Building Spiritual Community

Spiritual community is essential for fully actualising our true selves. It empowers us to awaken spiritually and to form natural, heart-centred spiritual connections with others. With the mutual support of a spiritual community, we can more easily awaken to, accept, and ground our spiritual selves into the physical world, helping to make it a better place. Rooted in mindfulness, authenticity, and spiritual growth, spiritual communities champion the true self and its light, providing a safe space for it to unfold and shine with the help, understanding, and encouragement of others in the community.

This article explores spiritual community and its capacity to address our spiritual and physical needs and provide an antidote to the destructive and repressive conformity within mainstream society. It distinguishes between transitional and autonomous spiritual communities. Transitional spiritual communities mark a collective shift from mainstream societal norms to authentic spiritual values, while autonomous spiritual communities aim to fully embody these values and detach from mainstream society, prioritising self-sufficiency, self-governance, and full spiritual self-realisation.

Whether transitional or autonomous, spiritual communities play a crucial role not only in facilitating spiritual self-realisation and the integration of this into our physical life structures but also in serving as beacons of light to others. They offer a spiritual model for living where the true self can flourish and embody itself with freedom, authenticity, and compassion for all life.

What is a Spiritual Community?

A spiritual community is a collective of individuals who come together in mutual support to explore, practise, and grow in their spirituality while living their lives. While these communities can take various forms, this post will focus on the type of spiritual community dedicated to embracing, exploring and embodying the true self and its light, while honouring all life as one sacred whole.

At the heart of this spiritual community is a sense of shared spiritual being nurtured through a commitment to mindfulness, heart-centred presence, and spiritual growth. A shared commitment to core spiritual values, including authenticity, compassion, peace, and freedom, guides the community to stay on track, while meditation and spiritual bonding within the community focus and empower this. This kind of spiritual community provides each individual with the freedom and support to integrate the true self into the personality and to embody its light into physical form through consecrated action.

While some spiritual communities limit their focus to providing spiritual connection and support, it is important to realise that we also have physical needs that require fulfilment in a spiritually integrative way. Thus, spiritual communities should also take on this purpose for meeting physical needs if they are to remain consistent, authentic, and free from dependency on mainstream society. As we will see shortly, adapting to mainstream society to meet our physical needs is counterproductive for spiritual self-realisation because mainstream society demands the repression of the true self and its values.

Any genuine dedication to authenticity must recognise this dilemma and empower us to break free from any cognitive dissonance so we no longer sacrifice our true selves and spiritual values by remaining dependent on a destructive and repressive society for meeting our physical needs. This dedication to authenticity requires us to create a pathway out of adaptation to mainstream society. We can then contribute to transforming mainstream society while establishing an enlightened model of spiritual community for humanity to aspire to.

The Need for Spiritual Community is Now Greater Than Ever

Spiritual community is a basic need. It serves as a sanctuary and place of belonging for those seeking spiritual meaning, acceptance, support, and authentic connection. As fundamentally spiritual beings, we require spiritual community to affirm, express, and support our spiritual nature and to collectively ground our spiritual values into the physical world successfully. This ensures that our physical lives, social structures, and behaviours reflect and embody our spiritual light.

Spiritual Community is Needed for Recovery and Self-Realisation

As it currently stands, mainstream society drowns out our spiritual being and demands the repression of the true self for us to adapt to it. In spiritual community, we can recover from this repression of the true self and the silent trauma we have endured as a result of this repression.

In spiritual community, we can rediscover, reclaim, and celebrate our true selves in a place of safety, affirmation, and wellbeing aligned with our spiritual values. We can be at our most vulnerable and build authentic, heart-based connections from true self to true self. Additionally, through mutual support, we can co-create the means to honour our authentic values and fulfil our authentic needs through self-realisation. Most importantly, spiritual community answers the universal call, sent from the depths of the true self, to remember and honour our true spiritual nature in which we are all connected in essential unity.

