Why bother with community?
And why do so many of us
long for a sense of community?

2 QUESTIONS. MANY ANSWERS.

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THE LONGING FOR COMMUNITY

Greta Garbo is famous for saying, "I vant to be alone."

Well, I don't. I've too often been alone. All too often, as well, I couldn't get others to think along with me.

It's great to be alone, when that's what one wants. But it's lonely, being alone when we long for company.

Why bother with community? The sense of connection.

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Then, a community helps us go further. Almost every rights movement (women's rights, race rights, gay and lesbian rights, animal rights) has relied on community. Community: a group of like-minded individuals who support each other. Even Jesus didn't go it alone - in his case, he had disciples.

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Community. If we have something to offer, we long for it to be heard, for it to reach those we care about. I remember the story of Cassandra of Troy, who had the gift of foretelling, and the curse of not being believed. She knew the Trojan horse was dangerous, needed to be kept out of Troy. No one would listen. Agony.

So why bother with community? We long for it. And many of us need it to thrive, to blossom, to reach our potential.

A community can give both recognition and validation. While good thinking is, in many ways, its own reward, a downside is
that it can be lonely and frustrating doing good thinking without much support.

****

Shooting down people who don't agree is a favorite sport of people bad at thinking - legal even where there's gun control.
When there's no shooting down, there's the cement wall technique: talk and you might as well be talking to a cement wall.

Without commnity, we're likely to spend too much energy arguing against, repetitively, instead of going further with our thinking.

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The Idea Emporium was born, in part from my desire to express ideas important for me, but also from the desire to create and be part of a good thinking community.

What can good-thinking company do? Think of Galileo and Copernicus. Despite all the forces holding them from realizing that the earth goes around the sun, not the other way around, after years and years of accumulating evidence, they were able to be certain that the sun, not the earth, was at the center of the solar system.

But imagine that, instead of a critical negative hostile environment, they had been with like-minded people. Eureka! They would almost certainly have come to their conclusions much faster - and who knows how much else they might have discovered.

Support and validation - this is definitely not blind agreement. The very opposite. It means one's thinking is seen, explored, recognized, responded to.

****

If you know you want to stay in touch with The Idea Emporium and me, and to give a try to any community that gets created, you can just click here and become a member.

I'm going to go over ...

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THE IDEA EMPORIUM
and THE DESIRE FOR
A SENSE OF COMMUNITY

We each have different passions. Among other things,
I passionately care about thinking,
about reaching people,
and about a sense of community.

I'm grateful for the web: it's given me a way to reach people with my thinking and my creative works - something that's been incredibly difficult for me all my life. It's one thing to write on one's own, to discuss with a few people. It's something else to reach thousands.

But something is still missing for me. A sense of community, a growing community of like minded people who value good thinking.

The web is a place where millions surf and browse, stopping here and there, then moving on. I know there are many communities around - but at this point in my life, I want a community here. People who want to chew on the ideas they find here, and maybe contribute, maybe discuss.

There's a lot coming over the year. The site will become much more interactive. But it won't be instant. This is - in its design and development - a one-person site. I only have so much time and energy.

My first goal was to get at least some of my stuff on the we. Not easy for someone with virtually no web background. May and June 2006: design time. July 2006: the first pages go up. 793 page views, most by me. August 2006: more pages and 1795 page views. September: still more pages and 3992 page views, many from an email list.

Alongside the first goal, was a second: to develop traffic. Traffic - such a cold word. I didn't care about traffic. I cared to have people come and stop. Listen. Think about things. Like at least some of what they heard.

Getting people to find my work was much harder than putting stuff on the web. It it meant masses and masses of learning. Knowledge about the workings of the search engines. Not easy to understand and implement. Dozens of tools and rules. Misunderstanding a couple of the fundamental rules and tools got the site stuck at about 5500 page views per month for most of 2007. Finally, breakthrough, new learning. And then much more work, implementing the new learning. It's slowly paid off. Nov 2007: 5504 page views. Feb 2009: 33,862 page views. A six-fold increase over 14 months.

Now my goal is community. I've longed for that sense of community all my life. There have been glimmers here and there. But nothing strong and solid and enduring.

I have the sense that, with The Idea Emporium and the rest of the site, I've built a strong stable foundation for a such a community.

2009. I want to develop a membership site for people who share interests, share concerns, and also after some time, share a bit of history.

I teach. It's different, giving one class, having one discussion - and being part of the deeper developments that happen over a semester.

