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THE SOLIDITY OF COMMUNITY OR THE AUTHORITY OF INSTITUTION
A society would compromise its ability to survive without a written language, without a way to articulate and preserve its stories, be consistent in its beliefs, maintain consensus on and a repository of its values, its accumulated knowledge and fairly apply its laws. It would not survive long or advance without management of and capacity to implement its consensus and some coherent methodology of access and preservation, of study and research. And then there is that unfortunate bottom line: the preservation of order and its imposition where and when the inevitable discord of disruptive option or genuine evil threatens. The expressed accumulation, operation and maintenance of these and similar necessities of a society's survival would, I think, be termed its "institution(s)", their collective expression of consensus its "con-stitution".

The current edition of NCR features an article on the Belly-dancing as a vehicle for spiritual exploration in Ohio's heartland. Far from being temptresses seeking the heads of Saints upon silver platters, these ladies see this as a uniquely feminine expression that forms a special bond with the Divine. Their mutual bond transcends other social differences too. These creative encounters are critical to the vitality of the faith community.