Sacrificing the True Self for Material Comfort is a Dangerous Dependency

This truth of our spiritual nature always stands. It is the common sense view we arrive at when we clear the mind of reactivity, conformity bias, and all conceptual overlays and be present to our deepest inner being. Admittedly, for many, this call back to the true self has been largely unheard or treated as a dreamlike one without serious consideration. After all, the trappings of mainstream society have done a good job of embedding us into it to the point that many of us are prepared to sacrifice our authentic needs and values for whatever comforts mainstream society can provide. These may even include small spiritual comforts. But, in truth, we have become dangerously dependent on a system that does not serve our true needs because it demands the sacrifice of our true nature to justify its desacralised expression.

Sacrificing the True Self is Now Threatening Human Existence

The stakes are now rising: the cost of sacrificing the true self to mainstream society is becoming increasingly dangerous and is now a threat to human existence. For example:

• Wars are unfolding with little restraint as humans are sent to the battlefield to be slaughtered, and leaders show no real regard for the loss of human life or the increasing collective danger of global annihilation.
• Peace talk offers that were once the norm for stopping wars are now being rejected out of hand in the most questionable of ways, showing that peace, compassion, and human lives matter even less to leaders.
• Terror and negative news stories are being broadcast constantly through the mass media, terrorising and traumatising populations and keeping them in a negative state with negative beliefs and expectations about the world and their potential.
• The increasing global centralisation of power and our exclusion from the centralised decision-making process is making it harder for us to respond locally to the destructive situations affecting us.
• Humanity is becoming increasingly embedded in an easily manipulated virtual reality created by technology that renders individuals more pliable and zombie-like as they are drawn into their hypnotic digital screens and dissociate by habit.
• The Internet of Things is rapidly unfolding in an attempt to digitise the whole world, with artificial intelligence and programmed algorithms being put in place to become its gatekeepers and governing force.

In short, what we have adapted to is morphing into something unconscionable that is no longer sustainable and is putting our future at immeasurable risk.

Spiritual Community is a Collective Responsibility

Given the above, the need for spiritual community is now greater than ever before. It is our sacred responsibility to remember who we really are and to embody this fully. By joining together in spiritual community, we can do what we can’t do alone and help others to do the same. We can support each other to take practical action to honour our true spiritual selves and the spiritual values of peace, joy, compassion, gratitude, wisdom, truth, and freedom. When we take practical action in this way and embody our spiritual values fully in society, we change the world for the better.

Think about it: in what ways are any of these spiritual values currently driving mainstream society and setting people free to be their true selves? Your answer to this question is the confirmation you need to break free from any cognitive dissonance and act now.

Overcoming Apathy and Action Paralysis

Apathy and action paralysis can drastically limit the potential for developing spiritual community. They can manifest as negative beliefs that forming or participating in community is too difficult, not strictly necessary, unrealistic, hopeless, or in conflict with the preference for living life as a private individual. These beliefs represent inner resistances or illusions that should be challenged for their cognitive distortions and then reframed as follows:

• It is too difficult (maximisation). It is not too difficult because spiritual communities do exist. However, developing spiritual community is certainly challenging because it takes us out of our comfort zones and calls for us to take responsibility and act. When we commit to manifesting the vision of spiritual community, adopt a positive mindset, and have the right support network around us, we can start to overcome these challenges.
• It is not strictly necessary (minimisation and filtering). From what viewpoint? Spiritual community is clearly necessary for us to be fully our true selves, live in a better world, and stop humanity from self-destructing.
• It is unrealistic (jumping to a conclusion, filtering, minimisation). It only seems unrealistic if we choose not to take action and make it happen. Spiritual community is natural because it stems from the true self. Humanity creates plenty of spiritual communities, whether they are ecovillages, intentional communities, or aboriginal communities.
• It is hopeless (jumping to a conclusion, filtering, minimisation). There is hope as there are enough spiritual individuals who can come together to form spiritual community, and the act of doing so will give us more hope than staying as we are, adapting to an increasingly destructive and repressive society. Humanity is well-known for creating spiritual communities.
• It conflicts with the preference for living life as a private individual (jumping to a conclusion, filtering). Individuality is strengthened, not lost, in an authentic spiritual community. In contrast, conforming to mainstream society weakens individuality and represses the true self, motivating the pursuit of privacy as a defence mechanism. Individuals can still maintain privacy in a spiritual community, and, in fact, it is essential for wellbeing, life balance, and self-reflection.

