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Comments

ann

have a wonderful and inspiring weekend dearest Robert....

Felita

Hi Robert, and the nodes Aquarius/Leo are boosting this .I think!. Yesterday relived Pisces/ Virgo nodes as moon passed my nth node. Intense,but reawakening. Lots of brainsorting. Didn't like the humanrace by lastnight. And of course did that crying thing again for the world.Grateful to have found my centre again. Was playing "Peacetrain" Cat Stevens when I opened to Aquariuspapers.
Thanking you again and again Robert.
"Dreaming about the world as one" Aum Shanti Felita

donna notmany

Wow!!
Just right on time as Always!
You are truly amazing...
Much love and Peace to you Dear one..

Damien

I don't think we can come together...

Cathy M.

Hi, Robert -
I've commented before how much I appreciate your columns, but you've touched on one that I have a lot (too much?) experience with, and it's not positive. Your comment: "Any community of beings who share fundamental Heart values and aspirations is sure to achieve many successes that strengthen the Love, Wisdom, and Intelligence of all its members."
-- I have to take issue: I lived in a cohousing community for 5 years, and just last year lost my husband and the community, when he took up with a single woman across the compound. In the five years I lived in that "community", there were 4 divorces and a suicide - in 26 families! And that doesn't count the dozen or so households that moved in, saw the dysfunction (or were too dysfunctional themselves) and moved out in less than a year... it was a hearbreaking experience that has destroyed my belief in community.

This group had all the right values statements, and kept talking about love, connection and everyone having their valued place -- and then they just looked the other way in so many instances when hurtful, deceitful and just plan narcissistic stuff was done!

I now feel like I need to point out the very real possibility for heartbreak and destruction of one's life (financially, emotionally) if one takes up with a community that is not dealing honestly with its own dark side... I suppose there are honest communities out there, but I no longer have the heart to look. I've become a hermit.:-)
I'll continue to read your posts; thanks for letting me speak up about an important topic.

Joanne

Hello everyone, Robert, and Cathy M, who I feel motivated to respond. I have been through several years as a teacher in an environment where we provided so much for the impoverished people of the neighborhood and yet couldn't really come together as a community. People just kept expecting things to be given to them instead of having to "earn" the priviledges.
I think that many of us have gone through these experiences to 'learn the lessons' that we need inorder to bring about the 'community' that Robert is aluding to.
I keep hearing from more people about their past experiences and the depression they, and I, have about our general society. So...THAT is an indication that some are being honed through fire to a fine steel, so that we will understand the truth about how to be a part of a community that "shares fundamental Heart values and aspirations to achieve many successes that strengthen the Love, Wisdom, and Intelligence of all its members."
Just because it didn't work the first time, doesn't mean it won't the second time.
Peace, love & light

Mary

I too have great concerns about community because in the line of work I do, I see the subset of gray to dark spirit members of the current community. The system is broken and I am not sure that anyone in my earth life time will be able to modify it or indeed be able to read the guidebooks left by those who still read and write. I know for sure the "human race" is in need of more kindly treatment of its soul's earthly body, and that the community I desire to live in does not need a gun in one hand and a painkiller in the other. But this is the way it seems to be with all the players lined up to catch the bones that are picked clean. No wonder the outer universes have ignored earth for so long. We must be the island for abandoned spirits. The news media seems to confirm this more and more each day. My thoughts are that we have to return earth to a spiritual wholeness before any spiritual development can take place representing true community.

Robert

Hi ann - I did, and got to celebrate my grandmother's 100th birthday with her and a bunch of family. It's a good thing when 7 generations of women, visible and invisible, can come together.

Hi Felita - Yes, NN in Aquarius conjunct Neptune is already embedding all kinds of higher ideals in the collective matrix. Wait till Jupiter in Aquarius! Much not to like in the race, but also much to like. It all depends on your point of view, to quote a Western Master of the Wisdom. We'll get there over time.

Hi donna - Glad to get it right once in a while! ;-) Thanks.

Hi Damien - We are, and will, There's absolutely no doubt about that. We are coming out of "the heresy of separateness," and will eventually remember that interdependence is everything. Form is transitory. Magnetics runs the larger field.

