More Than Friends

“Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. …. Although there are many forms of friendship, some of which may vary from place to place, certain characteristics are present in many types of such bonds. Such characteristics include affection, kindness, love, virtue, sympathy, empathy, honesty, altruism, loyalty, generosity, forgiveness, mutual understanding and compassion, enjoyment of each other’s company, trust, and the ability to be oneself, express one’s feelings to others, and make mistakes without fear of judgment from the friend.”

                                                                                 from Wikipedia

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And how many of us are blessed to have these "friends"?

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The bond created by living in a commune together in the late 60’s/early 70’s goes deep … beyond friendship. Drawn by some invisible yet undeniable magnetic force to the hills of western Massachusetts, we found the Brotherhood of the Spirit group and jumped in head first, shedding our former lives and opening wide to uniting in a mission to save the world. During this time our lives were a whirlwind of constant change, flex, stretch and letting go of inner conceptions and fears and outer comforts. We fervently believed in the power of thought and the power of love, and meditation was our bible. We all spoke the same language: auras, karma, reincarnation, thought force, not doing it (which was putting yourself, rather than the group or the mission, first), Christ consciousness, the Vishnu Force etc.  There was “us” and there was the “outside world”. Those on the outside looking in thought we were crazy. We thought they were crazy. To us our commune life of hard work, love for all and a life goal of inner peace rather than success and money was a haven of sanity.

 

To have chosen to live in the commune means, no matter how different we are currently in our likes/dislikes, talents and lifestyle choices, at our core we have something in common. That commonality is what brought us together in the first place – a search for a deeper understanding of ourselves and the universe, a search for the Truth, and an inner knowing that we are here to serve, and Love is the answer. What we love, recognize and respect in each other is the sincere continuation of that search. Each of us has found our own path to follow, philosophy to practice. In our elder wisdom we have come to accept, appreciate and learn from each other’s choices and discoveries. There are many paths up the mountain. We are at peace.