Hunger for community : an essay on experiential education for interpersonal living

Snoek, a social psychologist, notes the hunger for community that he finds everywhere, and the loneliness and unease with the sterility of relationships and with the values of social institutions. He quotes Howard Brinton (1945) who advocated making the Meeting a real community, so that we will

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learn how and can bring our skills to the world. Snoek maintains that creating community requires authentic personal relationships of mutuality, so we need to learn the skills and attitudes of such relationships. And we minister spiritually to each other in the mutual affirmation that these relationships bring.
Snoek's commentary on relationships and barriers to deepening them is interesting and useful. His recommendation for experiential education in the skills of relationship and community is still valid, although the encounter groups that he mentions have been superseded by trainings in emotional intelligence, communication, and group skills.
Building true community among Friends is as fundamental to Quaker life as ever, so awareness and skills for community are worth explicitly fostering in the Meeting.

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