The Way We Connect: How People and Groups Interact

The Interaction (technically called the Human-Structure Interface) is the way a person connects with their community (the "We"). It is defined by a specific set of Rules of Interaction—rituals, laws, and customs—that allow the strength of the group to help the individual, and the individual to contribute their Hard Work to the group. The interaction is the "Handle" of the social machine.

How the Connection Works

Connecting is the physical alignment of two different actions:

1. Following the Rules: The specific way people interact—like the order of a church service, the procedures of a local meeting, or the habits of a family. These rules coordinate how everyone works together.
2. Portable Rules: A strong connection is portable. The rules for Well-Water or Helping a Neighbor survive even if the physical building or the town is destroyed. These rules can be used to rebuild a Brush Arbor anywhere.
3. Real-World Results: The interaction must produce a physical result for the person. If the result is survival and stability, the connection is working. If the result is just taking people's money without helping them, the connection has been broken.

Biblical Diagnosis: The Rules of the Tabernacle

The technical nature of how we connect is shown in the detailed rules for the Tabernacle (Exodus 25-31).

• The Physical Rules: The Tabernacle was a real building, but it only worked because of the "Interaction"—the specific rules for how the priests and the people had to behave, move, and work.
• The Precision of Work: Small mistakes in how these rules were followed led to immediate failure. This wasn't a "moral" punishment; it was a technical fact: if you don't follow the rules of the machine, the machine stops working.
• The Physical Fact: These rules were designed to coordinate the Real-World Energy of a wandering people around a single, portable goal (the Ark), ensuring they stayed together in the emptiness of the desert.

Case Study: The Handshake

We see these connections in action:

• Working Together: Think of the way people in a traditional church all stand, sit, and sing together. These shared actions coordinate their bodies and minds into a single group. The interaction is what turns isolated people into a strong community.
• The Broken Connection: Think of modern social media "feeds." These are designed to take your attention and your Time without giving you anything real in return. You are "connected" to the system, but the interaction produces no strength for your life or your neighborhood.

Related Content

Core Foundations

• the sub object — The group we are connecting with.
• moral labor — The work we put into the connection.

Essays & Testimonies

• well water principle — On the portability of our rules.
• the brush arbor — On building new ways to connect.
• the biblical baseline — The history of our rules of interaction.