Welcome back to CityXcape, You are viewing the series on the ten elements of community. In the last episode, we did a general overview of all the elements every community possesses. In this episode, we will cover the first element- ritual. 

A ritual is an activity that brings the members of a community together. This activity can be a sport, a skilled craft, a form of leisure, etc. Whatever the ritual may be, it always serves as a gravitational centerpoint that brings members of a community together. 

A ritual can be seen as the real values of a person. The reason why I emphasized ‘real’ is because many people claim a value because of the positive image it projects. A person may claim to value education but hardly read outside of school or lack curiosity for his or her environment. But because education projects a sophisticated appearance, such people will still claim it as a value. 

Ritual on the other hand is something you actually do, not something you claim. If one of your rituals is to read every morning, then it is evidently clear that you value education, no statement needs to be made. Ritual therefore is what I call your real values, and that's what a community is, a group of people who share values. 

Ritual is more than just an activity all members of a community practice, it is also the measuring stick that determines status. The better someone is at a ritual, the higher his or her status within that community. An archetype is a master at a ritual. They represent the collective ideal that members of a community would like to embody. To understand a community’s archetype is to understand how that community views the world. 

Anyway, the overall message to remember is this. Ritual is what brings members of a community together. It is the activity that every person in a community performs, their real values. If you want to create a community, find a ritual members can do together, and start hosting events around that. If you want to use CityXcape to organize your community, you can list the rituals of your community when you create a world on our app. That way others will know what your community is about as they sign up. 

In the next episode, we will discuss the second element of community- contribution. Until then, keep up the efforts in the re-fostering of the community. Cities are the places that need it the most. The spirit of this country is not capitalism or socialism, but community. In the next episode, we will discuss the second element of community- contribution. Until then, keep up the efforts in re-fostering community. Cities are the places that need it the most. The spirit of this country is not capitalism or socialism, but community.