The Lichen Factor – The Prologue

By Jim Lotz

Published September 1999

“The Lichen Factor attempts to sum­marize what I’ve learned about com­munity development since 1960. The word “community” has become a mantra for our troubled times. Slapped on any and every initiative from the local to the national, the word, and the concept behind it, of­fers warmth, comfort, a sense of be­longing to solitary souls adrift in an uncaring world. But the reasons we crave community are rooted in com­plex historical forces. Creating com­munity is no easy matter, and the proc­ess is much prone to failure. In demythologizing community, I have sought to replace it with the idea of mutual aid, of “interdependence” be­tween humans that mirrors the sym­biosis found in the lichen. In bringing the concept of community down to earth, I have drawn upon the history of how humans have attempted to create better societies through co-op­eration.

In examining mutual aid, interdependence and symbiosis in hu­man relationships I have tried to iden­tify the forces and factors that make them work. Canada has a long his­tory of effective community develop­ment. The excessive individualism and brute materialism of the United States makes the creation of new com­munities there difficult. In the older societies of Europe and the rest of the world, conformity to past ways, an­cient fears and hatreds, the struggle for survival limit what can be done to create better societies. Canada strongly resembles Bernard Shaw’s definition of marriage: he claimed that it combined the maximum of temp­tation with the maximum of oppor­tunity. We are still making a new kind of nation in a huge, harsh and diffi­cult land. How we deal with our temp­tations and opportunities will mold our common future — and offer direc­tion and ideas to other countries strug­gling with divisive forces.”