shamans   Edge

Fast-forward to today, where all men are islands and personal achievement — clawing your way to the top of the heap — is celebrated as success. Does this modern success leave something lacking? Could it be that deep community is a core missing piece, a birthright of humanity so crucial that a human culture without it will not survive for long?

 

 

In this time of turmoil and transition in the world, the Sacred Fire Community is standing up for deep community. Nobody is suggesting we go back in time, get rid of our technology, start using stone tools. Instead, we envision — and strive to embody — a culture of connection, where humanity isn’t the top dog; where instead, we’re a thread in the tapestry of life made up of plants, fish, bugs, birds, animals, stones, trees, mountains, lightning, ocean, rain and fire.

We find it practical to live with the world, to listen to those around us, to live a life that doesn’t involve one-upmanship, constant shopping, and the celebration of greed. By standing in the fire with each other, we have discovered something precious. It has to do with practicality, sustainability, purpose, transformation and deep joy. When we notice it’s teaching us to let go of fear and go with the flow, sometimes we describe it as living from Heart. When we see ourselves getting better at embracing conflict, at letting go of hopelessness, at being good friends to our friends and good spouses and parents and coworkers…when we start becoming a bit wiser, a bit funnier, a bit more what we’re meant to be, sometimes we describe it as the dance of deep community.