Developing mindfulness is the key to liberating ourselves from the negative beliefs and reactive patterns underlying apathy and action paralysis. Mindfulness increases our consciousness and liberates us from the automatic reactivity linked with apathy and action paralysis. It empowers us to consciously direct our attention without reactivity or negative bias so that we can choose empowering thoughts, break free from disempowering ones, and cultivate a positive mindset.

To help overcome any apathy and action paralysis related to developing spiritual community, we can focus on the essential benefits of spiritual community and the urgent need for it. We can then create a positive vision from this, commit to it, and empower it daily with our attention and light.

Establish a Local Support Network and Action Group

It is important to have a local support network of like-minded individuals dedicated to building spiritual community that also serves as an action group. This helps overcome individual isolation, as well as apathy and action paralysis. If such a network and action group does not already exist, we should not wait for one but instead reach out to others with our inspiration and create one. It is a good idea to establish it outside of corporate social media platforms so that it stands sovereign.

The purpose of this support network is to connect together people with shared spiritual values and form an action group to focus on the building of spiritual community. The building of spiritual community is described in the section “Building a Spiritual Community”.

The support network and action group should:

• Explore the essential benefits of spiritual community and the urgent need for it.
• Share ideas and perspectives on the true self and how to develop as a spiritual community.
• Identify shared spiritual values and guiding principles to underpin spiritual community.
• Establish a shared spiritual vision and purpose.
• Agree on specific, measurable goals and action steps for building a spiritual community aligned with the group’s core spiritual values.
• Collaborate inclusively, with shared leadership and volunteering.
• Hold itself accountable for completing action steps and honouring commitments.
• Measure its progress towards achieving goals and adjust strategies as required, staying responsive to changing circumstances.
• Provide workshops and training sessions for learning and skill building.
• Commit to personal and spiritual growth through the process of spiritual community development.
• Organise regular social events and gatherings, including group meditations to stay spiritually attuned and connected as a group.
• Stay motivated, informed, and connected with group messaging, emails, calls, and newsletters.

Transitional Spiritual Communities

A transitional spiritual community is formed within mainstream society and marks a collective transition away from mainstream society and its norms. It evolves over time and serves as a guiding light to mainstream society as well as a “halfway house” between mainstream society and an autonomous spiritual community. As a community, it may or may not fully transition to an independent existence outside mainstream society.

Individuals in this type of community go through a process of disentangling from mainstream societal norms and developing spiritual practices and lifestyles. Through this journey, they learn to find, embody, and unveil their true selves and begin manifesting their full potential. The focus is on establishing autonomy away from mainstream societal influences. These individuals will often require recovery and healing from the destructive and repressive influences of mainstream society, which may have affected them since birth.

At the same time, these individuals, with a foot in both worlds, are in a perfect position to help mainstream society evolve. Through their interactions with others in mainstream society, they can share their true selves, gently challenge repressive societal norms, and serve as spiritual guides for embodying the true self and living in spiritual community.

Since the focus of a transitional spiritual community is on establishing autonomy away from mainstream societal influences, it will explore autonomous and sustainable living practices with a focus on self-sufficiency. This includes the local exchange of products and services within the community. Individuals may or may not live together on the same piece of land.

Autonomous Spiritual Communities

An autonomous spiritual community exists independently of mainstream societal structures. It intentionally establishes itself outside the cultural norms and influences of mainstream society, prioritising autonomy, self-governance, and self-sufficiency, along with spiritual self-realisation. Individuals commit to fully embodying the true self and its spiritual values, with mindfulness, compassion, and spiritual growth.

Individuals in this type of community may still go through the process of disentangling from mainstream societal norms and learning to find, embody, and unveil their true selves. They may also require recovery and healing from the destructive and repressive influences of mainstream society, especially if they haven’t passed through a transitional spiritual community. They will live on the same piece of land.

