Coming Home Together

Coming Home Together

Discussion date: Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at our weekly Thursday evening practice

Dear Still Water Friends,

This week is community week at Still Water and in each of our meditation groups and evening gatherings we have the opportunity to talk about what the Still Water community means to each of us.

I had the opportunity to join the Columbia group on Sunday and I was impressed by the affection people have for our simple practice. In each of our groups we offer time, encouragement, and support for two things:

  • to go within: to calm and listen to ourselves, to find our hearts, and to become aware of subtle emotions and mind-states.
  • and to share with others: to focus on an aspect of practice, to speak the truths of our hearts, and to listen to others share their experiences and insights.

When we are able to do these two things, we create a bond and connection that has great power. In Columbia, on Sunday, practitioners talked about the trust they feel in the group. They feel “at ease,” “at home,” “with family.” One person mentioned it was “Family 2.0,” a calmer, steadier, wiser family than the one he grew up with.

As I reflected on Still Water gatherings, I realized that as with families, we never come together completely as strangers. There is always a shared history: experiences and conversations that have taken place at Still Water events or at other times. Even though there may be new people who come for the first time, they enter into a community of shared experience. Over the weeks, months, and years, the collective sharing accumulates and is alive in us both when we are together and when we are not.

In a community of practice such as Still Water we nourish a steadier, deeper, way of being with ourselves, and also, a steadier, deeper way of being with each other. Parker Palmer writes in A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life:

A strong community helps people develop a sense of true self, for only in community can the self exercise and fulfill its nature: giving and taking, listening and speaking, being and doing. But when community unravels and we lose touch with one another, the self atrophies and we lose touch with ourselves as well. Lacking opportunities to be ourselves in a web of relationships, our sense of self disappears, leading to behaviors that further fragment our relationships and spread the epidemic of inner emptiness.

In Creating True Peace, Thich Nhat Hanh identifies joining with others in a Sangha, a spiritual community, is an essential mindfulness practice:

The Sangha River is a community of friends who practice the way of harmony, awareness, and compassion. In the sangha we practice mindful walking and breathing. The sangha radiates a collective energy that can support us and make us strong. The sangha is a boat that transports us and prevents us from sinking into the ocean of suffering. This is why it is so important that we take refuge in the sangha. Allow your community to hold you, to transport you. When you do, you will feel more solid and stable and will not risk drowning in your suffering. Taking refuge in a sangha is not a matter of belief. “I take refuge in the Sangha” is not a statement of faith; it is a practice. As a river, all the individual drops of water arrive together at the ocean. 

We invite you to join with us this Thursday evening. After our meditation we will reflect on the community we have and the community we would like to have. Are we flowing as a Sangha?

If you cannot be with us, you are invited to send an email with your reflections to info@StillWaterMPC.org.

We also invite you to attend our Still Water Community Celebration this Sunday, March 20, 1:30 to 3:30 pm, at Crossings, where we will celebrate 12 years of community. (Please Register Online so we can mindfully prepare for the event.)

Please consider, as well, attending Living Our Practice: Still Water Spring Community Retreat, April 8-10, at the Charter Hall Retreat Center on the Chesapeake Bay.

Warm wishes,

Mitchell Ratner
Senior Teacher

 

in: Dharma Topics
Discussion Date: Thu, Mar 17, 2011


Share: