Thursday, May 1, 2014

Organic Community Book

Please feel free to read my Organic Community book below. If you enjoy the book, I would appreciate if you could add a review at the base of this post, or on my Amazon profile. Thank you in advance.

PREFACE

If you bought a puzzle, opened up the box, and discovered there was only one piece, the chances are that you would be rather upset. The fact of the matter is even if the puzzle were a gift to your three-year old child, they too would be upset. Picture yourself as one piece of a puzzle. Alone, your potential is limited, if not non-existent.
It is only when people work together as a group in some type of community that human potential can ever be remotely explored. Our power as individuals may be worshipped at this place and time in history, but this is only because the materialism surrounding us has allowed us to insulate ourselves from our true identity. We are lost and alone as islands in the sea of Spirituality and emotional growth. It is in relationship we change. Furthermore, it is in healthy relationships where we change for the better. This is not an option, it is THE WAY of love and truth.
The following endeavor is a compass of sort to help guide you on that particular path. Embrace it and move forward!

Stu Strang
June 2012



MEASURE THE LENGTH OF
YOUR LIFE BY LOVE…
NOT YEARS



CHAPTER 1

Not too long ago, a company—which will remain nameless—had internal problems and, after much deliberation, decided to hire a community developer to discern the situation and then act accordingly. Word spread throughout the land; the business doctor was discovered and brought into the company.
After interviewing all the staff quite extensively, the problem was exposed. As it turned out, one particular individual of the female variety maliciously and unrepentantly usurped the purpose and goals of the company, which will still remain nameless.
A weekend retreat was the subscription. During the course of this retreat, the situation would be manipulated in such a manner and the perpetrator of the criminal activity (sort of) exposed as a fraud and, as a result, everyone besides her could return to making the world a better place. A smart and cunning move if I say so myself. And it worked. By the middle of day two, the buttons pushed, the screams, yelling, and accusations began… and our little criminal was promptly sent home with nothing but a toaster as a farewell gift.
I don’t know the rest of the story, but I can tell you how it will inevitably play out. Very simple; sooner or later, they will hire the same individual again, not literally, but in essence the same type of person.
The heart of the problem was never dealt with, only the symptoms. Temporary relief replaced discovery; a bandage is probably the best way of describing it.
There are various manifestations of communities: spiritual, social, business, and so on. Each community has a specific degree of intimacy, transparency, and other such dynamics. Most of these communities I refer to as non-communities (which we will explore later). None-the-less, what all communities must have as a common goal is to move past the superficial level and explore truth, as their very survival depends on it.


CHAPTER 2


There are many reasons why people choose to deal with life (community) by manipulating the superficial aspects of its existence. There are perhaps too many to count. We will explore what seems to be the most important of these.

a)    The Western Mindset
If a cancer cure is ever going to be discovered, it will not be a North American event. Our way of thinking simply doesn’t allow for it. We treat our illnesses like we treat everything else; we deal with the symptoms very well and disregard the root of the problem just as passionately.
We have too much money. Money breeds privacy, and once we have our privacy we have the unfortunate luxury of being able to perpetrate the image of ourselves we want to get across to those around us. That being, we are wholly individual without wrinkle or blemish. In North America, we are Gods; and Gods don’t shit, wipe their ass, and certainly don’t salivate during sex.
Wealth is the greatest enemy to intimacy. It takes the human being to a place of esteem that he can never obtain by using his own loving initiative. He must bow down to the God of superficiality; because to disregard this God would be to put him in a place of transparency and be discovered for the very thing he wants to hide and lock away—human.

b)    Pride
I remember the day I walked down a particular street in my neighborhood and passed by a middle-aged man who happened to be an esteemed member of my city. I said hello, and for whatever reason, he sneered back and continued on his journey. What he didn’t know was how I knew his wife was an alcoholic and, on at least one occasion, attempted to get him to murder their only son. My suspicion was if I had shared this information, I probably would have been treated somewhat differently.
Pride is the opposite of love. It creates the illusion that one is better than another. And from this point, it allows many varied beliefs and attitudes to spring forth; all of which bring division.
The opposite of pride is humility. Roughly translated, humility is the state of seeking the truth concerning ones self and the environment in which one lives. Humility is the art of casting away false illusions, regardless of how convenient they may be, so love and healing can enter the situation, and people are brought together in understanding and compassion.
There simply isn’t enough humility in this world. Not only is this seen as a weakness, but it also involves a truthfulness that, at first glance, seems to put one at a profound disadvantage in terms of dealing with fellow human beings. It is showing your jugular vein to the rest of the pack and hoping they will have mercy on you; it is being naked in a world where, if you are not wearing a $3000 suit, you are seen as inferior.
It is no great curiosity why pride is an enemy of building community. The truth is far worse. Virtually every community I have seen in my lifetime not only gives into this trap, but has also embraced this as Universal truth. To be precise, possibly the most destructive force in the Universe is seen as a good, healthy belief.

c)    Power
People have no real power, only the illusion of power. We are not in control of our lives; we only have the neurotic belief we are in control of our lives. In essence, we are starving to obtain something that is simply not obtainable.
The human being is full of overcompensations. In fact, it is still quite possible to generally outline the psychological profile of an individual by finding out how he is overcompensating, and then drawing a straight line back to his true identity. Sexual behavior is one such example. Promiscuous sexual behavior is always linked to overcompensation for anger, sexual insecurity, or dire emotional need. Is it not difficult to discern which motivation, usually two or more, is at work. To be exact, the identity is discovered by looking at the intensity of the pretence of an individual.
Power takes this dynamic to a whole new level. Whereas most people feel somewhat perverted sexually, in one-way or another, all are profoundly lacking control. Hence, it is sought like air to breathe, yet on an emotional level.
True community embraces the absence of power. According to nature, the very thing we should be obsessed by, we have to learn not to pay attention to. True community is open and transparent. Power is replaced by trust. It is both volatile and beautiful. There is risk involved as well as the possibility of overwhelming joy.
It is easy to see why people want power of this level and many other levels. It is an easier way to live your life. Yet it has no more to do with community than water does with dry air. I once said to my community, “If you can stand up and say anything about yourself, and still be loved and accepted, then you are indeed in a true community.”

d)    Laziness
I met a friend for lunch recently. I looked at him and said “Nice shirt.”
He replied “Thank you.”
I said “Did a woman buy that for you.”
He said, “Yes.” Then I said, “Was she an oriental woman who was extremely nurturing?”
Again he replied, “Yes.”
Finally I asked, “Are you aware that she held it in her hands and prayed that you two would be united before she gave it to you?” His answer was an empathetic “Yes.”
Love is a Spiritual force not only governing the Universe, but when embraced to any extent, love can see into each and every thing. This has to be so; for love and truth are different manifestations of the same Spiritual dynamic.
I’ve met very few people in my life who wanted to completely follow the way of love. To most, love is seen as a strange emotion allowing one to get intimate feedback—sexual or otherwise—from another human being. It is about them, and for their benefit, and they retreat as emotions fade, or inconvenience grows.
Love is a way of life that takes concerted effort. Love is from a different universe—a Spiritual universe—and in order to bring it into this one, one must endure suffering. Feeling a certain emotion and following it blindly is so far away from what love is, it is often discussed in the context of narcissistic and selfish behavior.
Having said all this, it is easy to discern why laziness is a great enemy of community. A true community is painfully aware of its shortcomings, as a true community is constantly learning what love is and then applying it to the lack of love in their own lives.
To be blunt, a lazy person is incapable of a relationship with a community, as well as a relationship with themselves. They are asleep. And no one can get to know another human being if they don’t first want to know themselves.