Hi Cathy M. - Don't judge a non-community as anything other than an impermanent set of aggregates not demonstrating the principles of true community connectedness. I was at the center of a true spiritual community in Austin many decades ago with friends and allies in many states and countries. We were a group of individuals freely associating according to ancient harmonic principles with everyone volunteering to be friends truly living whatever goodwill we could generate. We all to a greater or lesser degree put our gifts on the altar of community, and we all benefited without the heavy hand of authority telling us what to do or not to do. While idealistic, it was real for quite a few years, and though individuals always have their issues, it is not necessarily an obstruction to group formation.

Sorry that the non-group you were a part of didn't observe fundamental principles of upright behavior. It wasn't a group in the sense I am writing about. While divorce is not necessarily a bad thing, no relationship should begin before the ashes of previous ones are dealt with cleanly. Also, in any group there will be those who come and go. That also is not necessarily a bad thing. Some things work at different times for different people. The fundamental principles are always friendship, good will, and willingness to be of service to the group just as the involvement must yield service to some aspect of the human and/or Spiritual Self. It's never a coercion, and all come and go freely.

Values statements are useless where the individuals don't observe fundamental human decency toward each other. Something about "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" applies here. The world is constipated with realizations that are not being applied. That doesn't make the realizations invalid. I believe our community are our friends. Not the superficial ones, but our true ones, and those we meet along the way who we might care for and who we are safe with because they're living their integrity to whatever degree is possible, and generating as much good will as they can. On a final note, times of being a hermit are good if they help still the old echoes, help us become stronger, and clear the decks for new interactivity at the right time. And I should hope you'll continue to be a part of this community, since what you've posted here is an experience many can learn from, if only where not to go. Invest your heart in your true friends.

Hi Joanne - Yes! You get it! A true community isn't about entitlement, or those who feed off of the efforts of others. Everyone puts what they can, freely and willingly, on the altar of community and friendship, and learns as much as they can about BEING authentic and of service to self and others. Selfishness has NO place in a true community. If we would take, we must also learn to give. It's not about quid pro quo, but more about learning discrimination about what, when, who, how, and why. Yes, we DO have to learn who are friends aren't so we can recognize good people when we find each other. Our society is tre' dysfunctional, but that doesn't mean that the ideal of community is invalid. It's there if we persevere. And of course, the past couple of decades have extolled the virtues of selfishness, so community building has been more difficult than other times in history.

Hi Mary - The ones in the shadow may be ultimately a part of the human community, but that doesn't mean they are a desirable part of our local spiritual working aggregate, since in the words of a sage, "it only takes one fool to keep a thousand wise beings busy." I have no place in my community for disrespectful, hurtful, or hypocritical people. I really don't care what they think about that limitation, since I wouldn't allow rats in the grain silo either. And I'll NEVER allow a betrayer to guard the outer gate while the community sleeps. I'd rather do it myself, and welcome the company of the friends who show up to keep vigil. So there are many who I experience as part of my spiritual community, and many who are not. I also do not consider those who "need a gun in one hand and a painkiller in the other" as members of my local experiment this lifetime. We are on the path of return collectively, and all over the world there is a yearning by gentle Souls for better relations between the Earth and all its creatures. The internet is helping us find each other, and alliances can be forged through our connections. I would only suggest you may be putting the cart before the horse when you say "we have to return earth to a spiritual wholeness before any spiritual development can take place representing true community." In fact, my view is that as we create community consciously, we ARE returning our Earth to a spiritual wholeness. It is in living and doing, realizing and practicing the ideal that the healing results. For instance, I honor my Spiritual predecessors, as well as all those who aspire and live a Spiritual ideal, past, present, and future. That's one form of community that exists whether I am in a body or not.

Cathy M.

