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- 7 Reflections on Community
Essay Sections:
I. Building Blocks to Gathering
II. A Recent Experience
III. Porch Gathering on a Tuesday in Mexico
IV. Family Nucleus
V. Harmony
VI. Closer Together – Kind Of
VII. Closer Together – Actually
In times past or times current, community can be seen all around us.
People want people. People need people.
As I write this, I’m at the Fellowship Conference in Denton, TX. It’s an annual conference where Christians from different local churches around the world gather for 4 days. It is filled with fellowship, 7 speaker sessions, worship singing, and many other events.
I. Building Blocks to Gathering
Call it a block party.
Call it a neighborhood gathering.
Call it a communal event.
Growing up at 65 Hamilton Ave in New Jersey brought with it the annual event of the “block party”.
My dad recollects those days best:
“Along with my neighbors, we started a tradition of yearly summer block parties for about 200 neighbors. Pig roasts, BBQ’s, yard games, tug of war, etc. It brought our community together and the shared experiences kept the neighborhood together all year long. We felt like all the kids had a magical experience growing up in such a tight knit group. We were blessed to have such a wonderful neighborhood.”
When I think back to my childhood experiences, the summer block party is a highlight of mine.
It gives me a warm feeling to know that I was able to gather with my friends. We were safe. We were together. We ran around until we were exhausted. We cooked American summer hearty meals.
All communities I will talk about in this essay mimic that feeling of the neighborhood block party that I grew up with. The smells of BBQ roaming the streets, 2000s music blasting from a stereo, hockey pucks skating across the pavement as kids engaged in intense street hockey, parents laughing and eating, the brisk summer air, and the joy of the sun setting later in the day.
Neighbors enjoying neighbors in the neighborhood.
II. A Recent Experience
Last Tuesday evening, I went to the first book club meetup of The Bookless Book Club, that my friend Lincoln hosted. We met and dove deep into our individual reads at Casa De Luz village.
Even though I’ve been in Austin for 3 years now, it was also the first time I’ve experienced Casa De Luz village.
Casa De Luz is a fascinating, eclectic place. Although I’m not interested in many of the stores in the communal space or the things they offer (like reiki energy healing, mystic supplements, and yogic practices), the one element of Casa De Luz that I do admire and respect is the community.
When I see a new place that interests me, time gradually fades, and I use curiosity to dissect what I see. When I see a beautiful sunset, time stops and so do I. I’m halted in my tracks and I gaze at the horizon.
When I came across Casa De Luz, I wandered within this village like a dog who goes to a new house for the first time – minus all the sniffing. I was looking at every crevice and section of this small village.
I’ve never seen a place incorporate nature for its design the way Casa did. There were many families present and the majority of the little kids were enjoying the mini-jungle that we, adults, call a playground.
The times in my life when I experienced a sense of communal living the way Casa has it setup, with their main restaurant building in the back of the village, was either with my family when I visit my hometown of Wayne, at the Fellowship Conference, in office with my company teammates, or when I stayed in a hostel during my 10-day trip to Iceland in 2019.
I think people in the U.S. are longing for such a thing in 2024.
III. Porch Gathering on a Tuesday in Mexico
Americans can learn a thing or two from Mexico.
Depending on where you are in the world, you will notice that people in different places prioritize different things.
America has always been a collection of states working together under a federal government. That’s why it’s called the “United” “States” “of” “America”.
It’s not like Dubai, as my friend Mohammad once said, which can be seen as a pretty box on the outside, but it’s empty on the inside.
Compare that to Mexico – it has either extremely pompous designed exteriors in pockets of cities that are affluent or it has places that openly wear and represent its external ruggedness.
When I first moved to Monterrey, MX in June 2023 for my 6 month stay, I remember my first look off of the 17th floor apartment balcony.
The horizon is magnificent. The sunrise glistens the skyline. The mountains form borders of protection on the North and South of my view.
Yet, when I look down there is this concrete wall circling the entire apartment complex. It forms a boundary that separates the affluent complex from the rugged houses directly outside of its walls.
Foreigners and expats of Mexico think Mexico is full of cartels and AK47s and cocaine. Yet, it can be far from the actual truth of what Mexico is actually like.
The people of this country care about a few things in life: work when it's required, family, and relaxation.
From what I’ve seen, true Mexican residents don’t care about their broken AC units or the disparity of their houses. They mostly care about being together with those they love.
Everyday, without fail, especially on Tuesdays, when I would take an Uber from our factory back to my apartment in Monterrey, there were always families gathering outside of their homes.
In the confined towns of Mexico, most homes are bunched together.
Because of this, families can spend lots of time on their slim, front porch (having a backyard in the city is rare).
It amazed me to see the same families each time I took an Uber home each day. It was a ritual to see the same dog laying outside of that one yellow house right before we went through the underground car tunnel. It was a ritual to see plastic tables and chairs outside of these houses filled with alcohol, soda, and snacks as the tabletop appetizers.
When I was winding down my evening, these families were gearing up for more leisure and conversation.
It was a different cultural experience for me.
Most Mexican people love to live for leisure. They don’t live to work.
They work when they work. They relax when they relax.
It’s not to be mistaken though: Mexican people work extremely hard when they’re slotted to work. Their focus is sharp on the job.
The family nucleus in America can benefit from a stark reminder on such a topic.
IV. Family Nucleus
Each culture throughout the world operates in their own unique ways.
Amongst them all, family is always present. God has made the family because it works in unison with His design.
The local church and Church (which denotes all believers in the world) shows this too. There is a reason people in the church call each other “brother” and “sister”. They are all within a larger body of the family of Jesus Christ that connects them in the spiritual realm.