e)    Fear
During my tenure with traditional religion and all it involved, I soon learnt that there was no way I could be at one with such a belief system and still maintain my integrity. Without getting too specific—at this point anyway—it became very obvious to the authorities, as well as myself, that our base beliefs had very little (if anything) in common.
The way traditional religion deals with such situations is to never argue points of doctrine or basic logic. As we will later discuss in great detail, institutions do not develop true community and, consequently, to have truth of any kind exposed to the light would be against their better interest.
It is quite easy to circumvent truth. Indeed, once you become fearful of another, truth is quickly and efficaciously thrown to the side. Fear is the opposite of love, and because of this dynamic it will avoid truth at all costs. One who is afraid he will lose his mind will attack, not because he is evil, but because he has been drugged by one of the most poisonous of all drugs.
If you are to embrace what I have just suggested, it is not difficult to see how fear can and will destroy a community. And if you are willing to acknowledge that fear is more likely to control human behavior than love, we can only conclude how fear is usually found in the fabric of most communities.
The sad and pathetic fact of the matter is it takes a very mature human being to transcend the fearful feelings of what we are exposed to on a daily basis. Fear guides us in so many ways. In the arms of fear, good people do very bad things. A community who is not dealing successfully with this disease is a community with a cancer growing within its very fabric.


CHAPTER 3

There is a name for community built upon such dynamics of human experience—paganism. Specifically, paganism per se is not concerned with the esthetic practices, as in essence, it a way of religiously attempting to get what you feel you desire. The rituals involved are secondary at best.
In Western civilization (I will explore “The West” as this is where I live) the religion practiced the most is that of the Christian God. His name is Jesus Christ. He lived about 2000 years ago and, contrary to what we may or may not have learned in Church, His message was profoundly simple:

a)     Love and forgiveness
b)     Feed the poor
c)     Submit to God’s will
d)     The kingdom of God is within
e)     Don’t judge

As far as I can tell, He didn’t have a lot (if anything) more to say than this. So my question is what happened? How could something so simple and beautiful, over such a short period of time, lead to inquisitions, war, racism, televangelists, sexual perversion, abnormal sexual purity ethics, how to get rich schemes, and so on?
A very appropriate example of this deterioration is found in the holiday of Easter. Initially meant to be a sacred time of embracing the death and resurrection of the Christian God, it became a holiday surrounded with bunnies that lay eggs and the journey to find chocolate under the couch. All of this is wonderful, but still you can’t help but wonder how the true message became misplaced.
Easter is derived from the word Estar, who just happens to be the name of an ancient fertility God who existed somewhere in the south of Europe. From the beginning, the Christian faith has adopted aspects of other religions into its bosom, as it did in this particular situation by encouraging greed and materialism. The way the West practice Christianity in these modern times has very little to do with what Christianity is supposed to be in its essence. Just as materialism is a form of paganism, so has Christianity adopted its ideals to accommodate such practices.
My point here is not to disparage pagan religion of practice. I’m sure such a practice can help many people obtain certain things considered by most of humanity to be quite valuable. The best way to practice paganism is to first become a pagan. Honesty on any level will help the individual focus upon what he desires, making its conquest inevitably much easier. The problem with most of the great world religions is how they have become essentially pagan without admitting this fact. The end result creates only darkness, despair, and confusion. Community is all about love, nothing else. If what I am attempting to suggest is true and love has been diverted in the most profound sense, then we must look closely at how it has been taken off course before we bring it back into focus.

a)    Deceit
I remember many years ago being the special guest speaker at a camp of denomination, which will remain a mystery to the reader. At one particular vespers service, 52 of the 54 youth began to weep and cry after I finished my speech. It quickly came to the surface (although the entire event lasted over four hours) that there had been abuse and violence in the homes of most of the children. In short, I was quickly discredited and dehumanized as an individual behind the scene. Being a young man, I was shocked. I expected nothing less at this point in my life.
Where there is control and the other pagan attributes described in the last chapter, there is (at least on a mass scale) the absence of love. And where there is the absence of love, other objects will always take its place. There is no need to even consider what is going on in any community centered on the idea of self and what the self desires. No matter where you are to travel, it will always be the same.
At this point I have to admit I am not a humanist. I do believe the success of any community is the following of some sort of Divine love that is able to guide the life of anyone interested. He or she, if Divine, is obviously not insecure in receiving the correct label. In essence, it is the way of love, call it what you will.

b)    Pride
In many respects, pride is the exact opposite of love. Pride demands separation from one another in the purest sense possible. To be proud is to forsake humility, making up your own definition of what love is and is not as you go along.
About five years ago, my father disowned me. He wrote me a vicious, nasty letter concerning my lifestyle, which I believe had to be addressed. I took it to the art shop to be mounted and laminated, then I wrote on the back “An apology would be appreciated, love Stu.” The next correspondence I received was from his lawyer, essentially writing me out of his will.
The most interesting aspect of this interaction is how, amongst other things, my father is both a child beater and alcoholic. I grew up as a severely abused child. Through the Divine gift of humility, I was able to completely forgive him in every respect possible. Through the manifestations of a proud heart, he became murderous over the slightest confrontation done in love. He took my letter down to the shooting range and used it for target practice.
As humanity, left to it own accord, makes up its own definition of what love is, the definition changes ever so slightly as it goes along. Each change becomes more self-seeking. This is the out working of pride, and as we make these decisions to separate ourselves from a Spiritual love that heals, we in turn become more and more separated from each other. Ultimately our own definition of what is right erodes and destroys our love for each other.

c)    Lust
Contrary to popular belief, lust is not just a simple aspect of human sexuality; lust is a way of life that involves taking things sexual or otherwise, which have not been generously and obviously given to you, as the tide of love ebbs and flows throughout your own little world and the Universe at large. Lust is an intellectual mindset intimately entwined with our Spiritual and emotional components.
There is nothing complex about the human condition. People are very obvious, it only seems the opposite since our needs and agendas obscure the view. I can draw a map of someone’s sexual habits and desires after just a very short conversation. For example, the kind of person who won’t shut up always has a deep-seated neurotic need for approval, which will inevitably spill out into the sexual area of their life. This has to be so as people are not a series of distinct components (at least not in the traditional sense). Instead people are various manifestations of the same thing. Mentally, Spiritually, sexually, it’s the same person expressing himself differently (much like solid liquid and gas in regards to water).
It is interesting how people doubt this dynamic. Most people can even discern an extremely angry man as he walks down the street kicking household pets and swearing and cussing as he goes. At least many of them can tell, to one extent or another, he wouldn’t be very good in bed. I am only taking this observation of behavior a little further, okay maybe more than a little. For example, I can usually distinguish if someone is committing adultery by the way they scratch their head. However, it’s the same principle exactly.
In the ruins of lustful behavior, there emerges the need for some type of justification, as no one desires to be seen as lustful. Such justifications then happen in the form of board meetings, written agendas, elder meetings, and other such hideous things. To be blunt, when such problems manifest, it is already too late to save your community. End it. Re-examine yourself and your motives, take some time off, and try again.
Here is a brief outline on the development of lust, stage to stage:

a)     You want something that isn’t yours.
b)     There is a cognitive awareness of this, and it makes you aware of your impurities as a human.
c)     “No” says a part of you, “I am good” and justifications begin to take place.
d)     Lies creates darkness, things grow in the darkness and self righteousness and religion arise to overcompensate.
e)     Love is lost and ritual takes it place.
f)      People get really hurt.
g)     People are dehumanized in order to justify what has happened.

