[Thespiritexpress] Community from Jack Kornfield

[Toni Bernbaum]

And to add……...This was entitled “Walking Through the Fire Together"

> On Mar 25, 2026, at 1:40 PM, Roz via Thespiritexpress <thespiritexpress at lists.mcn.org> wrote:
> 
> So true , meaningful and perfect !
> Thank you, Toni
> 🩷🙏🏼Roz
> Sent from my iPad
> 
>> On Mar 25, 2026, at 1:37 PM, Toni Bernbaum via Thespiritexpress <thespiritexpress at lists.mcn.org> wrote:
>> 
>> 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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