Conscious Community

Many years ago my dear friend talked to me about building community – or joining one; but the emphasis was on building.  I remember being somewhat nauseated by the idea.  At the time, all I could think about was spending time alone…moving to an area where there were fewer people….becoming almost reclusive sounded so inviting.  I accomplished a lot of that and just recently realized that where I live now meets much of that criterion.  But at that time, I wanted the ocean and only the ocean.

As the years have passed, my ideas about all of that have shifted.  It begins with the realization that we can do nothing alone.  My early messages of survival of the fittest no longer fit.  The times we are in, keep pointing us to the truth – from the world’s key events to our everyday lives, we need each other to grow, to accomplish, to change and to enjoy.  Community can be defined at the shallower end of the pool – where we live and who lives next door- to more complex groupings as in national organizations or cause related concerns.

What seems most needed right now is what I have dubbed as conscious community.  That is one that is formed with an intent that begins in the heart and not the intellect.  It recognizes that we are all in this together and that all leaves no one out.  It means we will go through the pains of people who don’t seem to “click” with us and see them as an integral part of what it takes to truly have community.

Many communities believe that unless you have had an experience that resembles the focus of the group, you won’t be able to contribute.  One of the classics is the life of addiction – that it is key to understanding if you have been through recovery – or closely tied to someone who is going through recovery.  I have argued with this belief for many years.  Understanding comes from an insight into the oneness of the human experience and whatever form your experience takes you can share it, you can understand someone else, and you can commune (the root of community) without a doubt.

All you need to start the process towards an insight is an open heart that is willing to join- willing to be awake and aware of the other.  To live from the focus that Martin Buber shared in I and thou.  After that it requires is staying the course…things will get wonky…mostly in our own thoughts, and so we hold firm-knowing that conscious community is the only way through.  It is rising to the evolution of our human and divine natures that will allow us to move through these difficult and challenging, every changing times.

This year I am intending more community….more communing and really knowing the other- and allowing myself to be known.  Will you join me?