My vision for the membership site: a community of people who are each different but also somewhat like minded in their concern for ideas, for good thinking, for developing more of an understanding of what is happening in the world, and for sharing their ideas and visions.

This is why I want your email address. This year, 2009, I want to develop that community, and I would like you to be part of it - if it suits you. With your email address, I can stay in touch, let you know new stuff on the site, including interactive aspects.

If it suits you to try, I'm delighted. Welcome.

If not and you want access to the members only pages, that's also fine. You'll get the password, and can opt out when you get the first update. If you just want to pass through briefly, that's also fine. I hope you get something from your visit.

There are over 6,700,000,000 of us in the world. Out of those, there should be enough who want to come join, be part of The Idea Emporium adventure.

I will end with

a warm welcome
to those of you who, like me,
want a sense of community,
even feel the need for
a greater sense of community,
with other caring thinkers.

I call us the Cogni Sutrans.

All the best,

Elsa

To become a member (FREE),
get updates on what's new (FREE),
and get the PASSWORD (FREE)
for Dr Zee's Jiffy Spiffy
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INGREDIENTS
OF GOOD THINKING,

Your address will be used only to send the password and
updates. I will never let anyone else have it. I respect your privacy..
Elsa - The Idea Emporium -
for that Good Thinking G-Spot

March 7, 2009
copyright © Elsa Schieder, 2009, 2011, all rights reserved

To go from a sense of community to
a sense of fun, The Cogni Sutra,
click here.

To go from my wanting a sense of community to
more on what motivates me,
click here .

The Idea Emporium for a Sense of Community
with Like Minded People Who Value
Good Thinking, Critical Thinking Skills,
are Passionate about Understanding.
Meet Like Minded People Who Think.

****

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comments, responses, further thinking, more ideas
__________________________________________

A SENSE OF COMMUNITY at THE IDEA EMPORIUM:
NOT JUST CLEAR THINKING, GOOD THINKING, ANALYTICAL THINKING,
CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS
BUT A SENSE OF COMMUNITY and
A CHANCE TO MEET LIKE MINDED PEOPLE,

THE SENSE OF COMMUNITY:
SO VITAL IN THIS WORLD WITH SO MUCH NEAR,
AND YET SO MUCH ISOLATION, ALONENESS, LOENLINESS.

EVEN MORE, WITHOUT A SENSE OF COMMUNITY,
WE RARELY GO AS FAR AS WE CAN.

EVEN MORE, IF WE DON'T REACH OTHERS
WITH GOOD THINKING,WITH THE FRUITS OF
OUR CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS AND OUR PASSIONS,
THE WORLD MISSES OUT.

The Idea Emporium For A Sense Of Community
With Like Minded People Who Value
Good Thinking, Critical Thinking Skills,
Are Passionate About Understanding.
Meet Like Minded People Who Think.

The Idea Emporium - why and what

One of my lifelong concerns has been trying to make sense of reality. Another lifelong desire has been a sense of community with like minded people, people passionate about good thinking and making the world a better place.

I have done some stuff - but far from how much I ardently long to.

To go further, I need community, more like minded people.

I also need just to reach more people.

MORE ...

A SENSE OF COMMUNITY at THE IDEA EMPORIUM:
MEET LIKE MINDED PEOPLE, HAVE A SENSE OF CONNECTION,
GET STIMULATION WITH GOOD THINKING, CLEAR THINKING -
IN OTHER WORDS, THE TRUE POWER OF THINKING

THE SENSE OF COMMUNITY - SO VITAL IN THIS TIME
WITH INFORMATION OVERLOAD AND OFTEN A LACK OF CONNECTION
AND A LACK OF PASSIONATE, INTENSE LIVING

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Elsa

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The Idea Emporium for a Sense of Community with Like Minded People Who Value Good Thinking, Critical Thinking Skills, are Passionate about Understanding. Meet Like Minded People Who Think.

The Idea Emporium For A Sense Of Community With Like Minded People Who Value Good Thinking, Critical Thinking Skills, Are Passionate About Understanding. Meet Like Minded People Who Think.

The Idea Emporium for a Sense of Community
with Like Minded People Who Value
Good Thinking, Critical Thinking Skills,
are Passionate about Understanding.
Meet Like Minded People Who Think.

The Idea Emporium For A Sense Of Community
With Like Minded People Who Value
Good Thinking, Critical Thinking Skills,
Are Passionate About Understanding.
Meet Like Minded People Who Think.