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Dear Still Water Friends,

In The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey makes the useful observation that most of us spend most of our time working on things that are not very important, but that have immediate deadlines. As a consequence, we tend to give insufficient time and attention to the larger issues, the ones that shape our future, because there are no immediate deadlines associated with them. This dynamic seems to be true in our work lives and in our spiritual lives.

In our program this Thursday we will explore together the big question of how our deep aspirations and our desire for spiritual friends and community fit together. (It is a question we are currently studying in our Still Water Working Group.)

We will begin by focusing on what is really most important to us, what do we most want to be about? Can we say it in a way that is simple and meaningful to us? We can think of it as a personal mission statement. The Disney Corporation says that their mission is "to make people happy." The Starship enterprise had as its mission: "To explore strange new worlds . . . To seek out new life and new civilizations . . . To boldly go where no man has gone before!" What is our personal mission?

Once we have begun to identify our deep aspirations, we can then turn to questions about friendships and community. In terms of living lives deeply infused by our aspirations, what sorts of friendships, what type of community, will support and nourish us? Can we put that down also in a few simple and meaningful words?

In the excerpt below, Thich Nhat Hanh addresses these issues and, I believe, models the use of clear and meaningful language.

I hope you can join us for our meditation and our program.

We will also have our Still Water Orientation this Thursday, beginning at 6:30. It is a time for newcomers to Still Water to learn about our community and our practice - and for others to share their practice. Please consider attending and possibly bringing a friend along. (And if you are planning to attend, it is helpful, but not required, to let us know ahead of time by sending a short message to info@StillWaterMPC.org.)

Warm Wishes,
 
Mitchell Ratner
Senior Teacher
Excerpt from Friends on the Path: Living Spiritual Communities by Thich Nhat Hanh

Spirituality is something we can cultivate. To be spiritual means to be solid, calm, and peaceful, and to be able to look deeply inside and around us. It means having the capacity to handle our afflictions--our anger, craving, despair, and discrimination. It is being able to see the nature of interbeing between people, nations, races, and all forms of life. Spirituality is not a luxury anymore; we need to be spiritual in order to overcome the difficulties of our time.

Alone we are vulnerable, but with brothers and sisters to work with, we can support each other. We cannot go to the ocean as a drop of water--we would evaporate before reaching our destination. But if we become a river, if we go as a Sangha, we are sure to arrive at the ocean. Taking refuge in a Sangha will allow the Sangha to carry us, to transport us, and we will suffer less.

A true Sangha is a community that practices the teaching of liberation and becomes free; a true Sangha practices the teaching of understanding and becomes more understanding; a true Sangha practices compassion and becomes more compassionate.