Thanks, Robert, for the thoughtful reply. I suppose that despite my disillusionment, I don't completely give up on the ideals that brought me to that place... it's just that I know I have to really, really trust my gut now when it's sensing a split between what is being said and what is being done! I know we are interdependent, and in my "hermitage" (not total, just really pulled back for now), I am spending a lot of time in Nature, seeing the real interdependence and how it works, so that when I enter the world of humans, I don't get blindsided by their denials and inconsistencies. There is something very, very wrenching about trying to hold your truth in the face of group denial... but after my marriage and the neighbor's marriage both broke up within two months (due to two separate single women in the community), I knew my instincts about the unhealthy boundaries weren't wrong. And yet the group continued to deny it. I think I was not so clear as you, Robert, about not letting the rats in the grain silo... that was the stumbling block, and I'm learning to make that judgement call more accurately now... [and your article about Saturn conjunct Pluto seems to just bracket the entire event -- I was born in 1955 -- so that energy was there, too!]

Yes, there were true friends that stood by me, and others who I've met since who are honest and who try to own their shadow as much as they can (and I am working on owning mine, too!). I have read wonderful things about true community, and really would like to see one -- some days it's very hard to be optimistic, but apparently Pluto is squaring my Sun right now, and has just finished squaring my MC, so there is a lot of upheaval... the benefit of a "bowl" chart is that there will be periods of quiet following all this upheaval, I hope!! :-} Another part that I wonder about is that it seemed so much easier to believe in a group when I was in my 20's and now in my 50's, it's so much harder...

Joanne, your comment about groups giving to society yet still not being able to be true community resonates with me, since I worked in social services for many years... it's odd that so many "giving" groups still carry a huge shadow that results in back-stabbing, pettiness and lack of true community... perhaps I'm not a real "joiner", but it seems I can't be part of those groups for long without getting really disgusted with the dark side of it.
Thanks, everyone, for posting - very helpful comments!

dcu

Robert:
Thank you for this very timely article. Also thank you to everyone for this thougtful comment stream. We have a community here in the Black Hills of South Dakota. There is no formal structure. We are just a group of friends who primarily are involved in the Spiritual Unity of Tribes/Gathering of Eagles that happens once a year in the Black Hills. This coming year it is at Bear Butte, which has tremendous implications for all of our future. There are other Spiritual Unity Gatherings all over the world. The Gatherings are free and open to all people of all beliefs and races. The purpose is to experience unity and reconciliation. They are an exercise in community living. I will be posting a web site soon that will have details for those interested.

Our friends down under are also sponsoring another Spiritual Unity Gathering this Easter. It is being hosted by a Traditional Elder on her ancestral land. Most of the 13 members of the Council of Indigenous Grandmothers will be attending that Gathering. Check out the Australian web site at www.spiritualunityofthetribes.org.au/
The Council of Indigenous Grandmothers web link is listed on Robert's blog roll on the right hand side of this page

The other activities here are much smaller. We have a full moon group that is based on the writings of Alice Bailey. There is also a women's circle held on the new moon.

We always use the latest postings from Robert at the full moon groups. This last week we were inspired by the lunar eclipse and Robert's encoraging comments. We had 12 people and much unity was experienced. Yes, any time you are dealing with the human race, "issues" will come up. We have regretably on very rare occasions had to disinvite someone from our group activities. We have also had some lengthy and intense Elder Councils around issues that have come up related to the Gatherings.

But we must never give up. We must work through our "issues." His Holiness is always reminding us westerners to never give up. We just need to move more from our heads into our hearts. In this land the Lakota have a very special phrase-
Mitakuye Oyasin-All My Relations.
It means that we are all related. There truly is only one of us here. We are related to all sentient beings. We are related to the trees, the rivers, the winged ones, the crawling ones, even the stones are our grandfathers.

I was privileged to be one of the original members of the group that Robert referenced that formed back in Austin in the mid-70's. Now I am also privileged to be a member of this community that has this cantina as it's meeting place. Thank you, all of my relatives, for making this cyber community the vibrant spiritual place that it is.

May the Force be with you as we continue to form our communities.
dcu

Felita

Hi dcu , great we have found this, my friend, a tipi maker arrived today and we have been discussing alternative housing and a community that fits the ideals that you and Robert speak of. Thanks and I am so happy for Australian connection,as it is only 4hrs from us and we will be at next gathering I feel.
Timing perfecto! as usual from this webgathering.
Aum shanti Felita
p.s Very first "Down To Earth festivals" held in Barmah state forest. Was there in 1977. Wow thats bizarre I think!

