To paraphrase Gandhi, “the soul of a people lives in its villages.” A precursory glance at a village, or the concept of a village, might at first seem to be a small community largely detached from the world around it, a quaint grouping of people who might seem unable to benefit from the world at large. This comes from the assumption that we, all of us in large cities, are immersed in the world, connected, influential. The paradigm here, however, is incorrect. Upon closer inspection of a village, we see a tight-knit community of families and friends who share resources, strive together, live together and are committed to surviving whatever challenges they may face by not only doing their own part, but by relying on the strength and skills of the person next to them. As our world has evolved, villages have given way to towns, then to cities. Autonomous work functions that focus on independence and personal strengths began to slowly outshine the merits of being interdependent.
Some of this is progress, some of it is regress. Whereas independence over dependence shines when beautifully partnered with modern technology and more new ideas flourish from the entrepreneurial spirit than ever before, an ironic event has occurred – dense, layered and multi-functioning individuals have become detached from the core of the human spirit: the core found in villages of the past. The interdependence (as a benefit, not a handicap), the intimate knowing of your coworkers and neighbors, and the true feeling of investment and pride in others’ successes have been washed from the collective consciousness of the human experience.
Through almost a century of this slow numbing, we seek a return to the most rewarding human connections and experiences. We want to know our neighbor, our friends, our coworkers; we desire to know our larger family. We desire to get past the basics of the polite nod on the street, the courtesy smile on the subway, the “basics about Mark” on a social networking profile. What makes these people tick? What are their passions? Interests? Drives? What do they want us to know about them but we’re too afraid to ask?
The people in a village worked together for one primary reason. It’s not because they were forced to, but more due to recognizing what they could accomplish with their skill set and what they truly needed help on. Unlike today, no one in a village tried to be all things to all people – not one sole individual caught the food, prepared and served it, watched the family, conducted important business, traded for goods, and handled the village’s money all at the same time. As villages turned into towns, not one person attempted to be the baker, banker, steel worker, ranch hand, restaurant owner, and mayor simultaneously. But when these towns developed into cities, this type of mentality – to be all things to all people at one time – was encouraged, and sometimes, expected.
At work, technology was developed to save time. Rather than investing that extra time in people skills and socialization (as was first envisioned), that extra time was used to get even more done. What could be accomplished in an eight-hour work day in 1950 would no longer be acceptable for a one-hour slice of office time in 1980, much less in the millennial years. This didn’t stop at work; home life was often developed with the same mentality, and social events were “cloned” to envelop as many people in one setting at one time as possible, all in the name of independence and maximum efficiency.
Now, however, human beings are reaching out again. The slate gray life of autonomous details and surface-level conversations has been replaced by a better sense of “efficiency” and “productivity”: that is, working together – and knowing who you’re working with. The need for independence is being replaced by a need for coworking; the need for a surface-level business relationship is being replaced by a need for a real connection; and the need for the basic details is being replaced by a need to truly know what drives a person.
A new kind of village is being formed. Like the villages of the past, these villages rely on you being the best person in your field you can be – no more, no less. These villages rely on you being who you truly are, and seeing an interest in your coworkers and clients beyond productivity charts and monetary gains. These new villages will refer the best of the best to the best, will develop sustainable relationships, and will increase productivity and ingenuity to new heights that are real and manageable with passion and ease. The villages are networked – we are networked – but will reach down to the core of every project, every person and every passion. It will be a connection of human progression and engagement, with a storm of potential only limited by your willingness to explore the village you’re in.
Developed by redPear, Vyllij (pronounced “village”), lets you develop and explore your own village with ease. With a revolutionary social approach to the core of human business and relationships in a previously-isolated world, Vyllij emphasizes the deeper characteristics of what drives us and how we can help one another develop stronger connections, stronger businesses and stronger lives. Just as it was hard for one person to work successfully by themselves in an East Asian village 200 years ago, it is just as hard for one person to be successful on their own in the vast cities we have created. With the continual compaction of the world around us, we know now more than ever that we are interdependent, that we are connected. Vyllij is an essential ingredient to bonding these connections, and helping us to work our best with our skills, in the village where we now live, work and play.