An autonomous spiritual community serves as an ideal model for authentic spiritual living, whether for mainstream society or transitional spiritual communities. It embodies autonomous, self-sufficient, and sustainable living practices, and as many products and services as possible are exchanged within the community or between autonomous spiritual communities to complete the transition out of mainstream society. Of course, some exchanges will inevitably occur with mainstream society.

Building a Spiritual Community

A successful spiritual community arises from our shared spiritual vision and values. Together, we should be clear on the spiritual vision and purpose of the community and the principles and values guiding its existence.

Spiritual Vision and Purpose

The community’s spiritual vision and purpose should include developing autonomy and providing mutual support for grounding the light of the true self into physical form and honouring all life as sacred.

Guiding Principles

Examples of guiding principles that require our shared commitment are:

• Mindfulness
• Personal and spiritual growth
• Personal responsibility
• Embodied spirituality
• Mutual support
• Inclusivity
• Respect
• Self-awareness
• Mindful and compassionate relating
• Conflict resolution
• Collective decision-making on community matters
• Autonomy
• Sustainable living

Shared Spiritual Values

Further guiding principles can be derived from the community’s shared spiritual values. Some key ones are:

• Peace
• Joy
• Compassion
• Wisdom
• Truth
• Authenticity
• Self-realisation
• Wholeness
• Freedom

Community Size

One defining characteristic of mainstream society is its oversized population. This makes consensus-building impossible, which means that people lose out. In today’s democracies, decision-making relies on a representative system, but this breaks down beyond a certain population size, which is always exceeded. Consequently, the system fails to address the full needs of the population, especially when it is corrupt and the interests of a party and its influencers take precedence over those of the people. Another consequence of an oversized population is the inability of individuals to bond socially, which leads to anonymity, social breakdown, anti-social behaviour, and crime.

In an intentional spiritual community, the number of individuals should be kept to a size that is practicable for consensus-based decision-making and enables individuals to interact, know each other as a whole, and bond socially. Dunbar’s Number suggests no more than 150 people, although the exact number will depend on circumstances.

Decision-Making

Decisions that affect the whole community should be made through consensus-building involving everyone in the community. This ensures that the decisions made meet the needs of everyone as much as possible and that the hierarchies of influence and power that plague mainstream society never develop. A consensus-building approach also ensures that decisions are more stable.

Consensus-building requires each of us to be present and included as the community discusses, deliberates, and makes decisions. If there are objections or concerns, we should always raise them for discussion to avoid groupthink and exclusion. A resolution of different viewpoints through the discussion and deliberation processes, which may go through more than one round, enables everyone to agree on the decision. When agreement is reached, each of us should explicitly state our agreement. We should not allow a unanimous decision to pass without prior discussion and deliberation, in case objections have not been considered or raised.

Consensus-building is more effective when those involved share the same values and principles, as is the case for the intentional spiritual community described here. To make consensus-building even more effective, we should take the time to listen to different perspectives with mindfulness and empathy and always seek to reframe limited perspectives during the discussion and deliberation phases. This is achieved by expanding our awareness in light of other perspectives, and by challenging and clearing any cognitive distortions or biases. In some cases, we may choose to support a decision even if it is not our first choice, as long as our first choice was initially raised and we see no harm in going with our second choice.

Leadership and Facilitation

In mainstream society, the abdication of our power to leaders who don’t represent our interests results in our exclusion and perceived powerlessness. It also risks dangerous decisions being made for the country and the world, which is what has been happening.

In contrast, the spiritual community described here empowers both self-leadership and collective leadership. There is no hierarchy of power with one leader ruling the entire community, and apathy is not deliberately institutionalised to protect hierarchies of power. Instead, we practise personal responsibility, work on self-empowerment, and make decisions collectively through consensus.

While there is no community leader, individuals can and should volunteer as facilitators to guide community processes and foster communication and collaboration. Examples of how facilitators can help include:

• Motivating participation.
• Facilitating discussion and decision-making processes.
• Helping to resolve conflict.
• Facilitating personal and spiritual growth.
• Facilitating the use of community currency and gift circles.
• Coordinating workshops, training sessions, events, and activities.
• Helping community decisions align with the community’s shared vision and core spiritual values.
• Representing the community in external matters.

