Only where individuals are not trumped can true community prosper. - TopicsExpress

Only where individuals are not trumped can true community prosper. Its from the bottom up, not from the top down. We must getaway from this false dichotomy between individuals and community. Individuals comprise community and community empowers individuals. When either is placed above the other in a hierarchical manner, the consequence is the same. Each becomes a mere instrument for gain at the sacrificial whim of the other. There is no virtue or practicality at either of these poles. Its a balance, a balance espoused by allowing individuals to be free and form the communities that naturally emerge as a consequence. In this manner of self-reliance, communities are empowered by their own means without the sacrifice of any of its individuals and vice-versa. For a community that sees individuals as mere instruments of sacrifice for its gain will cease to be a community and individuals that sees community as a mere instrument of sacrifice for their gain will also cease to exist.