The Huichol Indians have a
beautiful ceremony to restore harmony into their community.
Every year, all of the members of the tribe come together.
They form a circle and build a bon-fire in the center. Then,
one by one, they go around the circle, facing each community
member. The one going around the circle, tells the one who
he is facing all of the wrongs that he caused him during that
year. The other one listens in silence. For each wrong brought
into the open, the healer of the tribe makes a knot on a rope.
The ceremony is complete when the last member of the circle
completes his circle. Then, all of them take the rope and
throw it to the fire. With the sunrise a new day begins. Each
heart is clean, the whole community is renewed.
The process of community building
is a permanent challenge to anyone working with others, for
it not only requires an ongoing awareness of the inner-world,
but also the openness and vulnerability to the lives of others.
And yet, it is in this relation to others that one finds communion,
the answer to humanity’s primordial longing. For we
are beings of community, and it is in the process of building
community that we also unfold our true self in the world.
We find four elements that
affect each other in the process of community building, namely:
Self
Others
Communication
Community
We will now reflect on each
one of these elements and their interaction with each other.
SELF AND COMMUNICATION. –
Communication is at the center
of community building. Without communication there is no community.
Being real is the foundation of our communication; for if
our true Self is not the source of our communication, it doesn’t
matter which vehicle of communication we use there is no life
in it. And without life, how can there be any relation?
As we build community, we are
confronted with the challenge of finding our own voice and
opening our own eyes to the world. That is why life has given
me these eyes. That is why life has also given me this voice.
To be in the world, and to relate to others. If I deny myself
how can I see you or talk to you? And If I deny you, how in
the world can I communicate with you?
I am, and you are. That is
the foundation of my communication.
Being me is up to me. And that
is what I will do in order to participate in meaningful communication
with others.
For us to communicate we first
of all must be “present.”
If we are not present in the
process of communication all interaction is frivolous.
In the Talking Circle of the
Native American Indians, special emphasis is placed in speaking
from the heart. It is not about who is in control, or who
is right or wrong. It is a matter of honesty, of being present.
So we ask, when was the last
time that you were present in life?
When was the last time that
you did something wholeheartedly?
THE POWER OF SILENCE. -
An ancient Japanese tradition
has all of the attendants of a meeting, spend the first few
minutes in silence. This silence invites them to arrive completely
at the meeting.
Silence is the room for our
presence.
What is the quality of your
silence?
Do you experience a comfortable
silence?
Without silence I can’t
really listen to the other person. I just listen to myself.
If I cannot offer my silence
to the person with whom I am they will not reach me.
They can be on their own, but
in reality, without my openness, without my silence, they
are not BEING with me.
Communication is the common
ground of being.
Silence is the ground in which
meaningful words grow.
To communicate, to build community,
let us all cultivate silence.
BEING AND DOING. –
Ancestral cultures tell us
that who we ARE is far more important than what we DO.
By this they mean that in the
ever-changing nature of life, what we do goes on changing
while who we are, our essence, remains the same. Therefore,
if you lost your job, if you do not have the social or financial
power that you once had, such change in status has no bearing
in our relation. You are you, and our relation is of two Beings.
Aside from this, the skills
that you have developed are with you. They go wherever you
go.
It may happen that you took
a job elsewhere. You are no longer in the clinic, or the school.
Still, community members come to see you and ask for your
expertise. For your expertise did not stop when you left.
It is there, still, with you. And the relation of those community
members was not only with your organization. It was with you.
Throughout the years I have
seen people loose their jobs. It is amazing the wide range
of responses to this challenge. Farmworkers get on their cars,
pack up, and hit the road. “I always wanted to go to
Florida” Jose tells me, and waves good-by. In contrast,
I have seen many wealthy young men from Silicon Valley, being
depressed, contemplating or committing suicide when their
organization was downsized. For them, what they did was the
center of their being, and when they lost their job, their
whole sense of Self was shattered.
In a changing world it makes
sense to develop an inner sense of Self, rather than one based
on external factors or circumstances, for, as the popular
saying goes, “change is the only constant in life.”
Ancient cultures tell us that
the Spirit that we bring to our activity is more important
than the activity itself. It is our energy in the way of intention
and attitudes that infuse our activities with power. Money,
is basically an amplifier. It gives us the opportunity of
doing more of what we are doing. If what we are doing is meaningful.
Then the money will serve this meaning. But if what we are
doing is useless, or unsubstantial, then no amount of money
will bring meaning into our work.
Organizations that rely on
money, and money alone for their functioning have no Spirit,
and no resiliency to overcome challenges. They also have no
healthy bond among its members and no community building power.
They gather people. That is true. But so does a prison. The
fact that they are in the same place and doing the same thing
does not mean that they are a community.
SPIRIT, EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY.
–
Spirit is essential for community
building and no amount of money can compensate for its absence.
Community building requires
talent and character from its members.
Education is the process by
which we get in touch with our talents and offer them to our
community building process. Therefore, if we want to build
community we are constantly educating ourselves, unfolding
our being in the world, participating in ongoing learning
and new ways of doing.
Since we are not just a mind,
but also a body, a heart, and a soul, all of these dimensions
of our being are going to be affected in our life and in our
work. To build community, I must bring all of my being into
the process. Much dissatisfaction and misery is born out of
denying Self in modern organizations, of denying our heart
while working, of going against our consciousness as we make
a living.
There is no soul nurturing
in unhealthy organizations. They suck your energy and are
constantly depriving you of your being. It is the opposite
of self-realization: it is self-destruction.
SERVICE, COMMUNICATION AND
WELL-BEING. –
In community building your
life is enhanced. You are constantly growing as a person.
Your life has meaning.
You can see how you are of
service to others, how their lives are better because you
are part of them. You are not in isolation. You have a place
in the circle of life.
The good that you do generates
a feeling of well-being, for those who do good are likely
to feel good. And also your openness to the world of others,
to their suffering and pain moves you to compassion and to
pledge your life to theirs.
It is clear that community
building is constantly taking you beyond your self. This awareness
and caring toward others prevents serious mental health complications
that have plagued many modern individuals who cannot get out
of their selves.
In our process of community
building, we know that each participant is a being of experience.
No one knows everything, and no one ignores everything. We
can therefore learn from each other. Now, if we want to have
the benefit of experience, then we are going to do our best
to make sense out of it, to learn from it.
The ancient Mexicans used the
word “Chipotl” for “wisdom”.
The word is quite appropriate
for it also means “bump in the head.”
The ancient Mexicans, referred
to the spoken word as “Nahuatl”, Spirit. They
believed that our power to communicate was a loan from the
Spirit. Like the air that sustains our body, our communication
with each other sustains our community. Each and every one
of us can be a sustainer or a destructor of our community.
It depends on the way we choose to use our word.
May your word continue to be
one of growth, life, and Spirit.