If some of this information seems obscure to you, don’t panic! Things will become clearer as we continue.


CHAPTER 4

If you have followed me so far, here is what you have learned:

a)     Community is a good thing, derived from a good heart, and needed to grow a reasonable whole human being.
b)     It hardly ever happens, and the reason is because man is our greatest enemy.
c)     Maybe things could be different if we could even admit this to ourselves, but we can’t. Hence, we construct an elaborate, and even brilliant, way of justifying things to ourselves.

It is not our minds we have to worry about. A stupid person with a loving heart can find peace, love, and understanding here on Earth with his limited brain capacity, just as easily as a smart person. Conversely, they can both find hell on Earth, only the reasoning and justifications will be somewhat different.
If you don’t believe in the power of the subconscious mind, we may be at a possible crossroads. It does not mean to say put down the book, as I feel quite sure you will be at least somewhat entertained. In the subconscious mind is where beauty grows, or to be specific, where community begins.

Short Stories

a)    May 1991
About a year and a half into the formation of our community, a mother of a young man involved wanted to talk to me concerning her child and a very specific friend he spent time with. As it happened, it bothered her that the two children (who somehow found each other despite living miles apart) spent much of their time pretending they were brothers. At first I didn’t understand her concern, but then she explained that they were in fact brothers. Because of her age when her eldest was born, she deemed it appropriate to give him up for adoption.

b)    Karon
I remember one night, back when I lived in the beautiful continent of Australia, waking up at three or four in the morning with a horrible feeling about a friend of mine in danger of being raped. I immediately flew out of bed, put on clothes, and drove to her place of employment where I found her getting ready to leave for home. I told her why I was there, and then preceded to drive her safely home. The next day, we discovered that, not only did a rape occur in that particular neighborhood the night before, but we also estimated that if Karon had walked home, she would have been on that specific street at the specific time of the attack.

c)    Mother
Quite a few years ago, my mother moved to a small town on the south coast of Nova Scotia referred to as Bridgewater (mainly because that is what it is called). The first time I went to visit her, I asked her if she had bought the house from an elderly lady. Then I asked her if the lady was sick with a very painful form of arthritis. Finally, I asked her if the elderly lady had to sell the house because she had lost her mind. Of course, the answer was a resounding yes to all three questions. Just for the hell of it, I asked her one more question, did she want to know how I knew these things, and she answered no.
Through my understanding, virtually all community is formed by utilizing the conscious mind to its full capacity and disregarding the subconscious mind as much as possible. Plans are drawn up, demographics studied, agendas formed, and the community grows on these terms. In studying community development many years ago, this is exactly what I learned, and there are many reasons for this.

1)     People quite often don’t believe in forces they cannot perceive with their eyes. And to let such a force guide the development of a community would be irresponsible at best.
2)     After years of grocery shopping and other such things, I have spent much of my time holding doors open for my fellow shoppers. The one thing I have noticed with all the shoppers is their need to touch the door while I’m holding it. For better or worse, I’ve turned this into a little game for my amusement. While holding the door completely open, I keep enough space between where the door is and where the door stops swinging so that when the person goes to touch the door, I can yank it back just a little bit more to keep it out of their reach. They reach more, and I pull more. Sometimes they almost pull their back out reaching for the stupid thing. The point is, people are control freaks, and to rely on something they cannot either understand or control is not an easy task.
3)     In regards to the subconscious mind, like attracts like, love attracts love; selfishness attracts selfishness, and so on. Put two criminals in a room of 500 people, and they will find each other’s company within five minutes. We will discuss the importance of leadership later, however, at this juncture, if you are an asshole attempting to form an organic community, you will indeed find yourself surrounded by other assholes.


CHAPTER 5

It is impossible to discuss the subconscious mind without bringing God into the picture. According to any theistic religion I deem valid, people have a relationship with God and He is more than willing to communicate with them through the subconscious mind, specifically, His Spirit with our Spirit. If you don’t believe in God, or you believe it is a type of cosmic energy that ebbs and flows. Fine. This works too. It doesn’t matter to me what you refer to Him as, what does matter is the certain dynamics to any manifestation of Spiritual, or cosmic belief in terms of forming community.

a)    Sex and The Spirit
During the third year of my ordination with a traditional denomination, which will still remain nameless throughout the course of this book, I was “privileged” with the experience of attending their annual conference. It was there I discovered how one minister lost his status in the denomination for nude sunbathing with a member of his congregation, and another minister for being gay. A third committed adultery, but he resigned before they could take away his credentials, so they wanted to take him to court, wanted the court to reinstate him, just so they could then have him officially removed. I don’t think the case ever happened.
My response to this, being a perpetual skinny dipper, was to plot my escape from these people. It took 14 months, and I wish I knew then what I know now.
The people I have mentioned will be scarred for life because of the lack of understanding and tenderness given to them. And the sexual part of the human is not as central as the Spiritual. If you cannot love people and nurture this area of their lives, then deal with areas that are not so central to their identity. If you find this difficult too, then stay away from them. People are to be cared for and embraced at all costs.

b)    A Slow Arc To Justice
It is now common knowledge that over 50 percent of prisoners in North America are inflicted with a disease known as fetal alcohol syndrome. This is an ailment caused by the pregnant mother drinking unhealthy amounts of alcohol, which results in the child having very little, or no, ability to understanding the consequences of their actions. Virtually the rest of the continent is incapable of abstract thought, a condition with very similar characteristics.
There is indeed a slow arc moving in the direction of justice. People are so engrossed with immediate stimulation, it may be difficult to perceive, yet it doesn’t change the fact that this is life.
If you are into immediate stimulation, it is very easy to grow a rather large community, for example, 100 to 5000 in a very short period of time. Here’s what to do:

1.     Study the demographics of a city.
2.     Decide which one you want to appeal to.
3.     Model your platform to suit their needs and lusts.
4.     Communicate to them in a way that seems challenging, yet promises them that what they want out of life is what is right for them to have.
5.     Create a high-energy atmosphere to stimulate the certain areas of the brain not often stimulated.
6.     Never reveal your true identity, it will remind them of their weaknesses, and they may leave.
7.     Specifically, your emphasis must be on some manifestation of materialism. It is a materialistic society, but don’t make anyone feel uncomfortable.

A year or so ago, at the swimming pool I frequently visit, I found a diamond ring worth hundreds of dollars, if not more. I returned it. A week or so later, someone stole my two dollar soap dish. I am sure they are washing themselves and laughing at me, as we speak. Growing a community by utilizing the above method is like the guy who took my soap dish. The only different is, he probably won’t choke on a piece of plastic.
The reason why people feel compelled to grow a community by appealing to the conscience, instead of the Spiritual person (besides ignorance) is simply because when you appeal to the Spirit, you inevitably attract people who are of a kindred Spirit. For most people, this is a nightmare.

c)    The Appearance of Insanity
When we began our community back in 1990, almost immediately we had thirty or so people. By the end of the first year, once everyone realized I was serious about the unconditional love message and how it was to be our one and only objective, we were left with only five people. That Christmas, I preached a sermon to a room with no people. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the mouse that ran across the back of the room, I would have been completely alone.
Many years after this event, during a certain financial crisis, our main contractor decided to stop supporting our community. Within a few weeks, I felt strangely compelled to very strongly suggest to another of our main supporters to stop the monetary support. In other words, we were screwed, or so it seemed! Don’t ask me how it happened, but after losing 40% of income, we had more money than previously. I’m no financial expert, but it didn’t make much sense to me.
When real community—organic community—takes place, it completely transcends the intellectual properties of the human race. God perpetuates it. And because He knows so much more than us, because He can see things we cannot, there is created the appearance of insanity in the formation of the community. Things can look their worst, look its best, or vice versa.