Robert

Hi Cathy - Never give up on your ideals! They are your Soul speaking to your heart despite the deadening influences of a world haunted by its attempts to enslave forms. Definitely learn to spot hypocrisy whenever it rears its ugly head. It's all part of developing what the Tibetan calls our "glamor dispelling mechanism," aka our BS detector. When words and deeds are at variance, always note the behavior, since talk is indeed very cheap.

Time in nature helps us remember things we cannot get any other way or place. And if you have to hold a truth in the face of group denial, or even group kangaroo courts, then you join the ranks of the countless courageous ones who always stand for truth rather than blind obedience to doctrine. I know for I am one who has testified to the truth against the accusations and coercions of the smiling faces of hypocrites. Better alone with the truth rather than belong to a group of hypocrites.

I'm sure that the relationships formed on the basis of duplicity haven't or won't last long, since if "they" could do it once they usually do it again. The desire mind is like that. Boundaries are useful in knowing who has integrity and who doesn't. I am only clear about the rats because I have experienced my compassion being mistaken for weakness and found that weasels ALWAYS have reasons why you shouldn't have reasonable limits so they can do whatever wreckage they desire.

Saturn conjunct Pluto can show us hard lessons about ugly corrosive behaviors in others, but also shows us our power of Dominion over the underworld in our life. Good that you recognize(d) your true friends and other honest beings who are aware they have a shadow due to standing in the Light. And we have many communities throughout our lives, some more enlightened than others. I'd like to think this is a true community of some evolving sort, despite our physical distance from each other. It WAS easier 30 years ago, when we were younger with more idealism and vitality, things were less expensive, we knew war is not the answer to anything, and we hadn't been subjected to 2 solid decades of smashmouth totalitarian politics instigated by devils in our government who make a lot of money off of human suffering. Many so-called groups who purport to serve humanity perpetuate the model in their own local way, and of course, good people usually cooperate while the selfish ones manipulate, divide, and gather all the power and gelt they can for themselves and their allies.

Hi dcu - Not much I can add to your thoughtful post. Glad you and I are still together on this Spaceship Earth after all these years, since you are a living witness to how a conscious community can live with integrity, hope, cooperation, and joyous celebration AND be fully human, warts and all. Thanks for mentioning all the other groups you did, since they all are working toward fostering the message of the unity of all sentient beings. Of course, that doesn't mean we can allow mischief makers to disrupt the larger intention just because they want to. Tolerance and compassion must not be allowed to be mistaken for weakness. They need to go find their group as well. Mostly a true group is self-organizing, and united by a common aim. Those who are not united by that aim probably need to find a group whose aims they share. Thanks for sharing your insights, since there are many groups and more to come. The current evolutionary wave favors the formation of collectivities united in our intention to restore peace, harmony, cooperation, and integrity in our world. These will be the vehicles for individual effectiveness in a world in transition.

Hi Felita - Your comment came in as I posted this, so I'm adding this to congratulate your great timing in community building down under. May your every effort contribute to the healing of the nations, the Earth, and Her creatures. Your own experience of 30+ years ago echoed in the present is another sign that indeed, we are moving toward a global gathering of the Tribes.

Joan Heart

Community reflects the collective will of the people. When the will of the people wakes up and surrenders enough of the ego's 'will to power' and abusive terrifying control of all life, to the unknown, to the Holy Spirit's mind, then immediately help and grace and harmonious balance flow through.

We become the egg salad in the sandwich of earth and stars.

Then we have to learn how to listen. Really listen. Short circuit the judgements. Stop the addictions. Learn to live with the truth of our feelings, which are just a barometer of the collective community.

Then we have to form a relationship with the earth and non-humans. What is a relationship with the earth and non-humans? Find out.

If you're a woman, find out what it is to be a woman. If you're a man, find out what it is to be a man. But in relationship to the earth and non-humans.

Then you're ready to find out what it is to be in relationship to the other. To other genders, ethnicities, classes, religions, politics, etc.

Then you need to create art. Even the art of the market economy. But in relationship, in harmony.

Communities are living breathing organisms, which have no life except through the shared beliefs of the group.

They form, come together, teach us, then dissolve.

