Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Spirtuality within cohousing

[Rob Sandelin (Exchange) (Robsan]

(Note: This is new mail client, which hopefully fixed last weeks =
glitches)
(Note #2, I renamed this thread from Breakthough at conference, to be a =
little more descriptive of its contents- a practise I highly reccomend)

The conference ended with SUFI dancing.  It was not at all required and =
so I assume anyone who did not feel comfortable did not participate.  I =
found  group singing and dancing to be fun and it was easy for me to =
ignore the spiritual aspects of it. I heard several other comments about =
it from those who found its spirituality to be distasteful.  I guess =
maybe they should have not participated - they were told what it was, =
and they made the choice.

At Sharingwood we often close our meetings with a group circle, holding =
hands and doing some sort of saying, sometimes a group hug, whatever.  =
We used to have a member (he died and we all miss him) who would =
delibrately stand outside of any such circle as they were "too much like =
religion".  This was very much OK and also appreciated.  By not =
participating he taught us that it is ok to stand outside the circle =
when you are uncomfortable.  He also taught us that it is ok to be =
"touchy feely" as long as there is an easy way to opt out of such if you =
wish.

I know of a group of Mennonites who are forming what may be the first =
religious based cohousing community.  They are ENOURMOUSLY touchy about =
it and very exclusive, only members of their own church are involved.  =
In this case, they very strongly feel that the core value of their =
community is religous based and have gotten offended by being told that =
"cohousing can't be spiritual". =20

It is my opinion, which I have stated often on this forum, that as you =
form your community, you would be well advised to create some sort of =
vision document or other written description of your goals, and included =
important aspects such as spiritual, non-spiritual, etc.  This way, =
anyone considering joining your group will know what you are creating.

I look forward to the success of a spirtual based cohousing group, if =
for no other reason that it gives one more variation to the movement as =
a whole.=20

Rob Sandelin
Sharingwood