What is Communal Sense?

"I am because we are" - Proverb of the Ubuntu philosophy. South Africa

The term "social cohesion" is currently the most used political rhetoric. By switching the word "cohesion" to "communal sense" we slightly shift the perspective. "Cohesion" to most people means something in need of being held together from above and from outside because it comes apart. By using "communal sense" instead, we do not assume a collective such as society, but instead the prerequisites of the individual adding to the whole. Thus the movement begins from within instead from outside, it has to be set in motion and built up by the people themselves. Cohesion adresses a threat from inside or outside: we hold together against something divisive and menacing. Communal sense puts individual interests aside and turns towards something bigger, connecting people beyond origin and affiliation. It does not mainly intend to subordinate, but to integrate others; it is not the opposite of individualism, but of egoism, and demands thinking in bigger contexts and relations.