Neighbourliness: A Recipe

I've just about finished An Other Kingdom, a book by Peter Block, Walter Brueggemann and John McKnight. It details a paradigm shift, quite practically, from our consumer culture to one of neighbourliness. They've outlined four disciplines of neighbourliness that are at once so simple and yet sometimes difficult to live consistently in our current culture. 

• Time. Space for relatedness and hospitality to be chosen as alternatives to speed, individualism and like-mindedness. The best example for me is just spending time with people to spend time. That the interaction is the end rather than a means to a specific purpose. Time is our most valuable resource. How can we be more intentional with it for being rather than doing? 
• Food. Choosing to grow food locally, urban farms, food without chemical intervention, food as the sacred table around which culture and community are sustained and created. How often do we sacrifice tasty for fast? I know I am guilty of letting speed and efficiency drive my choices in this area. 
• Silence. Quieting the noise of the automated, electronic, consumption-as-entertainment culture. Silence as a means of honoring-mystery. Listening as an action step. Creating a place for thought and depth. Reflection as an answer to restless productivity and advertising. 

Despite many advances in what's available to us to consume and many people making more money, our brains and our hearts haven't evolved past their original social setting. For many of us, despite having basically everything we could want materially, we don't feel full because we're craving connection with others, but everything about our current market-driven paradigm pushes us away from this. Are we really happy? 

CBC's The Current recently interviewed war reporter Sebastien Junger and it was about our improved mental health during times of strife. At first that seems very counter-intuitive, but Junger uses evidence to back this up. That in times of crisis we react on our community impulses and this increases our wellbeing despite what chaos may be happening around us. The neighbourly paradigm comes alive.