For many the word community evokes images of the neighborhood where they live. Yet, in 2014 the term community has expanded to refer to much more than people in a particular location.

Specifically, I’m talking about intentional communities — the growing number of groups that meet online, through blog feeds, and in virtual words, that come together for special events, and inhabit geographical locations. Each of these can be conduit or expanded love on our planet.

The potential for creating intentional communities that do amazing things in the world is where it’s at! No longer do we need to go it alone. In fact, going it alone is passe, part of the old paradigm.

I decided to walk my talk recently by launching an Indiegogo.com crowdfunding campaign. This enables me to reach out and connect to people who are interested in supporting projects that excite them, and that they perceive as needed.

This is a great way for committed groups of people who have great ideas and passion to create a foundation of support. We need people connecting to others and engaging in daily life in a more empowered and intentional way. The planet needs the collective force of many devoted individuals doing what they are best at. We need to support one another.

We need all the innovation, invention, and creativity humanity can produce. We need heart-and-soul driven projects led by caring people who have a vision of the difference they can make in the world.

In the past community was a place of security. Through the past fifty or so years of the “me” movement we have moved away from that definition. The rise of the individual came at the cost of losing our sense of connectedness.

Now we are shifting from “I” to “We” in a new form. Today’s “We” is not just about taking care of one’s immediate community. The communities of today want to have a ripple effect out into the greater world.

The “We” of today is more inclusive. It’s not about tribes or the Hatfields and the McCoys. Today’s connectedness is meant to absorb differences and diversity in order to make use of individual brilliance for the benefit of the whole of the world.

In today’s intentional community you will find lively engagement and support. You will find people stepping out of traditional roles to inhabit roles that didn’t exist ten years ago. You will find people asserting their personal flair as part a team effort. It’s not about losing one’s sense of self; it’s about expanding one’s sense of self and putting this self in a grander context.

With all the technology available and the World Wide Web providing a whole new world of space or “geography,” what community can be has exploded!

I’ve found some of the tightest and most powerful groups online in social media and through blog communities. Here it seems individuals are more free to be their quirky selves. Online they can drop the social facade and speak more authentically. They can come from the heart without worrying so much about how they will be “seen.”

We haven’t broken free completely from the constructs of old social programming entirely. Yet, I see that we’re are giving ourselves permission to explore and play with belonging to different intentional communities. There are more places we feel we can “belong” to. This is bringing back that sense of connectedness we had lost.

My greatest hope is the people will remember that we are forging new communities with each physical meeting or online contact. We are testing the extent to which we can expand our mental and emotional capabilities. How inclusive can we be? Very inclusive I hope. Inclusive enough to not only include other humans in our intentional communities, but to include all beings that occupy the planet with us. Then it truly will be a brave new world that we create together.

Melissa Wadsworth is a new-community visionary, life coach, creative intuitive, and author of inspiring clarity and exuberant illumination. Her vision and leadership integrate the lessons of own life expansion into spirit-driven creativity, authentic relationships, and a commitment to bringing healing change to the world. She will launch her book Collective Manifestation: Heart-Centered Blueprints for Creating Intentional Community on September 24, 2014.