Larger groups (village, city, nation, world) will succeed in direct proportion to the thriving or dying of (1) the anchors of church gathering and (2) families eating together at a table.
For example, if my local church promotes partaking in drugs and a false Gospel (this word “Gospel” denotes the Good News of the Christian message), then it would be heresy, blasphemy, and all types of wrong.
Yet, my local church promotes proper righteousness and godliness.
By doing so, I am positively affected to live a more righteous, godly life as an individual.
What we prioritize in our teachings and in our lifestyles within a community is the bedrock to what the culture will be built upon.
The lack of harmony in the U.S. in 2024 (i.e. looming recession, mass illegal immigration, lack of cooperation on the federal level, disgusting food system, and more) is because we have focused more on fear than on proper faith.
V. Harmony
If you really look at it, nature is an orchestra, a symphonic harmony of plants, animals, and natural elements working together in their own unique way.
On Saturday afternoon (3/16), I was on a phone call with my aunt-in-law. As always, we had a profound conversation about faith, Jesus, the Bible, and the human experience.
As we were talking, I heard a beautiful harmony of birds in her background. I commented on it and she said, “Oh yes… those are the birds. They are like a beautiful orchestra that I get to listen to every day. Every time I go into my backyard, I’m presented with an orchestra.”
No wonder, as I re-read Think & Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill emphasizes the importance of harmony when it comes to creating a MasterMind group.
As Napoleon Hill says in p. 195 of Think & Grow Rich, “The ‘Master Mind’ may be defined as: “coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose.”
Ants are some of the greatest MasterMind species to ever exist.
Ants work in perfect harmony.
One ant striving to carry a small loaf of bread is like one human trying to carry a large building.
Yet, when working in perfect harmony, an army of ants, coordinated by a leader ant, can swiftly move a small loaf of bread from one spot to another.
We all desire this kind of living.
Who wouldn’t want to live in harmony with others, so that it achieves a definite purpose that benefits everyone?
VI. Closer Together – Kind Of
Recently, while talking with my friend Baxter at a coffee shop in Austin, he perfectly encapsulated one of the internet's greatest benefits: for people to find each other online and gather together offline.
As Packy McCormick also said about the internet (“The Great Online Game” as he calls it):
“The infinite game - there is only one - includes any authentic interaction, from touching to culture, that changes rules, plays with boundaries and exists solely for the purpose of continuing the game. A finite player seeks power; the infinite one displays self-sufficient strength. Finite games are theatrical, necessitating an audience; infinite ones are dramatic, involving participants…”
The internet has decentralized the playing field. We are small ants that have this incredible tool that can bind us all. Within milliseconds.
Furthermore, Packy McCormick goes on to say, “At the same time, though, it’s easier and smarter than ever for talented people to work together. Transaction costs are decreasing. As the atomic unit of commerce gets smaller, there is more surface area for cooperation, more room for more people to pursue the same opportunity as a group. Individuals can cooperate with each other with much less friction than companies can.”
VII. Closer Together – Actually
I’m experiencing the fullness of Austin. I’m grateful to God for the opportunity to be living in one of the best cities in the world during such a vibrant time as this.
I’m also grateful that I work in-office with my company teammates. The mission of our company is so operationally intense, it requires us to collaborate in-person.
Being in an office, with a positive, empowered culture, also promotes vivid communication and sparks of creativity to fly off of the walls at any moment.
It doesn’t stop there though. The beautiful overflow of communities I’m engaged in nowadays has brought forth amazing opportunities and connections with others.
Local Church: 10 AM Sunday Service, Grace Church Austin (GCA) in Austin… 10 AM Sunday School and Service, Grace Community Church (GCC) in San Antonio… 10 AM Sunday School and Service, Mirad a Mi in Monterrey, MX
Write of Passage: the greatest online writing bootcamp and community (I speak from personal experience, alongside many others). Their upcoming bootcamp starts on the 2nd week of April and goes for 5 weeks straight. If you are interested in joining, enroll here: WOP BOOTCAMP
Godspeed Run Club: 7 AM, Tuesday morning run club in Austin, hosted by Danny Miranda
Bookless Book Club: 6:30 PM, Tuesday evening book club in Austin, hosted by Lincoln Plsek
Friday Writing Club: 7 AM, Friday morning deep work/writing club in Austin, hosted by Madi Taskett
ATX Coffee Connectors Meetup: 8 AM, Friday morning coffee and conversation meetup in Austin, hosted by Devin Ambron
Raw Dawg Run Club: 8 AM, Saturday morning run club in Austin, hosted by Rawdawg
BoardWalks: 8 AM, Saturday morning walking club in Austin, hosted by Elle Beecher
ATX Writing Club: 11 AM, Sunday morning writing club in Austin, hosted by Zac Solomon
Cool People Whatsapp Chat: I just got added to this. What a wide-range of interesting humans
At its core, these gatherings are the manifestation of others wanting to experience more closeness to one another.
People want people. People need people.
I’ll end on this note.
I’ve enacted the creation of a community in my life since I created a group called the A1 Group.
It consists of the most elite people in each category of life – all of whom are friends I’ve gathered through the years. If you want to learn abundant amounts of specific knowledge, be held accountable, and grow with others, the A1 Group is where you need to be.
I would love for you to join. If you want to, message me.
"Carry each other's burdens, and in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ." – Galatians 6:2
Without the help of , this essay would not have been published today, nor would it be in the standing that it is. The BIGGEST thank you to each one of those awesome humans that I’m grateful to call my friends and my brothers.
Here is my website — you can find more stories, quotes, and deep dives here.
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