I finished Steven Johnson’s Emergence last night, and it has me thinking about how there are hints of this “bottom-up” “whole is greater than the sum of its parts” kind of sentient growth process. I believe that spirtuality is found in this growth; indeed, it is born there.

I ‘m not trying to “prove this by science”. I am simply admitting my willingness to recognize a pattern in creation. The observance of slimemolds, ants, cities and software in Johnson’s Emergence can also , I believe, be observed in the activity of spirtual communities. If we believe, as many such communities do, that we are “called together” to a great collaboration and communion, then this makes sense theologically. The Biblical themes of “People of God” and “koinonia” tell the story of how this “devotion to fellowship” has resulted in “the God movement” (Clarence Jordan’s translation of the phrase most often known as “The Kingdom of God”.

I was thinking the other day of the origin of my friendship with Larry. It was becuase of online community. We were both at an event in Dayton to meet other Ecuent folks. Even though we were both from Cincinnati, we had both come to this event because of our curiosity about the future of this medium. Today, I have just finsihed reading a book, Emergence, which is one of a handful of books that Larry ordered and had sent to me so that we could include some of that thinking and some of the insights it migt yield into our ongoing development of an online community that draws upon Books, Blogs, Portal technology, and other “extensions” to face-to-face life that online technologies provide.

If “self-awareness” does indeed come , as Johnson suggests, via the “mind-reading” functions of the brain, then it is well worth our effort to extend ourselves fully into this field; this “science” of building environments that help us create something greater than the “pooling of knowledge”. It is a new kind of awareness. This will create some controversy, as “thought systems” throw up red flags of danger and “heresy”.