Community is a critical concept par excellence. It gains substance only in times of crisis, in times of judgment. Thus, community escapes theory. It remains theoretically empty, a mere concept forever devoid of substance. Theory itself reflects the chronic lack of community when it makes impotent attempts to contemplate it from the outside. An individual carrying the germ of community is therefore an anachronism, a survivor escaping theory. The community can survive only in this contracted form, only potentially. It blossoms from time to time only to shrivel into its individual form again. That is sufficient, however. The hope of permanent community motivates such individuals only to the extent that they are indeed impotent, indeed incapable of comprehending the critical character of community. For a permanent community of man is ultimately bound with the Last Judgment, the crisis of universal proportions, that is, the universal failure.

Addendum (January 29, 2015)

Prescient, no doubt. Even more, prophetic. The very notion of a community of man sounds like quintessential utopia at this day and age. If community still makes any sense as a concept, though, it is in connection with the Last Judgment. Calamitous climate change, that is. What is more, the concept of community is rapidly gaining concreteness in view of horrors to come. Indeed, it harks back to the tribe, the mother of all communities. Which is why my last dabbling with the concept already smells of my fellow tribesmen huddled around the campfire (“Ten Principles of Disaster Management,” January 19, 2015). Utopia, here we come! Community worthy of that glorious name at long last!