in these posts i often rail against the stylized "urban" and "rural" ... it is clear that much of the heartache and isolation in urban life is attributable to a falling from rural communal values (though in many communities instead as a dissonance between their own communal values and that of the urban whole).

i don't yet understand what should be next to come ... i am drawn to the freedom and open-mindedness of urban society ... yet i yearn for the communal and spiritual groundedness of rural life. I have yet to see an example where these values have been seamlessly expressed -- I especially struggle against the racially or religiously homogeneous examples in the world, which may bubble to our minds in this discussion.