[Thespiritexpress] Community from Jack Kornfield

[Toni Bernbaum]

When I lived in Woodacre I attended Spirit Rock meditation center frequently to meditate and listen to Jack share his amazing stories, guidance and beautiful wisdom.
On occasion, I would run into him at the post office, and he would greet me like a friend…….such a blessing…….

I thought this was particularly synchronistic, arriving in my in-box today since our discussion at “Sutras” on Tuesday included an unpacking of what is pain?  What is growth?
Does the caterpillar suffer in its process to became a butterfly?  And how do we hold the “suffering” together as we grow and transform?

With love and gratitude for our sweet community, 
T

> Dear friends, 
> 
> A teacher once said, “If you think you can wake up without breaking open, you’re mistaken.”
>  
> Growth is not polite. 
> Truth is not always gentle. 
> And transformation often hurts.
>  
> But it hurts like birth hurts. 
> Like muscles growing hurt. 
> Like a heart opening wider than it ever has before.
>  
> We don’t heal alone.
>  
> Even when we think we must.
>  
> Almost every great turning in your life involved another human being—someone who listened, someone who stayed, someone who did not turn away when you were afraid.
>  
> We are not meant to carry everything by ourselves. 
> We are meant to carry one another.
>  
> It doesn’t mean we fix each other. 
> It means we refuse to abandon one another.
>  
> When you walk through grief and someone sits beside you, you are changed. 
> When you face uncertainty and someone lights a candle, you are changed.
>  
> This is what community means: 
> Not agreement. 
> Not sameness. 
> But shared courage.
>  
> We are not as strong alone as we are together.
>  
> That is not sentimental. 
> That is survival. 
> That is love. 
> 
> With metta, 
> Jack
>  
> 

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