What means Community

I had such a lovely time at the meditation retreat at Karmê Chöling. “A Shambhala meditation retreat center and community for people from all walks of life to connect with their basic goodness and the basic goodness of others.” It is such a kind and easy community  and caused me to reflect on why and how we can have more of it at home. I know it’s like that song, it needs to begin with me.  I create my community, we each do.

Sharing a month in such an intentional place ever focussed on something so simple as basic goodness was so restorative because no energy was lost in the kind of vigilance that I take for granted at home in the city. I felt like everyone was watching my back which is perhaps what community means and I feel we are so starved for it.  We have some but it’s fragile because it’s often not rooted in shared values but rather in geography which is good but not usually enough. Seeing how when people are committed to something as simple as basic goodness a blossoming happens inspires me. We all want this. I need to remind myself of that and act accordingly.