Who is my community?

About 2,000 years ago a Middle Eastern philosopher invited his fellow Jews to love their neighbours the same way they love themselves. When asked “who is my neighbour?”, the philosopher told a parable. In it, a Jewish man is beaten and left for dead on the side of a road. Two Jewish religious leaders ignore his suffering as they pass by on their respective journeys. Eventually, another traveller stops to help. To everyone’s surprise, he’s not a fellow Jew but a Samaritan (from Samaria, now the West Bank).(1)

We can interpret many things from this ancient wisdom. Through a sustainability lens I see instruction to enlarge our view of community to include more than whom we expect. If we include time (ancestors and yet-to-be-born grandchildren), geography (people in other countries), and nature(2) in our view of community, we can experience relationship with others we thought were separate or beneath us (if we thought of them at all). Our very existence will then become richer socially.

It's more than just a cute idea. To achieve a good life in a sustainable Aotearoa we must modify our lifestyles and own less “stuff”, because stuff demands resources and energy, and Earth is reaching her limits. But stuff is wonderful! It satisfies the human drive to acquire. It defines us. Sometimes, owning stuff feels enough like belonging we can make do without real social connection. Remember trying to prise a forbidden object from a toddler’s hand? The only way to retrieve the object without harm or tears is by trading it for something more desirable. We humans will only relinquish our modern lifestyles and overabundance of stuff happily if in exchange we enjoy real belonging through enhanced sociability.(3)

“Love your neighbour.” The late bell hooks (4) wrote that love is rooted in recognition and acceptance. It combines acknowledgement, care, responsibility, commitment, and knowledge; therefore, love cannot exist without justice. To me, this is how we realise the justice of sustainability: through relationships of mutuality and justice with all members in an expansive community.

Next time:  Why we are here: the sustainability problem

1. After I formulated the question “Who is my community?”, I remembered the question “Who is my neighbour?” from the parable of the Good Samaritan and saw a connection. The parable is found in the Bible in Luke 10:25-37.

2. Jason Hickel is an economic anthropologist who suggests the main reason Earth has become so damaged is because, largely, we humans think we’re separate from nature, not part of it. Hickel’s book Less Is More makes you see things differently, from nature to economics. I recommend it to everyone.

3. Gregory Claeys wrote Utopianism for a Dying Planet: Life after Consumerism in 2021. He argues the three main characteristics of a utopian society are equality, sustainability, and enhanced sociability (belonging). What’s belonging? It’s knowing you’re in the cave with everybody else, so you won’t be eaten by a sabre-tooth tiger. It's life or death.

4. I will refer to feminist theorist, writer, and cultural critic bell hooks (whose name is always lowercase) often in future posts. This description of love is from her book Feminism is for Everybody.
   

Photo credit: Vivienne, 02 April 2024, 5:26pm - The path by the Ōpāwaho in Ernle Clark Reserve.