Communities are not meant to be nouns, they are verbs that are cyclical.

What verb does your community embody?

I choose freedom from now on, as a verb in the presence of all beings. Only by my freedom can I make informed choices and decisions. That's what I will be bringing to any community I interact with. "freeing"

Many communities don't want to be free. They want binding rules and decisions and leaders that will never waver. This community must be a noun. It must be fixed so I can hedge my bets, be safe and secure, and not have to think for myself.

Community as verb, has nothing to do with chaos, though that community may look messy.

A lot of communities actually have a harmonious structure of being and doing, but it can't be defined in simple terms of black and white. It's mature and messy.

Just some ideas.

Joan

ps. I love the Gathering of Eagles. Maybe I'll make it to this one. Circumstances keep shifting in my life. I'm living with the unknown right now.

Sunngypsie@aol.com

I have just started to focalize community in my area. We are calling it The Sun Tribe. The purpose of The Sun Tribe is to create Summer Solstice Celebrations all over the world called Solabrations. The Sun has given freely to all humankind in all places and times. It could be a universal symbol of Unity rather than all the divisions that religions of men create. Our vision is to continually move to park to park with the Calling of the Drums and then a group Ohm and then just to provide a frame work for a circle of people to express ideas relative to purpose and goals of the sun tribe through, song, dance, poety, speaking, stories. It will strive to be non dogmatic and unritualized. It will be a framework for participation and creativity. Much like the sun provides us with a Day. The day is always the same but ever changing and evolving. If anyone is reading is interested in focalizing The Sun Tribe in your area, then please Visit http://www.TheSunTribe.com and get on our email list.

Felipe Gonzales

Gracias Roberto and all those who are commenting on the importance of community.

I feel that our multiple experiences in creating community are a direct reflection of our particular heart-mind-spirit balance, or lack thereof, at that particular point in time in our life. Sometimes we are ready to participate in creating community and sometimes we aren’t. Sometimes it seems that the community itself is ready to receive our participation and other times not.

No matter what it seems to be, we should approach community with an open mind and heart, offering our experiences, wisdom, knowledge, capacities and insights unselfishly for the benefit of the community and those directly and indirectly involved. My philosophy in helping to create and working in community reminds me of a passage I’ve read in one of the spiritual texts, “the work of the group is more important than the work of the individual”.

I too, am blessed to have the opportunity to be a part of the group that dcu mentioned, meeting Robert and other members of this community in the early 80’s just before the Fifth Ray Metaphysical Bookstore was closed in Austin .

Since then, I’ve had the privilege of participating in a community of Mayan timekeepers (Aj'qij) who still practice ancient traditions in the Guatemalan highlands, based on the sacred calendar. I’ve also been involved in an ecumenical, multi-ethnic and interfaith community here in Spokane, Washington that helps to bridge peoples of all faiths, cultures and beliefs. Concurrently, our family has been actively participating in our local catholic Hispanic “comunidad”, and providing ideas and guidance to strengthen our traditional (Latino) spiritual practices, among diverse groups of Latinas from across the Americas. And more recently, I’m starting to organize a community and study group based on Theosophical teachings, comprised of diverse people who share common spiritual ideals.

I appreciate all who join in this web based community and hope that we continue to support each other in our endeavors to evolve spiritually and help to create a world where love, light, unity and compassion reign.

Paz y luz,

Robert

Hi Joan - It sounds like you've done some community building in your life. Truly, while we all need a strong ego to deal with life, its need for power and control are usually unhelpful when we're trying to achieve synergy. Feelings can be difficult for people to face if they haven't given up trying to BE someone. Definitely we learn about our orientation to life by examining our relationship to non-human forms. And yes, community is as much verb as anything, and Democracy is a messy thing indeed. When we recognize we always live with and in the unknown, it frees us to hang out in the Great Mystery which can never be controlled.

Hi Sunngypsie - May Solabrations spread even farther than they already exist! The Sun is the source of life on Earth, and all that we see. Without Solar force there would be nothing, since everything is composed of solar force transmuted into the 10,000 things. You may want to start something on tribe.com, since it's a model already in place to connect with others in whatever tribe calls to a person. While I usually change addresses posted here to thwart the spambots, perhaps you'll get lucky and it won't happen. Just realize that by leaving your address on the web you could become deluged with garbage.