How to be insane:
1)     Know yourself so intuition can flow freely.
2)     Obey your intuition.
3)     Love is the force taking things where they are supposed to go.
4)     Don’t listen to anyone you don’t really trust (hidden agendas).
5)     Be prepared to suffer, you are not obeying the status quo.

Obviously, all of these things are explained more thoroughly as we proceed.


CHAPTER 6

It is then within the subconscious mind where the essential qualities breed to form community. Yet before this is explored, there are two other “community” type situations we need to look at 1) the perversion of community, which is religion, and 2) the far less threatening non-community. We will look at this very quickly, more as a point of reference than a point of relevance. Through it may seem like community, and through it may be embraced like community, this has more to do with the fact most people in our society simply don’t have a point of reference for what true community is than anything else.
When I was a boy I played on the Atlantic Canadian tennis circuit. What me and all the other kids had in common was one thing; tennis. Tennis is a very superficial, cosmetic thing not requiring you to deal with issues of the heart. This does not mean the very central issues of life are not exposed while playing on the tennis circuit, as many a child were caught masturbating in the showers in the church halls where we stayed, and you can’t really tell them that tennis doesn’t relate to issues of the heart, yet this is not the primary objective of tennis. It is more a by-product.
Non-communities, by their very nature, do not deal with the central part of the human condition—Spirituality. They are more to do with the outer aspects of our personhood. Now the best and most appropriate question to ask at this time is “When does a non-community reach so deep into the human condition that it suddenly becomes a community?” Good question. (An example is people who get together and talk about their addictions are getting close to the heart of the matter). I don’t think we have to answer this question. In fact a blanket statement would be more judgmental and arrogant than wise. We are attempting to force a framework here, nothing more.

Characteristics of Non-Communities:
a)     As discussed, by their very nature they do not deal with the central part of the human condition.
b)     There is some type of commitment to their existence.
c)     The commitment may be one of idolatry or otherwise, and true idol worship is in the perversion of community (religion) and in its confines, people are expected to make whatever is going on very central to who they are, judging those who do not have the same priority.
d)     None the les, there is a pull in this general direction as people are essentially insecure and want to see themselves better than someone else.
e)     Truth of who and what a person is generally is not seen relevant; non-communities are there to make people comfortable, with the truth about its people uncomfortable.
f)      Like everything else involving people, it may change without notice, or so it would seem to be the untrained eye.
g)     Not necessarily because of its design, but because it has people involved, there is always a type of “pecking order”, which in some ways is a perversion of love, acceptance, and forgiveness.


CHAPTER 7

I think we can safely conclude that all truth is derived from the subconscious mind. Our intuition (call it what you will) gives us direction and, in order to build a healthy community, it must be listened and responded to. The subconscious mind is in tune with another universe, Spiritual and eternal in nature. The conscious mind is there to obey its directions.
The truth of the matter is, however, this hardly ever happens. Virtually in every circumstance in life, we make the conscious mind our personal deity. Some people refer to this as growing up; others refer to it as intellectualism, while others suggest it is a survival mechanism. I refer to it as the essence of religion.
Religion is separation from true Spirituality. It is our way of understanding things in a manner always slanted in the direction of our personal desires and agendas. While Spirituality is based on following the ebb and flow of Divine love, religion is pure rebellion from this, and results in an arbitrary set of rules wrapped in a coat of self-righteousness to disguise itself from its true identity.
Religion is a disease we all contend with, and it is part of our lower nature. Going to church, or any other type of ritual, to exercise this lower nature might be taking it to a slightly more condensed level, yet it is the same thing.
We cannot explore what true community is until we explore what true community is not. Just like there is no cure for disease before its diagnosis, Religion will “piggy-back” Spirituality wherever it goes, gradually sucking the life out of it and replacing its essence with its own cancerous poison. To think this will not happen is both arrogant and stupid. Hence, the next third of this book is dedicated to helping you discern your greatest enemy of your longing for real community, your justified self.

WHAT IS REAL GROWS OUT OF DIRT…
NOT BOARD MEETINGS


CHAPTER 8

The journey into religion is the journey away from love. It is also the journey away from humility and transparency and into the realm of darkness and self-righteousness. For most, it takes years for this process to unfold. Nonetheless, as a result of this, the true identity of the individual is completely lost, the Spirit is destroyed, and morality takes it place. An arbitrary set of rules designed to mimic love, yet really does no such thing. Instead, it puffs up the ego of its owner and mails those who are living within the sphere of its existence.

The following is a brief outline of the various steps of this tragic journey:

a)     As a child, most of us are willing to learn and grow; believing love is truly a better way. Inevitably, humility is a part of this process.
b)     Usually as an adolescent, most human beings become aware that love has a price attached to it, believe it is a hard road and is non congruent with power, money, and arbitrary sexual behavior. As a central profound life defining experience, it is submitted.
c)     Without Spiritual love, the self becomes lost, and intuition and Divine guidance is replaced by impulses, desires, and intellectual ambition.
d)     Laws, rules, and self-righteous ideas take place of Divine Truth, yet these things are horrible imitations and achieve a murderous effect upon the self and everyone around.
e)     Though all people who have given up on love are religious within their hearts, many people come together in very large, or small numbers, to celebrate the ideals that have been formed first within. This is referred to as the institution of religion.

I must make clear how the wonderful and beautiful people, as far as I can discern, never feel the need to start a religion (contrary to popular belief). Their message was and is simple; love, and with that love, community will arrive. If you feel I am disparaging Christianity, Islam, or any other religion, you have completely missed my point. People have smothered and murdered the essence of the great teachers of Spirituality who have blessed the world over the centuries. Spirituality and institutions have nothing in common by their very natures. They are two different universes. In the confines of institutions, man has taken something very beautiful and bastardized it for his own benefit.


