The first day that I spent off the bicycle in Denver, Colorado, I was overwhelmed by everything to see in all directions. I was used to keeping a strong focus on the objects in front of me with limited peripheral use. When I turned my head to the right and left for extended amounts of time, I would have the sensation that I was seeing everyday objects for the first time. Things such as refrigerator magnets, newspapers stacked on a table, and domestic animal toys made me quite giddy because it was so exciting to look at household items that were now out of my ordinary. At one point in the day my eyes were so over-stimulated that I had to sit down and close my eyes. When I opened them and stood up to continue with the day, I extended my hands in front of me and bent my back somewhat as if I was leaning aerodynamically over my handlebars. I walked around the house this way for about five minutes. It helped. Then, the son of my hosts saw me and we convulsed on the ground in laughter.

The transition from bike travel life to “stationary” life has shown me how much I appreciate the opportunity to take a trip like this. Truly “a trip of a lifetime,” it has shown me that—although you sacrifice doing some activities—there is great worth in a focused trip that develops community (plus the bonus of containing all you own in two small bags). Through it I have also learned how to cook, prioritize sleep and exercise, and express myself and my developing beliefs thoroughly. It is an opportunity to learn about intentional community in a very pure way and examine its essence.

Taking this into consideration, I wonder how well intentional community would work in the “stationary” world. It seems that a community could easily become over-stimulated. There is so much to see, so many activities to participate in that demand prioritized attention and instead of individuals as we are on this trip, a community could involve any number of family members and groupings. These added factors are exciting, but also would frustrate an intentional community member who has rigid ideas about how community works best or can reach its healthiest potential. I think these factors would challenge me, for example. I have been in contact with a number of people who have tried to live intentionally in a collective, and the reoccurring answer that I receive from them about their experience is: It worked best when they were formed around an issue or idea, but was difficult to maintain through life stage changes and/or changing political climate. So, while I cherish this opportunity Bikemovement has given me for learning about building community, I am a bit nervous about community building in the future. However, because of the holistic principles I am learning, I still want to try it.

Why? Well, the creative members of Bikemovement, plus Moya and Nick (my very best friends) have inspired me again to try it when I finish this escapade across the country. They believe that even in the attempt at living intentionally in community with one another gets at the essence of touching a spiritual connection to other humans, and positively fosters a different relationship between those humans and their surrounding greater community, and the earth.

I spent this past week at the inaugural Racial/Ethnic Mennonite People’s Assembly in Dallas, TX. It is located in the heart of Texas, near where 75% of the churches are Latino/Hispanic and 25% are Anglo churches. This setting was ideal for a great discussion about the issues that the churches of color in the United States face in this day and age. There, as mainly marginal churches in the greater Anglo-dominated MCUSA, we were community for each other—listening, worshipping, planning, and comforting one another. The structural and personal racism that these churches feel exposes a fundamental break in the US Mennonite community. At this point, I feel that the only way this break can heal (and MCUSA says that this is a goal of their organization) is to address the ways in which each church understands Mennonite/Anabaptist core principles and where the strengths and weaknesses of our approaches are located in the manifestation of those vision and values. As I have this conversation in the Bikemovement community, I prepare for more conversations like it in “stationary” and perhaps, the Mennonite Church community.

Posted by Sarah Thompson

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 8th, 2006 at 1:33 am and is filed under Trip06. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.