Excellent, per usual. The thought/question in the back of my head while reading was, "And what if in leaving the echo chamber I may be in I leave far enough from home base that I no longer belong anywhere?" <-- My heart wrenching difficulty. Echo chambers aren't good, but it feels weird to perceive that you no longer belong where you'd been and aren't welcome with those you're now interacting with. A man of no country.
BUT What I am learning from relationships with those different than you - There is far more richness and texture and helpful ideas and language beyond my circle/echo chamber. It's been enriching to move beyond those starting points.
I have been wondering if trying to find "belonging" in one primary community might actually not be as healthy. I am not so singular, no person is. Enclosed communities unto themselves are part of the problem.
Instead, perhaps my life is better lived a network of relationships, of communities that overlap in an ever evolving and permeable Venn diagram of connections. I have friendships at the local mosque and when I've gone there I have perhaps 20 friends who are regular there. Is that my "community." Well, not really. I am not a Muslim, nor from one of the many countries that mostly make up those in prayer as I watch. But when I have been there I experience community, I have relationships there.
I do wonder if there is a place for accountability, identity, even submission in family, friendships, the church. But even those are dynamic and permeable and overlapping.
Indeed. I don't know that the intent was ever for Christians to withdraw from the world or enter their own echo chambers. To love one's neighbor requires active participation and seeking out of those who are different than us (in thought, word, deed, religion, perspective, ethnicity, etc) to show love to. Dynamic, permeable, and overlapping. Good trifecta to shoot for.
Excellent, per usual. The thought/question in the back of my head while reading was, "And what if in leaving the echo chamber I may be in I leave far enough from home base that I no longer belong anywhere?" <-- My heart wrenching difficulty. Echo chambers aren't good, but it feels weird to perceive that you no longer belong where you'd been and aren't welcome with those you're now interacting with. A man of no country.
BUT What I am learning from relationships with those different than you - There is far more richness and texture and helpful ideas and language beyond my circle/echo chamber. It's been enriching to move beyond those starting points.
Helpful comment--thanks, Jeff.
I have been wondering if trying to find "belonging" in one primary community might actually not be as healthy. I am not so singular, no person is. Enclosed communities unto themselves are part of the problem.
Instead, perhaps my life is better lived a network of relationships, of communities that overlap in an ever evolving and permeable Venn diagram of connections. I have friendships at the local mosque and when I've gone there I have perhaps 20 friends who are regular there. Is that my "community." Well, not really. I am not a Muslim, nor from one of the many countries that mostly make up those in prayer as I watch. But when I have been there I experience community, I have relationships there.
I do wonder if there is a place for accountability, identity, even submission in family, friendships, the church. But even those are dynamic and permeable and overlapping.
Indeed. I don't know that the intent was ever for Christians to withdraw from the world or enter their own echo chambers. To love one's neighbor requires active participation and seeking out of those who are different than us (in thought, word, deed, religion, perspective, ethnicity, etc) to show love to. Dynamic, permeable, and overlapping. Good trifecta to shoot for.
nice