The Gathering Places
Our greatest civilizations thrived
when their hearts filled with the lifeblood of people,
in the Agora, the "gathering place"
A hollowed land cannot stand
People were made for each other
We are the gathering places
the gathering places are us
Over the last few millennia there were times when our great cities were hollowed out. Whenever the heart of a city was drained of its lifeblood - us - these great places withered, especially in an important part of a city. The Agora.
The “Agora” means "gathering place" or "assembly". It is the beating heart of a city, its square was its mind, its people were the cells of a living breathing entity. People gathered to live and give life to place.
When it thrived, so did the people. Every city is electrified and made energetic by its heart, filled with the character of its lifeblood, its people.
There have been crowds the moment more than one family lived in one place.
There have been marketplaces since the beginning of crowds.
The impulse to gather is powerful, it will not be denied.
We will gather in crowds as before and also in a new way.
There, we can be still in place and be in motion at the same time.
We'll assemble from far away places simultaneously and constantly.
People will reach out to each other, in the beating heart of the public squares of new kinds of cities. Millions, if not billions, of voices will make themselves heard in new gathering places in the sky. Their bodies may remain grounded but their minds and hearts are in flight.
We are not solitary creatures. We need company.
People were made for each other.
We are the gathering places, the gathering places are us.