“The construction of everyday life fuses reason and passion. The plain confusion to which life has always been subject comes from the mystification covering up the utter triviality of merely continuing to exist.
Will to live entails practical organisation. Individual desire for a rich multidimensional life cannot be totally divorced from a collective project. The will to live also draws its vitality and its coherence from the unity of a threefold project: self-realisation, communication and participation.”
To dedicate one’s life to aligning and enacting the principles and practices communitarian union is a truly courageous revolutionary act of creativity, love and play. In the words of Gustav Landauer, ‘The way to create a community that encompasses the entire world, leads not outward but inward. We must realize that we do not just perceive the world, but that we are the world.’
In the second year of association, and beyond, communitarians rise to greet the rising sun with the intent to recommit to integrating and evolving communitarian values and missions within their lives and communal participation. Within communitarian circles, this daily observance is called the ‘restatement of mission’ and is usually carried out twice daily – at sunrise and again at sunset.
The observance is a reminder of the communitarian union constitution that lays out the principles and practices for creating and sustaining new societies founded on peace grown from ‘common wealth’ shared prosperity established in both our personal lives, as well as, through contributions made to the progression of these values throughout the wider world.
The central mission of communitarians is to unite in progression toward establishing functional unions committed to creating the conditions where total honesty and transparency between individuals and group interplay, are nourished, nurtured and protected. The principles and practice of valuing freedom and security as well as justice and fairness, are central components of our individual and collective missions that give rise to the contribution of each individual to the self-realisation and personal progression of each other.
Communitarians deem creativity, love and play to be as necessary to survival as sustenance and shelter. The modern philosopher Raoul Vaneigem makes it plain in ‘The Revolution of Everyday’ that ‘attempts to realise oneself can only be based on creativity’. Likewise, ‘attempts to communicate can only be based on love’; while ‘attempts to participate can only be based on play’.
creating personal mission statements
Communitarians utilize their personal mission statements as a guiding light to help keep them motivated and on track. Before committing their time or energy to a project or even relationship, communitarians refer to the mission statement as a compass to find out whether the intended project or even relationship, aligns with their values, goals and overall objectives to achieve personal progression as well as serve the advancement of the communitarian unions. If the answer is no, it is then an easy decision to let the offer pass, and move onto areas that are more in alignment with progressing along the path to achieving their personal goals as well as contributing to the development and progress of the communal union missions.
When developing a personal mission statement, it is best to keep it simple – 3 lines should suffice to ensure that it can be easily memorised. Every morning and every evening, communitarians check-in, holding their intentions and actual conduct and achievements up against the light of their ‘declared’ cherished values.
As humans, it appears apparent that we are wired to question, ‘Why am I here? What is my purpose?’ The purpose of a personal mission statement, is to answer both these questions in a personal and satisfying way. Each of us bring unique talents to the world – to our communities, to our friends and associates as well as the landscape in which we reside. However, our talents cannot be fully utilized or made productive, unless we apply them purposefully, deliberately and with consistent commitment, organisation and determination to contribute our very best in conjunction with others.
Writing a personal mission statement requires the time and space to examine who we are, who we want to become and helps us decide the contribution we intend to make to the world. Mission statements provide the foundation for creating a life path and also establishing the type and scope of legacy we wish to bestow upon the world. Usually, a mission statement isn’t written in a day, or even a week. Most times it will take a month or more of personal time and effort coupled to input from the weekly ‘Gestalt’ mentoring groups to effectively define and state our life’s mission.
The following are common questions used to formulate the base of personal mission statements:
- What are you passionate about?
- How do others see you?
- What are your unique strengths?
- When you look back 30 years from now, what do you hope to have achieved?
- What would you like to leave behind as your legacy? Dream big!
- What are the values and principles that are important to you – (e.g., honesty, fairness, peace, justice, freedom, sharing, giving and receiving support?
Mull the answers over for a few days, then give it a try without expecting the first draft to be perfect. Keep refining the answers, distilling and reducing the sentences down until it feels as if you have captured the essence of your intended personal mission in a concise statement that gets right to the core of who you aim to be, and what you aim to achieve and contribute.
While a personal mission statement central focus is on the individual person who constructs it, it will often times include statements about others, as well as, the wider world.
Daily Actioning of Mission Blueprint
After the communitarian’s personal mission statement is complete and crafted in such a way that it inspires the writer and those with whom it is shared, it is now time to put the commitments into action. As a general rule, communitarians learn their personal mission statements by heart and keep it with them at all times, referring to its central tenets throughout the day. The personal mission statement is also often written on the first page of a journal or daily planner, as well as, commonly made into poster form and placed in a prominent place within a personal space.
Completing the personal mission statement provides the first step towards moving into alignment with planned action that sends the communitarian in the direction of achieving a purposeful and productive personal and collaborative role in life. Through guidance and mentoring in this phase of association, communitarians learn to take charge of their own path and ultimately the rate of progress toward their stated goals.
In the early stages of aligning with the daily observance of ‘mission’, many small, and some major changes in habits, goals, lifestyle and love-styles will be required to achieve the desired progression. Some habits will be easy enough to break, while others will require consistent effort overtime.
Walking the path toward purposeful mission
Overtime, personal mission statements will require redefining, and in some cases, complete revision. As we evolve our skills and abilities along with capacity to collaborate and contribute to the communitarian union projects, it is to be expected that our long-term goals will change, taking on different forms and require expanded spaces in our lives than originally perceived.
This progressive upgrading of our missions is to be welcomed and accommodated as the markers of growth. When this happens, it is truly a sign that we are on the path to fulfilling our life’s purpose – to be all that we can be, in serving the good of humanity.
