Four Stages — Scott Peck
This equation of Scott Peck: Gathering + Chaos + Emptying = True Community resonates with my situation with the Clinic team to the loudest. I have chosen this equation because we sometimes struggle to get the best form of each other in the team. Groups like individuals are unique; still, we all share the human condition, so that group assembled deliberately to form leading a change. Scott Peck’s acclamation of community/ group routinely goes through stages: pseudocommunity, chaos, emptiness, and community. Every group that becomes a community is more likely to follow this paradigm. Community building or development does not occur by a formula but by the design or the composition of members.
The group’s first response appears to be in the void to make the instant community extremely pleasant with one another and avoid the disagreements, which is a pretense of community terming as the “Pseudo community.” The pseudo community doesn’t have a direction with unspontaneous vulnerability amongst members. The trait and habit of avoiding conflicts limit the potential of each member and the group to prosper. Thus, each of us has to step out of this bubble to conquer heights and get the desired outcomes for all. What is diagnostic of pseudocommunity is minimization, the lack of acknowledgment, or ignoring individual differences. In taking that shape and letting the ideologies and practices of each different individual, the chaos of conflicts is inevitable. At the same time, chaos is not necessarily the worst place for a group to be. Fighting is far better than pretending you are not divided. It’s painful, but it’s a beginning.
The way through the clutter to the actual community is through emptiness. It is the most complex and crucial stage of community development, where members are emptying themselves of communication barriers by disclosing a sense of unease by each member. It is also the most vital stage of community development as it bridges chaos and community. The process of emptying these barriers is the key to the transition from “rugged” to “soft” individualism. Community making requires time as well as effort and sacrifice, and it cannot be bought cheaply. It is always something more than the sum of the total of individuals present. True community emerges as the group chooses to embrace not only the light but life’s darkness. Community-making is always an adventure but shapes accordingly with new experiences.
Thus, The quality of community building and social transformation depends upon an attempt to see the core of the pain and powerlessness with transparency. Overcoming the glorification of pseudo community at the first stage, acknowledging the chaos and redirecting through the emptiness, and building a stronger sense of community by belongingness and imperfection leads us to create a path towards mutual and moral support amongst the community members. The nudge of leading the change is congruent to the ability to relate between each other, the surroundings, and ourselves.
Social Transformation= Transparent community + Vision + Communication + Empathy + Leadership
Here, the transparent community refers to the truthful individuals who are open-minded, viewing the surrounding with clear eyes. Eventually, these individuals with vision are paired with similar minds capable of communicating their shared vision to turn them into reality with the essential virtues of walking into each other’s shoes. With the dynamics of a leader like leading a pack of a symphony in an orchestra to make the best of the given, they prosper the community with their charisma to bind all together to lead towards change and transformation for better good collectively.
