressions. This is the stage of loving others as yourself, losing your attachment to your ego, and forgiving your enemies.
Interestingly, these four stages provide material for Schmelzer's book Not The Religious Type.

From here, I guess I would suggest that we use the Peck's stages of Community development when we consider ‘this online’ community’ or any other community. But when we are looking at our individual process (or development) through recovery, if you dare consider it under the guise of a spiritual journey, continue with Peck's stages of human spiritual development, perhaps just as an exercise in more 'Peck-ism', which is how this thread started.

Hidden

NO intention of Hijacking or Trolling

[Sheepish]

Community.

Nice post Hidden. If you all are so inclined- I have put an addendum on my post #20.
with sincere respect to all
-Sheep