From the FCE an invitation to CBI experiences in USA

“The gem of community is so exquisitely beautiful it may seem unreal to you, like a dream you once had when you were a child, sobeautiful it may seem unattainable.”  M. Scott Peck

December 7. 2012

Dear Friend of FCE

The above quote from M. Scott Peck is from his landmark book, The Different Drum. It is a book that I began reading some 20 years ago on a beach near the Santa Cruz coast. It led me to the discovery of community building and changed my life in many ways.

For those of you who are seriously (or not so seriously) thinking of attending either of the two upcoming Community building workshops  I am sending a gentle reminder of both events. We in FCE often think of the decision to attend one of these workshops as a kind of “calling” that involves being touched inside in some way to experience community building.

To help you determine if perhaps you are being “called” to attend, or if you are simply considering whether you want to attend, I am enclosing some quotes from M. Scott Peck’s book, The Different Drum, the book upon which this work is based and which best describes the community building process.

On The Need For Community
“We can never be completely whole in and of ourselves….The reality is that we are inevitably social creatures whodesperately need each other not merely for sustenance, not merely for company, but for any meaning to our lives whatsoever.” M. Scott Peck

On Loneliness
“Trapped in our tradition of rugged individualism, we are an extraordinarily lonely people. So lonely in fact, that many cannot even acknowledge their loneliness to themselves, much less to others….we cannot be truly ourselves until we are able to share freely the things we most have in common: our weakness, our incompleteness, our imperfection, our inadequacy, our sins, our lack of wholeness and self sufficiency.”  M. Scott Peck

The two events are the Los Altos CA event (San Francisco Bay Area) being held at the Jesuit Retreat Center high in the hills over Silicon Valley from Fri, Jan 4 to Sunday Jan 6. The website for this event, which has detailed information here: 
communitybuildingworkshops

The workshop will be facilitated by Richard Kleiner and Susan Brown.

The second event occurs at the Loretto Center in Wheaton, IL (Chicago area) on January 19 and 20th.  It is being facilitated by Kathy Filipiak, Anne Noice and Dan Sprehe.  Information for this workshop can be found on the FCE website under upcoming events: at www.fce-community.org. You can also speak directly to the workshop organizer, John Schuller at 630 679- 9764 or his cell phone after 2:30PM at 630 567 4275.

On the Experience of Attaining Community
“Once a group has achieved community, the single most common thing members express is: ‘I feel safe here.’  It is a rare feeling. Almost all of us have spent nearly all of our lives feeling only partially safe, if at all. Seldom if ever have we felt completely free to be ourselves. Seldom, if ever, in any kind of group have we felt wholly accepted and acceptable. “ M. Scott Peck

In Community

Richard Kleiner
Member, FCE Leadership Council
rikleiner@comast.net

“The lack of community is so much the norm in our society, one without experience would be tempted to think, how could we possibly get there from here?  It is possible; we can get there from here.” M. Scott Peck