23rd May, 2005

ADAM KELSALL

“I’m an individual, you can’t fool me!” - Mark "Jacko" Jackson.

I grew up in a family. I had a mum and a dad and three brothers. I was very fortunate with my education that I journeyed through primary and secondary education with the same group of peers. I lived in a small town where it seemed everyone helped this young person grow up. Scout leaders, church leaders, bosses of part-time jobs. Relationships were forged with not just people my age but older people and younger people, people with kids, grandmas and grandpas, rich and poor. It was a complex soup of humanity jumbled together in one bowl and I drank it up gleefully.

PICTURE: Philip Kleinschmidt (www.sxc.hu).  INDEX PAGE PICTURE: Vicky S (www.sxc.hu) "In a sense it is our ‘job’ to become physical, social, cognitive, sexual and spiritual individuals. How then do we manage to tie together the ‘job’ of being an individual and yet be active in the communities that inevitably our lives encounter? While our boundaries of community have grown with the aid of technology, how has the individual grown? If the individual has not grown what has in fact occurred? Where is the place for individualism in these global communities? And is the emphasis on individualism even a correct way of thinking?"

Looking back fondly and, even reflecting on my present existence, one of the most dominant forces in my life is community. Call it community, fellowship, family, meetings, bonding, connecting - it all involved interaction between myself and another (or many) human beings. Some of these interactions were intense in their emotions - be they laughter between best friends, the first kiss or a “punch on” in the school yard - others were just a passing nod of the head and hello as you pass on the street.

Community, from a world scale right down to the relationship between two people is an exponentially dynamic entity. At a world level, we question the ethics of one sovereign nation invading another; at a local level we question gay marriage and whatever decisions are made, it will impact community at all levels.

The very expression of what community is has changed markedly with the introduction of new technology. The use of mobile phones, SMS, internet chat sites, email and photo-sending phones means one can experience a sense of instant community and belonging just about anywhere.

Yet in our walk through community lies the perplexing duality of individualism. We all have a unique genetic code and fingerprints that make us like no one else on this planet. The phase of ‘adolescence’ we all experience derives from a Latin term that means ‘to grow’ and, if managed successfully, is a time in which a person develops their individual identity. In a sense it is our ‘job’ to become physical, social, cognitive, sexual and spiritual individuals. How then do we manage to tie together the ‘job’ of being an individual and yet be active in the communities that inevitably our lives encounter? While our boundaries of community have grown with the aid of technology, how has the individual grown? If the individual has not grown what has in fact occurred? Where is the place for individualism in these global communities? And is the emphasis on individualism even a correct way of thinking?

I believe the growth of the global milieu has diminished the power and the potential of the individual. A sense of helplessness and lack of control over the ‘big picture’ seems to be crushing the individual’s willingness to input even at the local level. A dominant narrative of ‘I can’t make any difference’ leads to what football coaches would refer to as gathering selfish possessions rather than playing the team game.

This 'crushing' is further enforced by at first an inability and then a lack of willingness on an individual’s behalf to spend time alone within the presence of God. It seems simple but being alone in the presence of God gives one time to explore and analyse thoughts, events and relationships without being immediately influenced by the values of others or the world. From this time alone we can learn and reinforce what our values and truths are. It is then vital to let our truths hang out in the open and be weathered by the winds of other cultures, ideologies and belief systems and then return to a quiet isolation where we can again consolidate. The power of the global milieu is it’s ability to rob us of these 'God times'. Instead of developing my values and becoming an individual, I develop the world’s values and become a ‘changeling’, flexing and shifting my personality according to pop culture, media and consumption. Instead of my individualism shaping the community, the community shapes my individualism.

So while we must endeavour to live as individuals, the further paradox is that we don’t do it for our own benefit but that of the community. Spending time alone in order to ‘find ourselves’ is wrong thinking. Spending time alone in order to be part of something larger than oneself is when individualism becomes powerful.