Common

“A proper community, we should remember also, is a commonwealth: a place, a resource, an economy. It answers the needs, practical as well as social and spiritual, of its members - among them the need to need one another. The answer to the present alignment of political power with wealth is the restoration of the identity of community and economy."
― Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays


common - from Latin com ["with, together"] + munia ["duties, functions"]

Our "together duty"

All the social sciences from psychology and politics to ethics and economics rest on a single, simple, self-evident idea [Jesus called it a "law", Jefferson a "truth" and Berry a "need"] for which no proof can [or needs to] be given

... the inalienable rights of each individual person are perfectly and completely reflected in every other person as that same individual's duties
... whether or not the individual and/or the others in question are aware of or acknowledge it.

Reject this reciprocity and it is only a matter of time until one's right [regardless of how it is repackaged in propaganda] becomes nothing more than one's might and one's duty becomes either exercising tyranny or experiencing slavery [depending on whether one is among the strong or the weak].

And even though this proposition is a "hard sell" to humans who tend to see others as "problems" to be overcome, there are still conscious moments and even historical periods in which individuals simultaneously sensing this to be true intuitively convene in groups [large and small ... informal and formal] and begin to act on it [in varying degrees] ... performing the duties they have to one another ... their "together duties" ... and by so doing sustaining community.

At NSS, we like to think that an awareness of this simple idea will eventually and effectively guide each of us to voluntarily communicate and participate in discovering, articulating and performing the fundamental duties we have to one another ... even to those who have yet to learn about their rights and duties.

Seven things YOU can do

Some of you have asked how you can share in the duties of NSS. Here are seven simple suggestions in order of importance that need not be onerous or in conflict with our guiding principles.

1. Discipline your mind ... “the first duty of a man is to think for himself". ― José Martí
2. Learn to be "still" ... to Speak the Truth In Love then Listen. ― Psalm 46
3. Help us identify common topics and thoughtful panelists and moderators.
4. Spread the word about NSS and, where you can do so with propriety, put up "flyers" about our meetings which you can print from the "flyer-link" [at the bottom of each topic posting page] about a month or so prior to the actual meeting.
5. Attend our meetings when you can ... and bring a friend if you can ... then give us feedback about each meeting to help us improve. [Remember we are on You Tube if you have to miss].
6. Contribute as you can ... keeping costs down is important to any community but sharing those costs helps promote community. Just find our trustees at any meeting and give them some cash [while they still let us use cash]. We do not and will not take money from anyone other than individuals who share our vision.
7. Consider other ways you can perform your "together duties" with your fellow men and women in Wichita and elsewhere around the world ... helping to strengthen the many colorful threads that must be woven together to make communities at home and abroad.

At NSS, we are glad to serve you ... and to be served by you ... both are important if the work we have in common is to be done.