I met Rory Turner in Bloomington when I was nineteen. He was working on a PhD and I was working on becoming a human being. He was and continues to be a teaching assistant in that endeavor, even though the titles may have changed. His is a way of being heavy without being hard to carry.
When I wrote what was for me the first collegiate piece that I felt went beyond rote academic exercise, it came back from Rory with a letter grade and a three-word addendum: “Say it, man.”
Eighteen years later, he and some friends have started blogging and it’s nice to return the favor, in response to a short introductory treatise that we’d all do well to consider.
May 18th, 2009 by Rory Turner
Community is one of the great mysteries of human experience. In what ways are we or are we not connected with other people, and other being, animate and inanimate? The notion of communitas proposes that a sense of fellowship is primary to human beings, that through the gifts of presence, resonance, and sharing, we can and do find deeper relationship with one another. A key element of cultural sustainability is to foster that urge to come together in culturally meaningful ways to share through play and other forms of cultural performance, a place to discover and feel communitas. What are some of the ways that you have been able to witness or participate in communitas? What moved you about the experience? What impact did these experiences have for your life?
I believe that such experiences are defining of human life, culture and community. I believe that by helping encourage the human capacities and condition that make communitas possible, we significantly improve the quality and value of life.