Personal and Spiritual Growth

An intentional community serves as a fast track for personal growth as it demands personal responsibility, community interaction, consensus-building, and mutual support. All of these require us to release negative patterns and mature the ego.

A spiritual community requires our spiritual growth to develop mindfulness, compassion, and the integration of the true self. Through the integration of the true self, we can more effectively embody the spiritual values that will help make the world a better place, and we can release the illusions about identity and the nature of reality that cause so much suffering.

Compassion is one of the most important spiritual values for us to embody through spiritual growth. When observing mainstream society, it is evident that compassion is stifled. This is why there is so much suffering in the world, including wars, poverty, repression, and environmental destruction. Without compassion, individuals, including leaders, are desensitised to the suffering of themselves and others, and societal norms and values can easily become dehumanising. Given this, spiritual communities hold a sacred responsibility to model compassionate living.

Spiritual communities can support personal and spiritual growth by providing workshops, training sessions, study groups, and mentorship programmes. Additionally, they can hold daily community meditation sessions that promote mindfulness and spiritual development.

Community Bonding

Community bonding is a natural consequence of being in an intentional community. However, it can be enhanced further by focusing on collective practices such as the following:

• Shared meals. Eating together is a universal bonding activity, fostering a sense of unity and allowing conversations to occur.
• Potluck dinners. Beyond shared meals, potluck dinners encourage individuals to contribute homemade dishes, showcasing diverse culinary talents and reinforcing the spirit of communal sharing.
• Music jam sessions. Music serves as a powerful medium for emotional expression and connection.
• Artistic collaborations. Collaborative art projects, whether visual, performing, or literary, provide opportunities for creative expression and strengthen the communal artistic identity.
• Celebrations and festivals. These mark important milestones and contribute to a festive atmosphere, enhancing community spirit.
• Community meditations. Meditation can promote a state of collective mindfulness and a sense of spiritual unity.
• Seasonal rituals. Celebrating solstices and equinoxes and the cross-quarter days with specific rituals or ceremonies connects the community to nature’s cycles and deepens their spiritual ties.
• Talking circles. The community gathers in a circle to pass a talking piece around, which provides each person an opportunity to speak with everybody else’s full and respectful attention, fostering understanding and inclusivity.
• Gift circles. Participants gather together in a circle with mindfulness to contribute and receive meaningful heart-based gifts, creating a practice that deepens community bonds, promotes generosity, and encourages mutual support.
• Community workshops. Workshops offer opportunities for skill-sharing, learning, and collaboration, contributing to the intellectual development of the community.
• Storytelling circles. Sharing personal stories deepens connections by fostering empathy and understanding among community members.
• Community gardening. Tending to a shared garden promotes collaboration, connection to nature, and the joy of collectively nurturing living spaces.
• Tree-Planting ceremony. Symbolic of growth and environmentally significant, a tree-planting ceremony unites the community around its spiritual values.

Community Economics

For a spiritual community to be independent of mainstream society, it should develop its own economy tied to the community and aligned with its principles and values. Developing independent community economies frees us from our dependency on the debt-based, centralised economics that drains away our wealth and energy and is ecologically, socially, and economically unsustainable.

Features of such community economies include:

• Internal community trading. To foster self-sufficiency and keep the community’s wealth within the community, the exchange of goods and services should always be kept within the community whenever possible. A local community economy encourages the creativity, resourcefulness, and enterprise of individuals as they seek to provide for the authentic needs of others in the community.
• Local community currency. To support internal community trading and safeguard the community’s economy, the community can create a local, non-convertible community currency and issue it interest-free. This keeps the circulation of the currency and the wealth it represents within the community. It also builds mutual support between community individuals and ensures that the currency can do what it is truly meant to do—serve the needs and wellbeing of a community. This contrasts with the national currency in mainstream society, which can drain a local community’s wealth away. Two notable examples of a local community currency are a mutual credit system and a time banking system:
  • Mutual credit system. There is no physical currency. Everyone in the community has an account in the mutual credit system that starts at zero. When a product or service is provided within the community, the amount of credits representing its value are added to the provider’s account and the same amount of credits are deducted from the buyer’s account. The sum total of all accounts in the system always remains at zero. People whose balances exceed an agreed positive or negative limit are encouraged to buy or sell to bring their balance back towards zero. If necessary, caps can be placed on positive and negative balances.
  • Timebanking system. There is no physical currency. Everyone’s account starts at zero. When a product or service is provided within the community, one time credit per hour of service is added to the provider’s account and the same amount is deducted from the recipient’s account. Although timebanking normally focuses on the exchange of services, it is possible to exchange products by valuing them in time credits. As with the mutual credit system, the sum total of all accounts in the system always remains at zero. People whose balances exceed an agreed positive or negative limit are encouraged to bring their balance back towards zero. If necessary, caps can be placed on positive and negative balances.
• Bartering. Bartering is the direct swap of goods or services between two individuals without the use of currency. Individuals negotiate and trade goods or services based on their perceived value. This practice fosters a sense of reciprocity and interdependence, emphasising the value of contributions over monetary worth. It cultivates a spirit of cooperation and shared abundance while bypassing conventional economic transactions.
• Gifting. The practice of providing goods or services to the community as gifts. There is no barter or currency exchange and no expectation of immediate or direct reciprocity. Gifting often occurs in gift circles, where individuals come together in a circle to contribute what they can and receive what they need. This practice deepens community bonds, generosity, and mutual support.
• Shared Resources. There is no need to exchange resources if they are already shared. Shared resources are collectively owned by the community, offering a sustainable solution that strengthens community spirit. Examples include community centres, community gardens, communal spaces, shared dining areas, shared housing, tools, utilities, libraries, transport vehicles, and financial resources for collective needs.
• Sustainability. The above features all demonstrate the principle of sustainability. Sustainable economics focuses on such things as:
  • Small-scale community economies.
  • Local currencies issued without interest.
  • Barter and gifting.
  • Shared resources.
  • Reduced production and consumption.
  • Use of renewable energy (solar, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal power).
  • Eco-friendly construction.
  • Reusing and recycling.
  • Local organic farming.
  • Rainwater harvesting.
  • Reduced environmental impact.

The development of an independent and self-sufficient economy is one of the most challenging aspects of spiritual community. However, it is encouraging that there are plenty of off-grid communities being established that operate independently of public utility services and the state infrastructure. With commitment, many transitional spiritual communities can evolve closer to being fully autonomous and self-sufficient. To further reduce their dependency on the economy of mainstream society, spiritual communities can network and trade with each other for mutual economic support.

Although a transitional spiritual community is still dependent on the national economy of mainstream society, it can and should use its own local community currency in parallel with the national currency. Prioritising the use of the local community currency over the national currency is essential for the community’s autonomy as it strengthens internal trade, fosters mutual support among community individuals, and ensures that the circulation of wealth remains within the community, aligning with its principles and values.

Benefits of Spiritual Community

• Spiritual growth and self-realisation.
• Spiritual belonging and acceptance.
• Shared values.
• Freedom to find, develop, and embody the true self.
• Greater authenticity.
• Liberation from the repression of the true self.
• A greater sense of life purpose and fulfilment.
• Mutual support.
• Community bonding.
• Enhanced personal growth.
• Enhanced wellbeing.
• Peaceful and compassionate living.
• Collective decision-making.
• A beacon of liberation to mainstream society.

Conclusion

Spiritual community, whether transitional or autonomous, is urgently needed as an alternative to mainstream society, which has long repressed the true self and is now taking an increasingly dangerous course. Spiritual community provides the vital connection and support we need to embody the true self and ground its light and spiritual values into the physical world. It also serves as a liberating beacon to those in mainstream society, shining as an enlightened model of living and a pathway out of suffering. It is time for us to come together and actively engage in establishing and developing spiritual community. In doing so, we can help change the collective course of humanity for the better.