Hi Felipe - Glad you checked in, since you're a living example of a community builder across nations and cultures. You've hit on something important about timing being crucial to the magnetics of building community and/or being attracted to our community in any given time period. That's why in weakness, we should set aside ego pride and allow ourselves to be drawn to those who share our heart aspirations; in strength, we should offer what we can in humility to others who we can learn from. Truly, unselfish offerings without attachment to outcomes along with no exploitation or sense of being exploited are key elements in any healthy community.

Of course, there can be no sense of privileged separateness in a healthy community if it is to welcome others who are attracted to that particular form of group work. Inclusivity is a fundamental principle of any healthy group. That's why you and I first met in a "Theosophical" forum, since Theosophy - the "love of wisdom" rather than the organization - is inherently inclusive of all forms of Wisdom teachings, itself a product of, and comprised of, ALL the wisdom of the ages. And I'll certainly echo your closing hope "that we continue to support each other in our endeavors to evolve spiritually and help to create a world where love, light, unity and compassion reign." Aum.

Popplagid

Hi Felipe: joining with Mayan timekeepers should have been as awesome experience.

Here in Portugal, although still living in a smal city, I have had some experience with communities, which here are still catching up with those advances that are currently runing ahead in us and northern europe.
I have visited some several intentional ecological communities since 2006, others related to Anthroposhy and Biodynamic Agriculture, several leading with themes such as solar energy, permaculture, organic agriculture, spirituality, and I even went to one in that they were experimenting with the concept of free sexuality. Most of these communities were more family-oriented, but joining their groups in joined effort, which for me makes more sense, at this the moment at least.

For the future I surely imagine in living in a rural enviroment surronded by some of these friends and ideas, practicing these things. Surely my aquarius rising, some taurus/scorpio influence and my sagittarius sun/neptune in 11th house helps it!

Robert

Hi Popplagid - Glad you're alert to the community building that has already started. Some of what you mention are indeed the foundations of sustainability, such as permaculture, organic gardening, solar, and such things. As for "free sexuality," well, I was a member of the original generational experiment in that, and in my experience it's not only unsustainable, it opens the door to all kinds of ill will, glamorous dramas, hurt feelings, power struggles, and disease. It's not nearly as benign a time now as it was in the 60s and early 70s, due to AIDS, HPV, and other sexually transmitted diseases. And it also does major damage to the children who are born or raised in such an atmosphere. This has been established by psychological studies for quite some time. I'm no prude, but I do care about what we adults are teaching our children about "right relationship" and clarity of heart.

Popplagid

Dear Robert,

I certainly agree with you.
Without anything contrary to people that want to followe such choices, by trying to split their love through many people, one loses the opportunity to feel the strong awareness of union with another, by scattering their energies.
However, there is for sure, a strong need for more community in our days, and a strong sense we are all one and we must care for each other as a whole and for our planet and homes.
Blessed may be these foundations for novel ways of living, for a more sustainable and meaningful future.

Mel

Your papers (as always). are inspiring and thought provoking. Love, light and continued blessings....happy birthday coming up Robert!!

Robert

Hi Mel - Glad you checked in. As one of the first who showed up to create the community in Austin in the 70s, you still remain a living example of cooperative practical conscious living without a lot of ego jamming the group's gears (though you knew quite a few who did - no names mentioned! ;-0). Glad you're still around, my brother. And thanx for the birthday blessings. I'm sure we'll speak in the next few days.

