From Me To We: True Love Is A Process Of Humility
De mí para nosotros: el amor verdadero es un proceso de humildad--por Thich Nhat Hanh
Una comunidad de personas que caminan juntas por un camino espiritual tiene mucha fuerza; sus miembros pueden protegerse unos a otros, ayudarse unos a otros en todos los aspectos de la práctica y fortalecer la comunidad. Hay muchas cosas que nos resultan muy difíciles de hacer solos, pero cuando vivimos juntos como comunidad, se vuelven fáciles y naturales. Las hacemos sin cansarnos ni hacer un gran esfuerzo. La comunidad tiene una energía colectiva. Sin esta energía, la práctica de la transformación individual no es fácil.
Cuando vivimos juntos en comunidad, esta se convierte en un cuerpo, y cada uno de nosotros es una célula de ese cuerpo. Si no somos parte del cuerpo comunitario, estaremos aislados, hambrientos y necesitados, y no tendremos un ambiente adecuado para la práctica. Podemos visualizar el cuerpo comunitario como un bosque. Cada miembro de la comunidad es un árbol que se alza maravillosamente junto a los demás. Cada árbol tiene su propia forma, altura y cualidades únicas, pero todos contribuyen al crecimiento armonioso del bosque. Al mirar los árboles que se mantienen uno al lado del otro de esa manera, se puede sentir la belleza, la solidez y el poder de un bosque sagrado.
Nuestro organismo comunitario avanza por el camino de la práctica y sus ojos son capaces de dirigirnos. Los ojos de la comunidad son capaces de ver tanto los puntos fuertes como los puntos débiles de cada miembro de la comunidad. Por Los Ojos de la Comunidad nos referimos a la percepción y la visión del cuerpo colectivo de la comunidad, que incluye la visión y la visión de todos sus miembros, desde los más jóvenes hasta los mayores. Aunque la contribución de los conocimientos de todos es necesaria para que el conocimiento de la comunidad sea claro, no se trata simplemente de una simple suma de conocimientos individuales. La percepción colectiva tiene una fuerza, una sabiduría y una vitalidad propias que sobrepasan cualquier percepción individual. […]
La energía del cuerpo comunitario tiene la capacidad de protegernos y transformarnos. Como miembros de la comunidad, todo lo que tenemos que hacer es contribuir a esa energía. A esto se le llama construcción de comunidad. Es el trabajo más precioso que pueden realizar un monje, una monja o un laico.
Preguntas semilla para la reflexión: ¿Cómo te relacionas con la noción de que la construcción de comunidades es el trabajo más valioso que puede realizar un monje, una monja o un laico?
¿Puedes compartir una historia personal de alguna ocasión en la que pudiste apreciar la perspicacia y la visión del cuerpo colectivo de la comunidad? ¿Qué te ayuda a crear conciencia de que eres una célula del cuerpo comunitario?
En Juntos con alegría: el arte de construir una comunidad armoniosa.
In Joyfully Together: The Art of Building a Harmonious Community.
SEED QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: How do you relate to the notion that community building is the most precious work a monk, nun or layperson can do? Can you share a personal story of a time you were able to appreciate the insight and vision of the collective body of the community? What helps you build awareness that you are a cell in the community body?
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15 Past Reflections
On May 1, 2024 Hannah wrote :
Paradoxically, it took the pandemic to experience - via Zoom - the sense of community that I had been longing for my whole life. The field that community, even if not physically present, is so powerful!
1 reply: Aj | Post Your Reply
On May 1, 2024 Debra wrote :
As I read about the recent post regarding "community," foremost in my mind was how "community" somehow can mean "cult." I am not a cult member. Am a free person. I like the idea of community, but I'm not one of those people who defines myself as a member of a community. I keep thinking about "cults," and how the idea of community can apply to cults, harmful cults, people who brainwash their members into believing in ideas that isolate them from the rest of the communities around them. So, my question is: where does one draw the line when it comes to communities?
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On Apr 30, 2024 Barbara Schwartzbach wrote :
Community building begins at the bottom. Planting seeds of Love for growth.
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On Apr 30, 2024 Patrick wrote :
The older I get, and more humiliatingly frail, the more open I seem to be toward others no matter how different or comfortable they tend to make me?! Oh not the dark, evil ones, but the quirky, lovable in spite of themselves ones…like me in that regard I hope. }:- a.m. anonemoose monk
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On Apr 30, 2024 Anil Pandit wrote :
Thanks ... Great merging of a drop in ocean, to feel and derive its energy !!
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On Apr 30, 2024 Pankaj wrote :
I was once blessed to be the leader of an engineering team at a robotics company where we had to invent things that simply did not exist. And getting a couple of PhD candidates from the best robotics institute along with a mechanical engineer who liked to tinker with things that move, a scientist from SRI who had dedicated his life to geometric challenges for moving robots, a field expert in computer vision, and a couple of breadth-oriented engineers got together to tackle coming up with an accurate distance sensor that ended up costing about 1% of what was available in the market. The first couple of months were really hard because each person in the team was a rock star in their own expertise, and creating an environment where every one was heard and constructively challenged took a bit of time. But once there was a mutual respect for the unique perspective that each person (cell/tree) possessed, the collective energy truly manifested wisdom beyond that of any of us!
1 reply: David | Post Your Reply
On Apr 26, 2024 stream wrote :
Hmm- Well, I am not a monk or nun, so I guess my perspective is as a lay person. My current personal mission statement is: " I co-create a community that is safe, sustainable, growthful, and joyous by being honest and following my bliss". So, I lead Dances of Universal Peace, am cochairperson for our Interfaith Roundtable group, sing in Sacred Earth Choir, and offer services like free physical therapy, moving assistance, and other social work in our community. I do my best while also taking care of my personal needs. I love the extended family I am part of most of the time. There are big challenges when people do things that I find to be incomprehensibly wrong, mean. So , I am learning to keep going while forgiving others and myself. I use a mantra- MORE ME, That's NOT MINE- so, yes I am a cell and I do my part for the whole being even when the health of the larger being looks dubious-
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On Apr 25, 2024 stan wrote :
Humity...An awareness and appreciation... of...
... the others value
... the others value
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On Apr 25, 2024 K Madhuri wrote :
Community to me means coming in unity. But it's not an easy thing to build or keep a community together or even be a dedicated member of the community. I have seen a mentor build a community of empaths from scratch. I have seen it grow and then I have seen it grow week because of the diminishing energy contributions. I also saw how that energy lives in each member and seeks to be nourished and wants to flourish into that collective force that can wrap each and all of us in its care .
To be in a community is drawing so much and giving a bit and enabling the flow of life energy and I notice my identity and entity being formed by and also contributing to the form of the community.
To be in a community is drawing so much and giving a bit and enabling the flow of life energy and I notice my identity and entity being formed by and also contributing to the form of the community.
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On Apr 25, 2024 Jagdish P Dave wrote :
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... [View Full Comment]
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On Apr 25, 2024 David Doane wrote :
I agree, but the community building is not by intention, and it is important that it not be. Having belonged to what I have called a cuddle group that has provided me support, challenge, critique, patience, love, guidance over many years, we became a community, and it is precious to me, a treasure. I have grown in ways that would have been very difficult without the group. There was a time when I experienced the community as good for me to be very open, and me opening increased my appreciation of the insight and vision of the collective body of community, and of course increased what I got from it. My overall waking up, increased consciousness, and growth helps me grow in awareness that I am a cell in each bigger community body.