[Thespiritexpress] Community from Jack Kornfield

[Shawn Carolan-Abell]

Hi Toni,
Beautiful. My is filled with gratitude for this community, as we walk 
each other home and extend that to the rest of the world.
love,
Shawn



On 2026-03-25 1:37 pm, Toni Bernbaum via Thespiritexpress 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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