Enlightened CommUnity

Timothy Wilken

As we enter the second year of the second decade of the twenty-first century, our human species is in crisis. Every human knows we are in crisis. The evidence is all around us and fills the stories of our daily lives. Descriptions of this crisis fill the front pages of our newspapers, dominate the television network’s nightly news broadcasts, are the obsession of cable network’s talking heads, and provide the focus for countless blogs on the web. Our current human behavior, and our current methods of organizing ourselves are helpless in solving our problems. Our old ways of behaving and our old ways of organizing our communities are proving to be obsolete. They cannot solve our problems; in fact, they are the very cause of most of our problems. If we are to surmount our human crisis, we will need to change our behavior, and change the way we organize our communities.

Today, our problems are so difficult that they are overwhelming our individual abilities to solve them. We are rapidly entering into a state of what I call individual overwhelm. It is becoming increasingly difficult for modern humans to solve their problems as separate individuals. But what is difficult for individuals working separately is often much easier for individuals working together. Instead of asking, “How can I meet my needs and solve my problems,” we must learn to ask, “How can we meet our needs and solve our problems?”

I am a synergic scientist. The word synergy derives from two Greek roots: erg meaning “to work,” and syn meaning “together;” hence, the term synergy simply means working together. Synergic science is simply the study of working together. It is a relatively new science, but it has produced a powerful new understanding of human behavior and of human organization. Synergic science reveals a relatively simple solution to our human crisis. That solution requires that we work together and act responsibly.

The human behavior that best supports acting responsibly is called Enlightenment. The natural attributes of enlightened humans—kindness, compassion, calmness, peace, tranquility, intelligence, genius, wisdom, and goodness—insure responsible action. Enlightenment changes individual human behavior.

The organizational pattern that best supports working together is called CommUnity. When individuals form a CommUnity, they discover that they can accomplish much more by working together than they can by working separately. CommUnity utilizes synergic union. Examples of synergic union include operating together as in co-operation, laboring together as in co-laboration, acting together as in co-action, creating together as in co-creation, and thinking together as in co-intelligence. These examples of synergic union require shared motivations, shared emotions, shared intelligence and shared knowing. CommUnity must be structured so that the process of working together fosters shared values, shared goals, shared dreams, shared hopes, shared responsibility, shared commitment, and of most importance, shared authority. CommUnity changes collective human behavior. To solve today’s problems and exit our current human crisis will require nothing less than the creation of Enlightened CommUnities.

Read a 70 page overview and summary of the concept of Enlightened CommUnity on PDF.


A Prototype of Enlightened CommUnity

I am currently exploring the possibility of creating an Enlightened CommUnity in the Monterey Peninsula in California. The following overview served as introduction to a meeting that occurred on 04-30-11.

Since synergy means working together,synergic science can be described as “the study of working together.” Synergic science explains that from an individual participant’s point of view, humans can relate to each other in only three ways. These three types of human relationships can be described as falling on a continuum. Dysergic relationships are those that are hurtful and detrimental, neutral relationships are those that are ignoring and neither detrimental nor beneficial, and synergic relationships are those that are helpful and beneficial.

Dysergy means human behavior that results in working against to the detriment of others in a relationship. In the language of games, dysergy results from a losing relationship. I am made less because of my relationship with other. This is any relationship wherein I am less happy, less effective and less productive than I would be without the relationship. Neutrality means human behavior that results in working separately with null effect on others in a relationship, as if, the relationship did not matter or even exist.In the language of games, neutrality results from a drawing relationship. I am unaffected by my relationship with other. This is any relationship wherein I am equally happy, equally effective, and equally productive as I would be without the relationship. Synergy means human behavior that results in working together to the benefit of the ‘whole’—to the benefit of all the participants in a relationship. In the language of games, synergy results from a winning relationship. I am made more because of my relationships with the other members of the group. This is any relationship wherein I am more happy, more effective, and more productive than I would be without the relationship.

CommUnity is an intentional and consciously created organization in which all members participating within the organization are in win-win relationships with each other, and with the commUnity as a whole. I win, you win, and commUnity wins.

I propose creating a two tract educational process here on the Monterey Peninsula. One tract will focus on helping our neighbors become more enlightened. The second tract will focus on teaching those interested the principles of commUnity. These two tracts will support the mission of creating a real Enlightened CommUnity right here in the Monterey Peninsula.

To solve today’s problems and exit our current human crisis will require nothing less than the creation of Enlightened CommUnities. … Let us begin.

Listen to the 04-30-11 recording of the First Meeting of Monterey Enlightened CommUnity in MP3 or m4a format.


On 10-24-11, I entered Enlightened CommUnity in the 2012 Buckminster Fuller Challenge. View my application.