Summary of Peter Block's Community

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The need to create a structure of belonging comes from the isolated nature of our lives, our institutions, and our communities. We are fragments, and our individualistic Western culture serves to fragment us.

#2 The challenge of creating a place that works for all is that we must overcome the inherent cultural forces of individualism and competition. We must shift the narrative by designing ways of coming together that become an example of the future we desire.

#3 Our isolation is as much an act of imagination as it is the reality of our experience. The Jews were slaves in ancient Egypt for four hundred years. Until the end, they participated in their slavery by thinking it was their destiny.

#4 To feel a sense of belonging is important because it will lead us to discuss topics other than safety and comfort, such as our relatedness and our willingness to provide hospitality and generosity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822529236

IRB Media

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Insights on Peter Block's Community

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The need to create a structure of belonging comes from the isolated nature of our lives, our institutions, and our communities. We are fragments, and our individualistic Western culture serves to fragment us.

#2

The challenge of creating a place that works for all is that we must overcome the inherent cultural forces of individualism and competition. We must shift the narrative by designing ways of coming together that become an example of the future we desire.

#3

Our isolation is as much an act of imagination as it is the reality of our experience. The Jews were slaves in ancient Egypt for four hundred years. Until the end, they participated in their slavery by thinking it was their destiny.

#4

To feel a sense of belonging is important because it will lead us to discuss topics other than safety and comfort, such as our relatedness and our willingness to provide hospitality and generosity.

#5

The shift in thinking is the focus of chapters 1 through 7. Following that, we come to methodology, which many of you may consider the heart of the book. But without the shift in thinking, methodology becomes technique, and practice becomes imitation.

#6

To create a more positive and connected future for our communities, we must be willing to trade their problems for their possibilities. This trade is what is necessary to create a future distinct from the past.

#7

The core question is: What is the means through which those of us who care about the whole community can create a future for ourselves that is not just an improvement but one of a different nature from what we now have.

#8

The fact that a sense of community has practical importance is best demonstrated in the work of Robert Putnam in his book Bowling Alone. He found that individual health, educational achievement, local economic strength, and other measures of community well-being were dependent