CHAPTER 9

Religion has no good quality attached to it. In its place is a plethora of evil qualities clearly disguised as such. In addition, one particular quality is the ability to deal with reality.
Many years ago, in a small white church in the South end of Canada’s twelfth largest city, several teenagers (one would hope anyway) broke into the building in the middle of the night and copulated on the middle of the church floor. Being generous in nature, they decided to leave a present—a used condom. To put it bluntly, the shit hit the fan the next morning. Screaming accusations and board meetings were to follow. Throwing it away and continuing life was simply not an option.
I have always said if you can stand up in any particular church and say anything about yourself and still be accepted and loved, it is at least on its way to becoming a healthy community who embraces freedom and encourages you to be who you are, say who you are, and become all that love desires you to be. The following is a brief outline of how religion is in direct opposition to this idea.

a)    Self-Righteousness
Without self-righteousness, we can no more have religion than we can have carrots without dirt. The self-righteous person appears to be “Godly”, but is as far away from this state as you can imagine. To know love is to know humility, and to know humility is to know there is something fundamentally wrong with your personhood. Therefore, you can no longer be self-righteous with your fellow human beings.
One thing I know to be fundamentally true, yet I’ve never heard addressed before in my life (present company excluded), is what is self-righteousness. Everything evil is a specific perversion of something good, so what beautiful thing gave birth to self-righteousness.
We are not supposed to judge anyone, nor are we supposed to condemn them after the fun of judging is gone. However, the facts before us cannot be denied, people are quite often dangerous. Hence, we must have strong boundaries in terms of who we let into our lives, and to what extent.
Many years ago, I preached a series of “sermons” on boundaries, and I don’t think there was a person in the community who wasn’t shook by the experience. It bothers me how this topic seems to be unobserved as one of importance in the world at large. What bothers me and the only explanation I can think of for this; people are too addicted to their self-righteousness to even begin to address this subject.
Back to self-righteousness, it is an evil thing. Like all evil things, it is not real (an illusion of sorts). And in the face of love, it falls apart, withers, and dies.

b)    Control
Because self-righteousness is not real, and because people will eventually disclose themselves if they operate in such a way, there are two additional dynamics put into place to continue on the path of despair and ruin. The first is what is commonly referred to as control.
Many years ago, several young friends applied to work at a particular “Christian” camp associated with a particular “Christian” denomination. The entrance example was rather bizarre, as they had to state to the hiring committee that they believed sex before marriage was a sin and they would never do such a thing. In other words, they had to bullshit to get their desire. Before you judge them for lying, let me add how these friends, at the time, loved this place just about as much as they loved their lives.
Traditionally, human sexuality has been a key area of control for organized religion. It is so central to who we are, and can lead to the person becoming much easier to control. Once the all-powerful dynamic of Love has been forsaken, control sweeps in to take its place.
Their boss, who was not married at the time, was possibly the most passionate to hear the kids make their statement. I guess he forget he screwed a girl on the camp park bench a year earlier. It must have completely slipped his mind.

c)    Bastardization
A problem occurs when the self-righteous person steps out of love and begins to utilize controlling techniques as a substitute and discovers that it doesn’t always work. Nor is it because people grow up and learn a better way of life, as most people realize sooner or later they are hurting, so they leave and find someone else to control them instead. They are referred to as addicts, and we will discuss this later in more detail.
Generally what happens at this point (and it can manifest in many ways, including politeness) is the individual who leaves the “community” is bastardized or shunned. This is inevitable, as deep within, everyone knows the truth and there is no better way to take care of potential threat than by ruining someone else’s credibility.



CHAPTER 10

After four years of ordained ministry, I found myself at odds with at least five or six denominations. I also discovered my financial situation non-existent, or in other words, I was broke! I remember taking a wonderful young boy out for lunch and spending approximately 82.35 % of my life savings on him. At the time, we had the largest youth outreach in the country (approximately 300). They would come to our services either stoned or drunk, and I remember how I felt when I discovered the “religious powers that be” were spreading the rumor that I did what I did to sell the kids drugs. I remember chasing a young boy down a bridge in an attempt to stop him from jumping—unsuccessfully. I remember the response of the clergyman (my supervisor) to the situation. He asked me if the kid was “inner city youth club” age. My point here is simple; without suffering there can be no community.
There is a doctrine of comfort, which is a central part of evangelical Christianity these days. God is supposed to provide everything, from a new car to a perfect psychology without you having to do a thing besides believe. The fruits of such a belief, whether in the confines of Christianity or otherwise, are as follows:

a)     Fear: This theory doesn’t work, and people wonder what is wrong with them.
b)     Deceit: Lies always compound with other lies, specifically because one has to perform to maintain the image of “living in faith.”
c)     Lust: not only is this a doctrine of lust, but sexual immorality always breeds in the darkness of deception.
d)     Poor health: Physical and emotional, repression and denial always leads to general deterioration of the mind and body.
e)     Division: Where there is no truth, there is no healing and true intimacy.

The Doctrine of Comfort:
a)     We desire.
b)     Our desires become more important than love.
c)     It becomes our task in life to fulfill desires at a greater Spiritual expense.
d)     We discard the belief that love will take us on a road to great fulfillment, but what is most important is what we lust after at any given second.
e)     As we experience hurt, together with those around us, we learn to justify and deny.
f)      As the truth of our actions are denied and justified, so begins the truth regarding us.
g)     In pursuing comfort, we become lost and unable to find real comfort.

The Doctrine of Suffering:
a)     What is true and beautiful within us—our Spirit—is from another Universe.
b)     To live love, our Spirit must break through this Universe into the Spiritual Universe—the home of God.
c)     This journey goes against our physical nature and proves difficult.
d)     To love is to suffer.
e)     To love is to attract the attention of those who do not love, and many will try to hurt you to compensate for their lack of living in the Spirit of love.
f)      The goal of the journey is always invisible, just as love is always invisible.
g)     Unless deemed otherwise by God, love will eventually give birth to love, even in this strange land.



CHAPTER 11

At this point, it would probably be a lot easier for you if I stopped talking abstract for a moment or two and attempted to state things as clearly as possible. I want to give you a clear definition of what religion in, and what religion is not.

1)     The entire world is one big religion. They may be referred to by many names, they may appear completely different on the outside, people may have different sexual ethics but in essence, they are exactly the same in Spirit.
2)     Spirit has the following characteristics:
a)     There is a demand upon people to see things the same way as the others within its framework (whether the particular framework is Hindu, skate boarding gangs, sex farms, born-again Christians, or whatever else).
b)     Affection is withdrawn if this does not take place.
c)     There is something in between a dim violence and an extreme violence with regard to making others see things the same way.
d)     Through there might be an intellectual brilliance within the confines of a religious value system, there is always an emotional retardation at work seeking easy answers to very complex questions. Not too far from where I live is a born again Christian church, which used to be signed, “Reason is the enemy of faith.”
e)     Rituals replace love. More on rituals later.
3)     Love is the opposite of religion. In love we become slaves to its Spirit, its ideals, and its direction. Love is humility, compassion, joy, self-sacrifice, and understanding. Love is its own fulfillment, and love is its own reward. In love there is only truth, not because it is demanded, but because it just is.
4)     Love heals and bares good fruit.
5)     Religion does not heal, and it resents love for doing what it cannot.
6)     Religion and love are at war with each other.


CHAPTER 12

Two years ago, our community had financial support from the pastor of the local fundamentalist church just down the road from where I live. This is a long story and you will not find the details amusing. The support came to a grinding halt when I refused to go along with his theological view that homosexuality was a sin. In other words, leading thirty people into a deep understanding of love and acceptance is not nearly as important as a theological doctrine that Jesus Himself didn’t even take the time to address.
This brings us to our next point—religion. By its very nature, religion is littered with arbitrary rules of behavior, which have nothing to do with loving each other and bringing one another into a place of mercy, understanding, and healing. Religion is man made and states people are Divinely Inspired for the specific purpose of fulfilling its agenda. An example of this is how religions, including Christians, are against the practice of masturbation. Not only has masturbation been scientifically proven to be healthy, and possibly an essential part of life at various stages, but beyond all this, who in the world is hurt through this act of self-love? If sin is something contrary to loving one another, then what about the other acts that create separation in relationships. Should they too be deemed sinful?
All of the great teachers throughout history discussed love as something streaming from within you. Indeed, not only are arbitrary rules contrary to the nature of love, but all rules are contrary to allowing someone to travel on their journey back to God, finding out what is true and real in their own time.
In the context of the community, of which I am a part, if someone decided to drink and act like an idiot, the consequence is not one of Biblical proportions. To be precise, they are not judged, shunned, or backstabbed. Instead, people form boundaries, ensure the person is not going to hurt them, and when they request another beer, the response is “I think you’ve had enough.” The only possible resulting consequence would be to ask if the person needed help with any area of their life.

