Learn How to Embrace Community for Spiritual Growth | Planet Dharma

1. Learn How to Embrace Community for Spiritual Growth Embracing Community Grows You Embracing community is vitally important for spiritual growth. If you want to really live well, it is important to participate in a community. If you don’t belong to a group, you can hide out and pretend to have things integrated that aren’t because nobody’s there to challenge you. Your peers know when you’re pretending and when you’re putting on airs. The ego is afraid it’s going to be suffocated, drowned, controlled, or otherwise lost in a group. But avoiding community makes you feel isolated. In order to transcend that fear, you need to be part of a group. Facing the Pressure of Community You may have left your hometown or your country because of your unconventional views. But why are these views a problem? Because of the pressure to conform. So, what are you avoiding? Pressure! You cannot be a warrior on the spiritual path as long as you avoid it. By avoiding embracing community you can pretend the pressure doesn’t exist, but that won’t free you. You must join in, be yourself, take the hits, and keep going. If you don’t call each other on your blind spots, yourspiritual growth will stagnate, no matter how much meditation you do. Stop Running, Meet Each Other with Heart You must show up for each other honestly and with real heart. There was a point in your life when you needed to run. But you’ve done that already. You can’t keep running. It’s time to stop, turn around and meet whatever you’re afraid of. You can do it gently most of the time. But you have to meet it. Source URL: https://www.planetdharma.com/embracing-community/