Monk in the World Day 3

Today's topic is "community.  This is" a subject near and dear to my heart, and the questions spoke to me.

Where in your life do you experience a genuine sense of community or soul friendship already?

I have gone seeking community it in many places....religious life, traditional and non-traditional church groups and in friendships.  In the past few years I have been very blessed to find "soul friends" those people who are with us on the spiritual journey in an especially deep way.  I found this kind of friendship with my Soul Sisters, the study group I have been with for going on now five years.  We began as a Bible study group but have really become family to one another sharing all sorts of joys and sorrows and growing pains over time.  C is also an anam cara to me who literally has carried my through some of the most challenging times on my spiritual and personal journey as well as being there for some of the greatest times of joy as I met and fell in love with my beloved R.  And he too is a soul friend.  Deeply spiritual and gifted in himself he brings yet another perspective to this journey as we share our lives on this deep level.  I really have been richly blessed


When you slow down and listen to your longings for spiritual companionship, what are some of the qualities which rise up as essential? What is true of all of these people is that they are authentic.  Each of them has a unique spitual life of their own....not one of them has the same belief system or the exact same understanding of God as the other, or for that matter as I do.  And this makes for true richness in our relationships as we explore how it is we understand and relate to the God of our own unique understanding. Another quality is the willingness to seek and be open to the numinous, to be willing to accept that we cannot understand, will never really know in this life what it's all about, how it all comes together....and that is really all right.