Popplagid

Dear Cathy, never lose your faith, sometimes we get disilusioned but I guess sometimes we are just changing and confronting part of us.
Remember everyone that joins that community (co-housing) is dealing with their problems too. Of course there is always hidden and unacknowledge things that can lead one or two to break a relationship or betray it. I still believe in love and understanding above and uplifting any hidden sexual desires, problems, glamours, etc.
I am only 26, so I do not have of couse much experience but I have a strong faith in everyone hearts. I believe that everyone is human and faulty but if we met good-heart and like-minded people, if you trust, we can go always through that process although things can always turn sometimes bitter when confronting some of our dark sides.
I am going through a bit of that now. Im having ts Pluto squaring 8th house Mars, its dramatic when it makes so see many hidden sexual issues clear. I do believe more in small communities now (5-30) instead of bigger ones. Once I went to a large (200) free sexuality commune and I conclude that as Robert state it opens to glamours and makes more to confuse than clearing although their excellent intentions. People should always keep the limits they think its healthy.
By the way, Cathy, having Pluto squaring MC means you either had or will have Pluto passing through your ASC or DSC, either way it seems very transforming and confronting.


Deborah Allin

Hey all these comments are so inspiring and its so healing to hear of both negative and positive experiences in community, all part of the rich tapestry of life. We can only have a capacity to understand the dark side through staying truely awake and aware of it presence. An insight into our own dark, understanding how it comes out of distorted longings and emerges from deeply unconscious injuries and hurts so evolving to a negative narcissism helps. Its painful to realise these qualities in our self and others and to see the harm done under the guise of "spirituality" and various glamours of some communities and groups. I experienced this in the so called "recovery movement" and in my years in a Catholic school. It can be hard not to become disheartened but freedom comes from knowing we have a choice and that there is so much good literature and many good websites out there that help us to understand the murky themes of power, control, abuse and manipulation. A tyranny of the spirit will just as surely hold us in chains as ignorance of it, that and our deep and at times imprisoned feelings that can become so distorted in addiction and co-dependencies. After spending so much time in isolation and a return to nature after enduring many losses and endings and a deep navigation into my own Saturn Pluto Chiron wounds I am deeply questioning where my loving community is. Just reading about these ones gives me hope. Thanks so much for the info on beautiful healing work being done and especially your posts Cathy M and Joan. There is a great narrative in Clarissa Pinkola Estes book Women Who Run with the Wolves on the Ugly Duckling story which says that you must keep going on alone and give up false communities and attempts to gain succour in communities that are not nourishing until your soul finds its home with like minded souls. I believe this becomes a real possibility when we learn self love and genuine love of others that is not ignorant of the dark side. Everything that happens is part of our healing and our cleansing and our learning. To the degree that our selfish self centred negative narcissism is exposed as well as the hurt it causes others and is grieved, to that degree do we truely learn to give, freely without conditions and contracts from the heart. I beieve first we much cleanse our bodies - all the chakras and in so doing we will clense the earth, for we are but cells in her body. We also need to learn to share and give as nature gives so freely to us in her own cycles and responds to our love as well as our rape and pillaging. No doubt there will be major cataclysms but for me I get down on the earth and into the ocean as much as possible and connect with the animals and birds. That is home, that is community in the wasteland for me at present before the community I hope to find manifests. Love and blessings to all.

Robert

Hi Deborah - Though an old comment stream, in fact there is tremendous richness in the comments left here that are inspiring in the experiences they communicate. Good to revisit such community commitment and awareness. We know the dark side from our past and present ignorance. We understand how to address it through the eyes of compassion that come as we awake.

Truly, groups that try to enslave the mind are not "community" in the best sense of the word. They are "nouns," not "verbs," to quote a previous commenter. Anything that would restrict our physical, emotional, or mental freedom is contrary to Divine order (though we must learn self-discipline lest our lower natures run our life and others' lives into the proverbial ditch!)

I also have found that engaging in a conscious relationship with Nature helped me open to alternative ways of viewing human and non-human life. In fact, one such "sacred passage" helped me heal the pain of many lifetimes. Keep hope alive that you can find forms of community, and you will indeed find forms of community. You may even find that your community is composed of people in several communities.

The new era is about synergy, interdependence, and taking responsibility for BEING conscious and participating in the evolutionary process. And of course, conscious love of all-that-Is is a key component of being a community Being. Then lesser forms are exposed for what they are, since everything is related to a much Higher standard. We still must love one another, but we do not have to like (or put up with) corrosive behaviors.

I agree that as we heal various parts of our lower nature we grow into our Higher Self, and that will "heal the Earth" and to whatever degree, bring forth the One Life we all are together. The new era will look nothing like this past one within the next 40 years.

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