I love and appreciate the work of building spiritual communities or communes by the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. We are social beings and we need to build spiritual communities not only for our surviaval but also for the enhancement of the members of our community. This is everbody's calling. Spiriutal leaders, monks and nuns play a significant role in creating and sustaining spiritual communities. However, lay persons like me and you have a responsibilty to create and suatain spiritual communities. Survival and enhancement of our precious life is up to all of us. We all need to join our hands together to protect and enhace the wellness of each member of our community, not only for a special group of people. It is a call for inclusion, not exclusion. I deeply appreciate the contribution of the Dalai Lama , Thich Nhat Hanh and other spiritual leaders for creating harmony and peace in the world which is dangerously divided. What is my part as a lay person in creating such a community?
I have created two small communities with different spiritual oreintations where we get together once a week to explore different ways of working on diiferences to create and sustain inner peace for living holistically. It is a relatively small community. We hope and wish we all play our part in working for peace. If we do not make our sincere effort to work on this task of building a harmonious community, I see dark clouds of divisiveness, discord, and destruction. I hope and urge that we all do our best to create and sustain harmony and peace.
Reading and discussing such writings and figuring out ways of building and sustaining such spiritual communities is our resposibilty. This is a way of moving from Me to We.
Namaste!
Jagdish P Dave
On Apr 25, 2024 Jagdish P Dave wrote :