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Is This the Right Spiritual Community for Me?
A spiritual path is often solitary. It’s also often hard going, and without the support of community there are times when you may be in danger of falling off the path altogether. Guidance from others can keep you from wandering into the wilderness, or losing your confidence that you can see the way forward. So there is a constant tension between finding your own way, and confidently treading the path that has been followed by others. Membership in a community is good insurance against losing your way, your confidence, or your enthusiasm.
Do the demands and requirements of your spiritual community contribute to or interfere with your progress on the path? How do you even know? That’s an especially hard question for a new or aspiring member of a group: the desire to belong can make you a little more inclined to conform and a little less inclined to question. It’s an even harder question for an older or long-time member of a spiritual community when doubts arise. In this case, so much more is at stake. You might have achieved a position of status or privilege in your community that is hard to walk away from. You might not be prepared to confront the possibility that you have already drunk quite a lot of Kool-Aid, and that lately it isn’t that nourishing.
The short answer to the two questions above is straightforward: go with your gut. If…