The Perpetuation of Rules/Laws:
a)     God is love, so we are loved for who we are.
b)     It is our fallen nature to feel we are better than this and rebel against God.
c)     Love is lost and its meaning to our individual lives is also lost.
d)     Our hearts become dark and sick, and we develop a desperate definition of love to replace God.
e)     Some of us take this to the point of forming a religion around these ideas, which then becomes a monument to our sickness.
f)      Religion attempts to make other people see things the same way to overcompensate.
g)     There is no violence in God, but religion is always violent in nature. We become the exact opposite of what we are supposed to be; yet most of us are too asleep to see the truth.

The Perpetuation of Love:
a)     We discover there is a God.
b)     More to the point, we discover we are not Him.
c)     As this knowledge grows, we become humbled and aware of our pathetic nature.
d)     Paradoxically, this makes us feel better about ourselves, not worse. I could write a book on the subject of how everything eternal turns out to be a paradox in the end.
e)     This dynamic brings light around us all, and we can begin to live love in the perfect knowledge we are not love, it is given to us as a gift.
f)      Self-righteousness disappears, and the healed individual may appear to look far worse than the religious individual, as he is honest about his fallen state.
g)     A community of love looks strange to outsiders, as it appears to be profoundly different in nature to all that surrounds it. God only know what happens at this point.



CHAPTER 13

The subject of rituals is virtually the same as what we discussed in the last chapter. Rituals take the place of God in exactly the same way as legalisms; but it’s a different manifestation of the same thing. The only real difference is rituals can be a very intimate and beautiful experience to the individual who loves God. On the other hand, legalism is always evil. The progression into ritualistic behavior is as follows:

a)     People love God, and his specific behavior comes forth from that love.
b)     As people move farther away from God, the behavior remains the same.
c)     As humility disappears, the behavior becomes progressively the point of things.
d)     The behavior becomes an idol.
e)     To question the behavior at this point may result in the withdrawal of affection, or another consequence.
f)      In the same way water is always wet, rituals too are always accompanied by legalisms.

I drink orange juice when I preach. I always speculated that if our community deteriorated into the realm of religion, the person preaching at that time would not be forced to drink orange juice in the same manner I do. Maybe someday he will show up with grape juice, and a well meaning, deluded individual will feel compelled to call a board meeting.



CHAPTER 14

Just as there is Christian Doctrine of the Trinity, there is an unholy trinity within the confines of religion. This trinity consists of the following three supernatural beings:

a)    Sex
Contrary to popular belief, sex does not fall into the context of perversion simply because it happens outside the boundaries of marriage. Sex becomes perverse when it becomes an end onto itself. When it is not upon your pathway of love, intimacy, and truth, it becomes an idol and a very unhealthy way of life.
Religion takes away the love aspect of sex and replaces it with a set of self-righteous and arbitrary laws. For example, in organized religion, it is wrong for two people of the same sex to make love. It is considered perverse, even if they loved one another to the point of laying down their lives for one another. Conversely, a man can have sex with his wife as a way of releasing hatred and sadistic emotions, and this is deemed fine. It is religion who supports this framework. Without the laws, matters of the heart would have to be covered up by lies and deception, nowhere near the fortress the perverted soul desires.
I had a wonderful girlfriend in the mid nineties. After making love, we would lie together in bed and speculate how our religious leaders would react if they caught us. It was a great laugh.

The Religious Mindset on Human Sexuality
a)     In religion there is no light it is a blanket.
b)     Because of this dynamic, one’s sexuality becomes dark and desperate.
c)     An over compensation is made in direct proportion to the darkness, and the darker the religious leaders’ sexuality, the more self-righteous he becomes.
d)     These ideas are spread in the form of doctrine, preaching, and in general agreement.
e)     Affection is withdrawn if these ideas are questioned.
f)      Because of the desperation attached to these ideas, they become more important than love.
g)     Because of the neurosis’ attached, the cycle of sexual perversion is perpetuated.

b)    Power and Money
In case you haven’t realized, my attempt in writing this book is to condense it. Instead of having 12-pages of information spread over 250-pages, I am trying to convert 1000 pages into approximately 100-pages. Life is too short to screw around. Besides, I’m convinced the people who God has made ready to read this book will have no problem driving their soul through every word. Having said that, separating money and power is a waste of time. They go together like water and wet.
Wherever there is a quest for money and power, there is every other sort of perversion you can possibly imagine. You don’t have to wait to find out if your friend would have sex with your wife, just watch how he deals with these two things… then “do the math.” Money and power are the exact opposite of God, especially if they become the focus points of someone’s life. The nature of God is to forsake such things, to not control, and to use wealth as a vehicle to love the world. The heart that is unable to give these things away can no longer be seen as a river, but as a swamp. The water becomes poison to all who drink of it.
The movie “The Gods Must Be Crazy” is possibly the best artistic look at the results of money and power ever captured. Here we see a very group of people communicating wonderfully until a coke bottle is dropped from an airplane directly into the midst of their small village. Suddenly, the community is in deep danger as there is something to fight over, and it quickly brings division amongst the primitive African tribe. Love is soon replaced.
In the community, one of my chief responsibilities is to make sure there are no “coke bottles” within our midst. In addition, religion manufacturers “coke bottles” to sustain itself.

From Love to Power and Money:
a)     Love is self-sacrifice, suffering for a greater beauty.
b)     This is in opposition to human nature.
c)     The human soul begins to look for a replacement.
d)     Power, money (and sex) become the replacement, as they fill the same geographic place within our souls.
e)     No one desires to be exposed, as the one pursuing these ideals in a virtually eternal way, self-righteousness and religion, are used to cover this truth.
f)      The lies eventually put the soul to sleep, most often forever.
g)     As these things are non-eternal, they do not satisfy and demand a greater extent, helping the perversion grow.



CHAPTER 15

If religion is evil, and the fruit of religion is sex, money, and power in their perverted states, the obvious question at this point concerns the individuals who get involved in such an ideal. Who and what are the hundreds of millions of people who subscribe to the ideals of organized religion? Furthermore, if you are to take my broader definition of religion seriously, what about the remaining six billions people who attempt to tie their lives together with a much more abstract form of religion?
Excluding darkness of the heart and soul, there are three reasons why people subscribe to the mechanics of religion. None of this necessarily suggests the individuals involved are, by any means, a type of troll from the underworld. Instead, they are weak, need, and asleep.
We will look at these reasons with compassion and understanding. The truth is, there are elements of each in the lives of us all.

Addictions

As a child, I was severely beaten by my father. The result of this was a subconscious attraction to abusive father figures. My journey into fundamentalist religion actualized from this addiction. They met the unnatural need my father created in me many years ago. That’s my story. I wasn’t allowed to think for myself, so I found someone to think for me.

The progression of addiction is as follows:

1)     An unnatural need is created within.
2)     It is justified by the conscious mind.
3)     Lies and energy are expended to continue the illusion.
4)     An addiction develops to compensate for the wound deep within the soul.
5)     Life is somewhere between lightly and profoundly altered to accommodate the addiction.
6)     Though the addiction may be harmless at times, it is still the state of unnatural or neurotic behavior, not resulting in anything good unless met with humility, confession, and the acceptance of others.
7)     The real truth is we are valuable because we are alive. Ultimately, addictions are an unreal attempt to feel and receive love.

