Some friends and I were doing a ceremony this summer, as a way of coming to completion with our past, in the best way we could.  We were intending to open a clearing, an unconditioned space in which a compassionate and generative response to our future could emerge.

Part of our ceremony was devoted to examining, with discriminating wisdom, the spiritual practice we had all been engaged in for many years. It was a practice that no longer served us, and what became clear and vivid in our time together was this: despite long years of meditation and inquiry, we had never really learned how to live in relationship, with ourselves, with life, and with each other. This dilemma is not limited to one teaching or one particular practice. Many of the spiritual practices that emphasize the absolute or transcendent aspect of life treat all relationships as illusory, since the idea of an ‘other’ is a construction of the mind.

It struck us during this ceremony that excluding the whole field of relationship from our practice creates an incredibly huge gap in the teachings, since our life on earth, our life in a human body, is nothing but relationship. These kind of practices and teachings do not give us any support at all in learning what it is to be fully human.

The indigenous teachings, on the other hand, are deeply grounded in a view of life as a vast interconnected web of relations. They call us into the living experience of who we are when we are open and accountable for an unending relationship with the whole field of life. Some of these practices are solitary, but many are done in the context of community, in a spirit of deep intimacy, where we learn to be fully present and engaged, without our habitual barriers and defenses.

There are challenges that arise when we work in this way, coming from a culture that is based on very different values—being a separate individual, making it on your own, being strong and independent. I was also strongly conditioned in this way, and am still learning to open to a different way of being. I have received so much from reaching out, connecting, and discovering, step by step that there are radical new ways we can learn to be with each other.

When we are together, so much is available to us that is simply not there when we function in isolation. A depth of wisdom, love, and creativity emerge from these collective conversations, contemplations and dialogues. We come back into our lives and realize that new possibilities are everywhere, that by connecting in this way we have nourished and been nourished, we have empowered and been empowered. A fulfillment comes with this that is not temporary, not dependent on the conditions of our lives. We realize that we have, in each other, an unending source of support, courage, and grace.

In ‘A Sacred Gathering’ on Sept. 19, and ‘The Gift of Presence’ course that starts on Sept. 21, we will be exploring all of this together.

For more info about ‘A Sacred Gathering’, click here: http://www.barefootjourneys.net/index.php/events/event/a-sacred-gathering/

For more info about ‘The Gift of Presence 8 week course,’ click here: http://www.barefootjourneys.net/index.php/events/event/the-gift-of-presence1/