The Abundant Community by John McKnight

Author:John McKnight
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Published: 2010-04-10T04:00:00+00:00

The Invisible Structures of Community

Another way of thinking about all this is to look at the invisible structures of an abundant community. They are a set of rules and customs that are threads of community fabric, often called social fabric.

Think of an after-hours jazz club, where musicians gather because they want to play their music together. Half of them don’t know each other. Four of them sit down together on the stage. You see them talk a little; one of them goes one, two, three, four; and they start playing something. It sounds wonderful, and even though they may not have ever seen each other before and have spoken only a few words, wonderful music emerges. To an outsider it is magical.

What is operating is a clear structure, but if you are not part of the jazz culture, the rules and customs that make the music possible are invisible. Similarly, the properties of gifts, association, and hospitality are the hidden structure of community life.

What is happening with the jazz musicians is that they know and agree very quickly to the rules. The rules are, first, to pick a melody. Someone says, “Let’s play ‘How High the Moon.’” Then someone says, “In F.” The key. Someone else says, “One, two, three, four,” setting the beat. That is all they need. The melody, the key, the beat. In the shortest of shorthands, the hidden order is exposed. But if you do not understand it, it is like magic.

On the other hand, a symphony orchestra is like an institution. It is the system way of creating music. How does it work? All of the musicians have sheet music with notes that tell them what to play. The conductor in front has a baton and leads them in playing it. It is a system way of manifesting music. It of course can be beautiful.

The jazz way is the community way of playing. The invisible structures of gifts, association, and hospitality create the possibility and are the rules of a competent community. They are always available and essential. Hopefully, by making them explicit, more of us can participate in producing magic.

Our key point is that as the consumer society has grown along with system life, associational space where citizens come together to exchange their gifts and welcome strangers into the circle has become less common. The symphony takes the place of the jazz band.

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