Ultimately the problem with addiction is not the addiction itself, as the addict is either denying the addiction completely, or has no humility to embrace the fact that it is having a profound impact on major life decisions. For example, when most people leave a fundamentalist church, they find something equally bad or worse to take its place. They will not allow the truth to interfere with the need of the situation.
In the final analysis, we are free to live love when our needs and addictions are not necessarily gone, but are driven to the light of truth and forced to deal with its power and humility.

Deceived:
After I had an extremely profound conversion experience at the age of sixteen, attending church seemed like the right thing to do. Where better to find God than God’s home. How could I have known Church is man’s interpretation of God and a mathematically inverted equation of who He really is?


Hiding:
a)     The human heart, left unkempt, is dark and full of unloving activities.
b)     It will then gravitate to self-righteous activities to compensate for this state.
c)     Organized religion is the ultimate overcompensation for the heart, which is too lazy to pursue love.
d)     The religion slowly becomes the hearts identification in almost every respect.
e)     As the heart dies, self-righteousness grows.
f)      As the religious persons love is only a poor counterfeit, so too are their surrounding relationships.
g)     At this point, abuse and bastardization of people who are not of this mindset takes place, as ones unreal world must remain unchallenged.

There are many reasons and motivations why people experience their life as a mess. Here are the main issues:

1)     Laziness.
2)     Fear of exposure.
3)     The need to conform.
4)     Confusion.
5)     Neurotic need.
6)     Evil at heart.
7)     Resentment of past life experiences.
8)     Conscious or subconscious dying as a human.
9)     The lust and desire for ideals not born in love.


YOUR GREATEST NEED
IS TO BE SATISFIED…
THAT AND GOOD COFFEE



CHAPTER 16

Religion is the way of the world and the enemy of community. To go against it is to go against the very fabric of society. It is to be like a star in the sky, punching a hole in the darkness until it bleeds glory out of its essence. There is only one person who can fight this battle; and he is not black or white, man or woman, straight or gay, or Christian or Jew. He is commonly referred to as a warrior.
In street terms, the warrior doesn’t give a shit about anything but pursuing love at all costs. In terms somewhat more appropriate for our endeavor, the warrior completely embraces the Spiritual component of the subconscious mind and engages the conscious mind, as a vehicle to process this information and act upon it in the way it seems most appropriate.
It was in August 1986 when I answered “the call” of God to begin the journey of developing a community based on the ideals of His love being the foundation, as well as everything else. Within three weeks of this experience, my brother (who had disowned me five years earlier because of his Spiritual beliefs) drowned in a hunting accident. From there, I moved to Australia for two years and contracted two potentially fatal diseases. When I returned to Canada, I spent the next five years of my life attempting to fit into the confines of organized religion. The end result was a five-year depression, four years of post-traumatic stress, a complete nervous breakdown, and a three-day coma. Some say it was attempted suicide; I say attempted murder. I guess it depends on your ability to use abstract thought. I’ve been poisoned by Satanists, shot at by idiots, disowned by my father, emotionally mangled by a mad scientist (who I was engaged to at one point), had over a dozen rumors spread about me across the province (some I wish to God had been true, as they sounded fun), I’ve been hungry, lost relationships I’ve deemed more important than life itself and, besides all of this, my favorite hockey team, The Boston Bruins, cannot seem to win a friggin play off round. And as far as I can figure, it’s all because I won’t conform.
People think I’m insane continuing with this journey. To them I reply, “If you believed God Himself came down from the sky and told you to do something… would you do it?” They cannot seem to answer that question in honesty.

The Way of The Warrior:
a)     A warrior sees truth in the midst of a pack of lies and desires it like the air he breathes.
b)     He will pursue this truth with reckless abandonment, and without paying heed to the obstacles in his way.
c)     A warrior sees everything in the context of love, acceptance, and forgiveness; seeing such things as the only hope there is.
d)     A warrior has learned that there is no escape from suffering in this life.
e)     A warrior lives in integrity, much like a blanket covers a baby.
f)      He is childlike but not childish, as our childlike ways are lost simply because people are not warriors, and cave in to become what society demands we become.
g)     Finally, a warrior is a “stranger in the land”, a “boat against the current”, feeling not at home on this planet. Why? Because this is not his true home.


CHAPTER 17

It is suggested to us by many a greater writer (at least one), that there are four levels of community:

1)     Controlling
2)     Polite
3)     Void
4)     Real community

My problem with this is as follows. The number one community where leadership essentially controls every other member is religion, as control is the opposite of love. The number two community where people attempt politeness and are stoic with one another is, once again, control. The only difference here, control is self-imposed rather than leadership imposed. Of course, this too is a form of religion and not a real community. In the final analysis, there are two types of community to explore.

The Void Community:
When I first began our community in 1990, I had no idea what I was doing. When in two years time we had thirty or so members involved, I still didn’t know what I was doing. Shortly after, when virtually every youth in central Halifax decided to get involved (about 300-people overall), I really didn’t know what I was doing. Then we were attacked by the institution of religion and lost our building, our financial support, our reputation (the best rumor I heard were how I thought I was Jesus Christ and had a fetish for freezing large rats and storing them in my freezer), many friendships, and over two hundred people in the space of several weeks. Not only did I not know what I was doing, but it was all I could do to get myself out of bed in the morning.
This phase of development is known as a void phase. The community had not yet crystallized into what it was supposed to become. Instead, it is travelling in one of three directions and will eventually become either a “community” of leadership dominance of stoic politeness, or one of love.
No community begins as a community of love. It is a journey that takes place over a period of years, even decades. It is a process of sifting and settling, of learning and letting go. It is a process of people thinking that they want love and slowly learning that they only want the idea of love. Love slowly breeds love. At the risk of repeating myself, whereas a “community” born out of the conscious mind can happen instantly (you simply appeal to a specific lust and they show up at your door) appealing to their sense of love and beauty (the subconscious mind) is a life long endeavor.

Characteristics of a Void Community:
1)     A void community will have leadership of either:
a)     Control
b)     Willing to be controlled
c)     A warrior
2)     Void communities never remain as such, it is an in between phase.
3)     Because there is no obvious direction at this time, these communities attract various types of people.
4)     Unless the leader of a void community is a warrior, the leader or leadership is unaware that their community is a void community. In the case of a warrior, he always has at least an idea of what is happening in terms of the dynamics of the community, even if his ideas have not yet actualized. Furthermore, the warrior has a true vision of love, mercy, letting go, and understanding.
5)     Finally, a void community is a seed, and how it grows is predetermined by the heart, soul, and mind of those who laid its foundation.

Community of Love:
A community of love is similar to a very healthy human body. It is completely aware of its needs, wants, hurts, sexual aspects, joys, and so on. It is not afraid of itself, only of that which lives beyond its borders. Even then, it is a healthy fear, not one of paranoia and crippling fear.
It took us years and much suffering, but we are now at a place where our needs are met by each other in the most simple and profound way. For example, over the past couple of years, young couples have felt the need to reproduce like little bunny rabbits. Just the process of exchanging baby clothes has saved a few thousand dollars.
When people are sick, others are there for them. When they fall down, they are picked back up. If they want a sex change, they are given unconditional love. A community is a body, and just as there is no soul alive who sits back and allows someone to cut off their hand without a fight, it should remain the same with each other if the love is real.

