The Community of Acceptance

The search for community is often a long and hard one. We all desperately want, and need, to belong to something, somewhere, somehow, and yet we have also fought desperately for our freedom and are legitimately fearful of backsliding into group dynamics that suffocate individual expression and creativity. 

This, in essence, is the problem around the desire and need for both community and freedom, for arguably, we cannot have one without the other. The late 70’s and so called “me-generation” 80’s perhaps witnessed the apex of individualism in unbridled capitalism, the quest for endless sensation and experience, and ultimately (as Philip Slater entitled it) the pursuit of loneliness.  

Ironically, as the “glory of me” ideal was cracking through various forms of addiction, existential despair, and loss of will, the ideal of the commune was also falling apart. The construct of any collective willing to sacrifice the individual for its group mind was revealed as stultifying and oppressive.  And as one communal experiment after another grew up, and then disbanded, through the counter-culture, the challenges of our living together were painfully revealed.

Radiant Spirit (final): Ten Practices of Abundance

 

Note:  This is the final installment of Rick’s “Radiant Spirit” article, featuring practices 8-10, that we can work with daily.  Previous installments posted below (starting on April 4); comments welcome.

Worship is the Ultimate Art Form 

We have forgotten worship. We were oppressed with it, and it became a chore. But receiving the continuous overflow of fullness engenders awesome response. Worship is the art-form that anyone can practice with anything that is at hand. You can create your own style of loving life, of giving back the overflow – flowers, water song, dance, altars. Make altars wherever you go, indoors or outdoors, in the back yard, in the living room, and in the office. The altar of the earth, the altar of the sea, the altar of the desk, the altar of the soccer field, allow your inner artist to burst forth in praise and glory!

Radiant Spirit (cont.): Abundance Practices 5, 6 & 7

 

This is the fourth installment of Rick’s “Radiant Spirit” article, featuring practices of abundance 5-7, that we can work with daily.  This series began on April 4.  

Radiant Spirit (cont.): Abundance Practices 3 & 4

 

This is the third installment of Rick’s “Radiant Spirit” article, featuring the third & fourth practices of abundance that we can work with daily.  This series began on April 4.  Comments welcome!

Radiant Spirit (cont.): Abundance Practices 1 & 2

This is the second installment of Rick’s “Radiant Spirit” article, featuring the first & second practices of abundance.  The first installment was posted on April 4.

The Radiant Spirit: Ten Practices of Abundance

Note: Rick is immersed in a particularly busy flurry of activity currently, so I am posting a recent article of his, in installments.  I hope you enjoy it.  Following is the introduction; the ten practices have been subsequently posted in manageable bytes.  

The Radiant Spirit: Ten Practices of Abundance

The Practice of Abundance is a doorway into secular enlightenment, the non-denominational openness to the free flow of Spirit in our lives. It is not to be confused with feel-good prosperity programs and romanticized new-age proclamations that deny economic and social realities. Rather, the practice of Abundance allows us to develop an open flow and compassionate awareness through these very realities. It asks us to be clear, alert, and awake enough to transform every interactive moment into an opportunity for the expansion of consciousness. In this way, the temples of truth and beauty take up their residence in our shopping malls and offices; and if we are willing to practice, there is no real need for a meditation cushion. The life you are given becomes your meditation, and the cushion just helps to prepare you for the true challenge of living every day in source and heart connection with everything and everyone.