The Value of Satsang/Spiritual Community
Dear friends,
I have written often about our desire to fill the hole in our hearts with material things, prestige, money, power, popularity, etc. Those things ultimately fail lifetime after lifetime, so we eventually turn to Spirit. Our job here on Earth is to accelerate that process by engaging fully in the experiences that come to us, and learning what we can. Every single person you know has things to learn or would not have incarnated here. (O.K.—to be fair—if you have a friend who is an avatar or fully enlightened soul, this does not apply in that case, but absolutely please do send me an email! :-) )
It is easy to think you are a good swimmer by swimming in a calm pool. The real test is to swim in choppy waters. So too in our lives. We have a strong and natural tendency to try to create a world where everything is smooth and just like we want it. That actually almost never works, but we do try—Oh how we try!
There is of course nothing wrong with that effort in itself, but we need to embrace the tests that come to us and accept and deal with our hidden weak spots. A friend recently commented, “Dogs strengthen their teeth by chewing bones not oatmeal!" Spiritual Community is like family. You can leave your friends, and even your spouse, but your brother is your brother for life.
There was a difficult nun in Yogananda's organization. One of the other nuns complained about her. The Head of the group replied, "If we did not have people like that here it would behoove us to go out and find someone similar." Interesting.
Fortunately, Spiritual Community also offers tremendous life-changing support. We know we are all in this together, trying to learn as best we can, so forgiveness and support is by far the rule rather than the exception. I myself have been in Spiritual Community for many decades now and cannot imagine life without it.
So both poles are present: challenges inherent in mastering our reactive process to remain harmonious with a wide variety of people (has anyone ever seen the TV show Survivor?), but also the support of wonderful people who know all too well that we are all in the same boat. This is why the Buddha called satsang one of the three pillars of Buddhism: The Teachings, The Buddha himself, and the collection of those dedicated to find Truth.
May we each seek to find satsang in whatever way we choose, to help deepen us in Spirit and to overcome our little selves and limitations. May we face the challenges Spirit sends our way, and be blessed to find both the inner and outer support we need to do so with courage and an open heart.
Blessings,
David G., manager
For the staff at East West