Characteristics of a Love Community:
1)     The moment you care more for yourself than other people, you are only one step away from selfishness, which can lead to control and violence. The leader must place the needs of other people before his own. A leader who is not prepared to die for his community is a leader who is willing to kill his community. I deceive you not, it is one way or the other, there is no compromise in love.
2)     Generally speaking, there are no secrets in community. Secrets are secrets for the following reasons.
a)     Fear
b)     Pride
c)     Pact
d)     Laziness
e)     Pattern
As you can see, not only do some secrets remain as such for good reason, but also it is quite obvious, as it takes much time and healing to break down some of the above-mentioned barriers. Having said that, I keep no secrets from my community.
3)     Healing, which is the result of being loved and not having to hide.
4)     Protectiveness. There are at present thirty people in our community, and to hurt one is to hurt everyone. It is strange as they are more protective of each other than they are of themselves.
5)     Growth. We are made to grow with and through each other. If you are given:
a)     People to love you
b)     An environment to nurture you
c)     Communication to stimulate and challenge you
d)     Healing to free you
e)     The freedom to express the real you
The end result, you become the person you were meant to become all along.

CHAPTER 18

There is no way to predetermine exactly how an organic community will grow. However, there are some general dynamics, which occur without exception. It is only their frequency, order, and to what extent we will take into question here.

1)     There will always be seasons of growth and death. The moment these seasons are circumvented by strategies to curb this from happening is the very moment the organic community is replaced by institutionalized religion.
2)     Initially, most types of people are attracted to the organic community, which is more like a void community. However, with every passing season of growth, the community becomes increasingly focused and real. The finale will attract two types of people who are attracted to the community—true seekers of love and the clinically insane. This should be obvious, as love in such a self-seeking world takes upon itself all the appearances of insanity. In essence, you will be judged for disparity.
3)     There is no life in any institution, be it religious or otherwise. They exist for the following reasons:
a)     To sustain themselves at all costs
b)     To use people to perpetuate this
c)     To obtain benefits, financial or otherwise
d)     To deceive people concerning their greed
e)     To control people, as this is the natural outcome of a life not lived in love
The organic community is alive, and the following outline is how it responds to the above mentioned:
a)     Organic community exists for the sake of people, it will not sustain itself at all costs, and some day it will gracefully and peacefully die.
b)     People are not used but loved. Hopefully this will motivate them to contribute. However, it is much easier to get people to do things for you when you are using them, rather than the simple act of loving them.
c)     To introduce benefits is to introduce power, which means almost immediately people are attracted for all the wrong reasons.
d)     Since there are no possessions, reputations, or positions, no deception needs to take place (remember the coke bottle).
e)     If you do not control people but instead allow them to be themselves, this is exactly what happens. Quite a few years ago when we were in the void community phase, a young lady threatened to “throw me in the bedroom and fool around with me” during a New Years Eve party. This is what occurs in the human soul and it can’t be dealt with until it rises to the surface. A plant does not control the way it grows, and nor should any other form of organic life.
4)     The organic community grows into love, wisdom, and beauty until the time it is harvested by God Himself.
5)     As growth occurs, as power is forsaken, as humility and transparency is embraced, miraculous events start to take place.


CHAPTER 19

In the context of our community, we have had no problem for two years. But this says nothing about our future and certainly does not represent our past. Problems with people, under normal circumstances, fall into very few categories, all of which we will now look at.

a)    Self Destructive Behavior:
The self-destructive individual will harm those around him at least as much as himself. The irony of his problems is pride (unless it is simply a chemical imbalance causing the set back) and he does not see a real pattern in his life.
I remember sitting in the exact place I sit now intuiting that a friend of mine had attempted suicide. I visited his apartment and, even before I entered, rang the police and told them there had been a suicide attempt. As a result of saving his life, he quickly worked on placing wedges into our friendship simply because his pride would not allow for the situation to be embraced. Over the years, I’ve saved the lives of many, and only one individual didn’t resent or judge me to “equal the playing field,” and the person was virtually retarded.

Here is the situation:

a)     Pride enters the heart.
b)     The person becomes self-destructive.
c)     The behavior spreads to those around him.
d)     All is justified.
e)     Anger results, as things are not going well and the individual is convinced it is not his fault.
b)    Idol Worshippers
It is no coincidence that the podium is placed above the seats of the congregation in organized religion. It symbolizes the minister is closer to God, more Holy, and so on. The minster is supposed to be a servant to the congregation and more aware of his sinfulness and brokenness.
At our Halloween party recently, I went as a nude model to hopefully perpetuate the idea we are all the same in the eyes of God. (It was a good laugh too.)
People do not want to find God themselves. They want someone else to do it for them. In other words, they are idol worshippers.

There are several problems with this:

a)     It’s wrong and irresponsible, as who in their right mind would trust another person with the state of their soul?
b)     When you idolize someone, you are more likely to bastardize them once their imperfections manifest.
c)     You cannot learn to love this way; you will inevitably hurt your community.

c)    Power Seekers/Mean Nasty People:
The biggest troublemaker in the history of our community was a young lady with three first names, two of them the same. Her only joy in life was to turn people against one another. The lady who bitches about the color of the church carpet is a watered down manifestation of the same object. Community is supposed to be a place of giving and healing; we think we are loved by allowing this kind of behavior. I don’t think so!
Community exists for people to complete their lives in the healthiest way possible. Leadership exists to direct community in the right direction. If you are to take seriously the following in whatever problem(s) you encounter, your events will be directed into a wonderfully healing situations.

Transparency:
The results of a transparent leader are as follows:

a)     Those who want to be real will become real; those who do not desire love and healing will struggle for a while then leave if there is no one to hear their complaints.
b)     God’s presence. He is in our weaknesses, not our strengths.
c)     Joy. Only in exposing our true selves will we find real joy.

Trust:
The outworking of trust:

a)     It becomes virtually impossible for someone to cause division if the environment has no fear of someone in leadership with an ulterior motive and their own agenda.
b)     In the realm of trust, everything is exposed and dealt with accordingly.
c)     As much as betrayal causes wounding, conversely trust will lead to healing.

Powerless:
a)     When an individual moves in the direction of power, it would be disadvantageous to stop them. You cannot have a tug-of-war unless two people participate. If a community is built on love, and you allow the power play to unfold itself, the natural result of those involved will be quickly exposed for who they really are.
b)     Having said this, predators exist and they must be dealt with before someone is severely hurt. Only if a leader truly exhibits a life of forsaking power for the sake of love will such an action be completely understood.
c)     When we exercise our power and agenda, God’s is forsaken. To be powerless is to be taken in the very direction where God desires us to go.


CHAPTER 20

In summary, here is how you build a community:

1)     Ensure you are not trying to build a community, just love and embrace the returned love.
2)     Find someone with the same ideals.
3)     Let the love grow until it is too much for two people and needs expansion.
4)     Trust me… others will follow.
5)     Your relationship with God is like a dance. Don’t miss a step. If you do, apologize and start again.
6)     Never lie as it attracts the wrong energy and people.
7)     Avoid organized religion. It is a journey into the exact opposition of where you want to go.
8)     Remember, God desires your mercy, not your righteousness, and righteousness exists only in your delusions.
9)     Every formula you have ever learned is untrue. It is a substitute for learning the art of love, so forget them all… AND LIVE LOVE.