The Good News of the 1st Law: Breakthrough and Community

This comes from an experience living in community last year during a year of service out in California.

1. Breakthrough may or may not occur. It is unpredictable. How it happens is mysterious. All we can do is work toward breakthrough.

We didn’t quite know what we were doing, nor did we continuously make efforts to actively engage one another. Community is funny that way--we could co-habit a space, share meals, tells stories, show emotion, but still not understand what the other was saying. What we did well, maybe one of the only things we did well, was continuously show up for one another. When work was draining, we were annoyed at the poor job someone did at their chores, or interpersonal differences colored our conversations, we still managed to show up whether we were open to receive or not. The act of presence mattered.

My position midway through the year was one of defeat. How could we possibly be an open, loving, nurturing community if we were so different? If we were on so many opposite sides of different spectrums and belief systems and ways of living our lives? It didn’t seem possible, it still doesn’t seem--months removed--like it actually happened. But there were pockets of light and true consensus and mutual growth.

I believe that it was through our shared contemplation and experience of the divine that led us to a place of peace. A ceasefire, a new hope for our co-creation of this entity we called community. Through our weeks spent on the road climbing up snow-covered mountains, hiking up heaven’s stairs through the mist, watching the sun rise and set over some of nature’s greatest majesty, or driving on the edge of a cliff screaming ourselves voiceless to crappy early 2000s pop-rock music, we came together through a shared experience of the glory of this world. Through a deeper experience with the great mystery, we mysteriously were able to meet each other in a place of mutual awe and love for our earth, our experience, and each other.

Was it a breakthrough? It’s still unclear. Yet, we worked for it in our own unexpected and mysterious way.

Perhaps this is the good news waiting to be birthed in our torn and battered world. Through showing up for one another and mutually contemplating a sunset, we can start to understand the humanity in one another and less the stark polarizing differences. This naive approach is simple, but perhaps it’s the only place to start.