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An Explanation of the Structure of Belonging Illustration
Each individual brings their identity, their output potential, their interdependent position in the system, and their needs to the group. When they connect with the other members of the group and their identities, outputs, input needs, and system embeddedness is accounted for, a new group identity will emerge from that complex interaction. The group can the work towards discovering its interdependent connection with the larger system it is in and identify its shared generative purpose. Engaging together with this purpose will reveal, test, and refine the individual identities and their interactions with each other. The group is similar to the individual in that it has output capacity for the system and input needs from the system. |
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structural belonging - white paper
Research by Emile Durkheim, Alfred Adler, Jean Baker Miller, Emmy Werner, Baumeister and Leary, Bessel Van Der Kolk, Matthew Lieberman, and Julianne Holt-Lunstad concludes repeatedly that belonging is a fundamental human need necessary for mental, emotional, and physical health. Many other researchers, organizations, and institutions before and after agree. However, the condition of belonging has long been associated with a sense or a feeling that arises from the individual subjective experience. I propose that belonging is an objective structural reality that correlates with our cognitive, emotional, and physical senses.
There are three scaleable elements included in structural belonging: identity, output, and input.
Everywhere scientists have looked in the universe, every thing is part of a bigger structure—a group of things. Conversely, every structure is the collective whole of its smaller parts. Sets of parts are cooperatively arranged as a group at each level of scale to produce an identity with a generative result—the output.
Each part is connected so that the output of their intrinsic identity matches the input requirements of other identities in a reciprocal exchange. The exchange is not always direct and does not operate at an equal ratio. Every part receives more resources from the collective than it contributes.
For example, a liver’s output is critical and irreplaceable, but it is limited and specialized by its capacity as a liver. It receives from many other organs in the system in which it is embedded—both directly and indirectly. It takes the input of all the other parts of the system and transforms it into liver output. This is true at every level of existence, no matter how small or how big. Furthermore, the cooperative arrangement connects all things through all levels and at every scale to be generative. The liver is connected and made up of its cells, molecules, and atoms, and the body it is in is made up of its interconnected systems and organs–including the liver.
The fundamental nature of belonging means it matters to a person in the same way breathable air, drinkable water, and nutritious food matter. This is particularly true for infants who, without the structure of belonging, have no controllable connection to shelter, sustenance, or safety. We must be connected with other humans and our environment in such a way that our input needs are met, our true identities are recognized, and our output is valued. If this cooperative arrangement results in generative conditions, we thrive. We cannot live, grow, or be our whole selves without these cooperative connections any more than our organs can live without their cooperative connections with other organs.
We are different than most other things because we are more conscious. Rather than submitting to our belonging instincts, we have developed norms and ideologies around independence that have damaged the cooperative connections that hold our belonging structures together. We have hidden our intrinsic identities behind protective egoic facades, shamed our input needs as weaknesses, and stretched our output capacities far beyond reasonable boundaries. The facades, shame, and stretching have acted like corrosion to the relational connections of our belonging structures, and we are essentially coming apart at our joints.
The result of our crumbling belonging structure is that we are tired, sick, sad, worried, and angry. In addition, by trying to fit ourselves in false structures (socioeconomic classes, religions, fandoms, corporate and political hierarchies, etc.), most of us have lost contact with our true identities. We are not sure what we have to offer that is of real value. Our economy places unbalanced value on monetarily measured production and non-relational inputs such as money. The result is we are separated, adrift, and toxically lonely. When our intrinsic identities are not connected cooperatively with other intrinsic identities to form generative conditions, our thoughts, feelings, and actions focus on achieving connection.
Fortunately, even though we have designed and lived within prohibitive cultural norms, our relational connecting instincts can still guide us to rebuild our connecting structures. If we spend the valuable time to share our personal stories, we can rediscover our identities and regenerate groups that honor and sustain our need to belong.
There are three scaleable elements included in structural belonging: identity, output, and input.
Everywhere scientists have looked in the universe, every thing is part of a bigger structure—a group of things. Conversely, every structure is the collective whole of its smaller parts. Sets of parts are cooperatively arranged as a group at each level of scale to produce an identity with a generative result—the output.
Each part is connected so that the output of their intrinsic identity matches the input requirements of other identities in a reciprocal exchange. The exchange is not always direct and does not operate at an equal ratio. Every part receives more resources from the collective than it contributes.
For example, a liver’s output is critical and irreplaceable, but it is limited and specialized by its capacity as a liver. It receives from many other organs in the system in which it is embedded—both directly and indirectly. It takes the input of all the other parts of the system and transforms it into liver output. This is true at every level of existence, no matter how small or how big. Furthermore, the cooperative arrangement connects all things through all levels and at every scale to be generative. The liver is connected and made up of its cells, molecules, and atoms, and the body it is in is made up of its interconnected systems and organs–including the liver.
The fundamental nature of belonging means it matters to a person in the same way breathable air, drinkable water, and nutritious food matter. This is particularly true for infants who, without the structure of belonging, have no controllable connection to shelter, sustenance, or safety. We must be connected with other humans and our environment in such a way that our input needs are met, our true identities are recognized, and our output is valued. If this cooperative arrangement results in generative conditions, we thrive. We cannot live, grow, or be our whole selves without these cooperative connections any more than our organs can live without their cooperative connections with other organs.
We are different than most other things because we are more conscious. Rather than submitting to our belonging instincts, we have developed norms and ideologies around independence that have damaged the cooperative connections that hold our belonging structures together. We have hidden our intrinsic identities behind protective egoic facades, shamed our input needs as weaknesses, and stretched our output capacities far beyond reasonable boundaries. The facades, shame, and stretching have acted like corrosion to the relational connections of our belonging structures, and we are essentially coming apart at our joints.
The result of our crumbling belonging structure is that we are tired, sick, sad, worried, and angry. In addition, by trying to fit ourselves in false structures (socioeconomic classes, religions, fandoms, corporate and political hierarchies, etc.), most of us have lost contact with our true identities. We are not sure what we have to offer that is of real value. Our economy places unbalanced value on monetarily measured production and non-relational inputs such as money. The result is we are separated, adrift, and toxically lonely. When our intrinsic identities are not connected cooperatively with other intrinsic identities to form generative conditions, our thoughts, feelings, and actions focus on achieving connection.
Fortunately, even though we have designed and lived within prohibitive cultural norms, our relational connecting instincts can still guide us to rebuild our connecting structures. If we spend the valuable time to share our personal stories, we can rediscover our identities and regenerate groups that honor and sustain our need to belong.