Communitas [kuh–myoo-ni-tahs] is a Latin noun commonly referring to an unstructured community in which people are equal, or to the very spirit of community.
Communitas is an intense community spirit, the feeling of great social equality, solidarity, and togetherness. This term is used to distinguish the modality of social relationship from an area of common living. The most familiar is the difference of secular and sacred.
Every social position has something sacred about it. This sacred component is acquired during rites of passages, through the changing of positions. Part of this sacredness is achieved through the transient humility learned in these phases, this allows people to reach a higher position.
An Example… I went to the First Baptist Church in Logan, WV as a child with my family. I grew in this social situation and came to the feeling of a connection to something of a higher nature ….something I really couldn’t explain or identify. This feeling lead me to agree to a rite of passage within this organization … I “gave myself” to this organization through being baptized… dunked under water by our leader, our Pastor…in a rite of passage service. This lead me to the higher position of being “saved” and being a member of the church. I left a position of that social situation and came into the sacred higher position by that rite of passage.
Do you remember when Divine Metaphysics began making sense to you? When you had an ah ha! moment or personal epiphany in some community gathering of like minded people? You had something of the experience of intense community spirit, the feeling of great social equality, solidarity, and togetherness. A rite of passage to a higher vibration….
Communitas is an acute point of community. It takes community to the next level and allows the whole of the community to share a common experience.
We are sharing that common experience now!
A rite of passage within this community is when we truly understand that life is continuous and we never die. That takes us to a level of higher understanding.
Matthew 18:20 Lamsa Bible For wherever two or more are gathered in my name, I am there among them.
That scripture is so very contemporary! In ways that the author, Paul, could not possibly have imagined…over two thousand later…today… the world’s most accomplished physicists, sociologist, and biologists… concur with him.
What these scientists are all saying… in one way or another, is that there appear to be “fields” or systems of self-organizing and self-correcting information that govern not only our bodies and minds, but organizations, interaction among people, the configuration of galaxies… you name it!
They are saying that there is an intelligent, conscious aspect to ALL creation… and…it has its own order, purposes….
Doesn’t that sound like Divine Order….Infinite Intelligence… or God Energy… that we so very often talk about in Divine Metaphysics…
Once again, I see science giving credence and new configuration to what has been taught in our faith tradition…our communitas… for decades.
What the Paul’s writing is communicating, then, is that, although we are part of a greater order, a greater “field”, and in Paul’s language, “the selfsame Spirit,” our individual contributions, gifts, so to speak, to that system, field, or order… are equally important.
And in fact… that greater order, and it’s capacity to evolve, to change, to self-correct, to create, actually is dependent upon and relies on our faithful and wholehearted contributions.
So O.K., All of this sounds intelligent and grand, but… how does this play out at the macro-level of our everyday living… and in a way that is helpful to us as we evolve in our spiritual paths?
First and foremost, it affirms the point that Divine Metaphysics continually teaches us…that we are co-creators within this universal field or system, or selfsame spirit. And in co creating, let us be diligent about who we truly are and what our individual self….our unique true self, can contribute to the field… what is our role, our responsibility??… “to do my work unto God”… unto the field….
We never truly know the full impact of our efforts… A friend/client was telling me about a situation that came up at work awhile back:
Although not in her job description, she was asked by senior management to write a proposal to a foundation of behalf of middle school age childrenin six different communities in an area of three joining states…in Appalachia.
She began doubting her ability…it was a big responsibility that she had never taken on before … and then she thought about the real situation in many communities concerning the alarming rates of drug/opiates or alcohol abuse at even younger ages…. gang behavior starting in elementary and early middle years and dropout rates from school in some places reaching up to 90% by the ninth grade…
But… they had asked her to do this as they knew of her experience in the field of youth development, as well as her enthusiasm and desire to help. It was a compliment to her abilities and what the organization thought of her … but it also meant commitment to much extra time and effort and without any grantee of success. She would have to change her plans for several weekends, canceling a trip, and putting in an average 10-15 additional hours a week for those several weeks. She agreed to do it thinking that she really had no choice…
But… as she was writing… at a very late night hour… something clicked! And deep within…her true self… realized that she was the best suited person for this task and she was meant to do it. It was her destiny!!
Well… the proposal was funded by the foundation to the tune of $9 million dollars over a three-year period!! Also… current statistics show a decrease in youth drug abuse in those communities and lowered absenteeism. Parents in these destitute communities were touched by her work…they had lost hope until this program came into their communities … These parents came forward and gave testimonies of the changes they are experiencing in their children…. And…my client got a promotion and a huge yearly raise increase.
OUR OWN HIGHEST PURPOSE AND THE COLLECTIVE HIGHEST PURPOSE ARE ONE AND THE SAME.
Think for a moment of those people you know who stay in a relationship or a job that does not resonate with who they truly believe themselves to be…or does not correspond to the gifts they felt they possess. Don’t we all know such people?? And can’t we attest to the lack of vitality and enthusiasm that they live in…that lower vibration?? Can’t we see how living as something we are not, or forcing oneself to be or appear to be something other than what we truly are…not living at the vibration of our true self…can lead to difficulties ranging from lost jobs to physical illness.
Living a life as your true self in communitas is living as an enlightened being… your spirit self….. being in the field of like vibration…with two or more gathered in the same energy… Christ Consciousness/God Energy. This is in purpose, contentment, fulfillment…. Isn’t that what we want—seek?
If you become “aware”…. And enter the field… sometimes things will be tough…Sometime we are forced to make changes that perhaps we couldn’t decide to make on our own…
Life becomes uncomfortable, our security may become shaken… we may wonder “why did this happen to me… I try to do what is right….” Then–things change {and they will change even without the worry and angst you think you have to feel} …we come in line with a higher vibration … a change that allows us to be even more of our true self . And even a better community evolves to be that self in!!
Divine Order is always there…even when we take detours out of what we think are obligations or what is necessary …. We will come back within that vibration.
There is no going back once you become aware!
And because you are reading this…you are becoming aware. Divine Order has you and you are part of that self-correcting aware field. It is a Universal Law.
Feel the serenity and tranquility of this energy… this field… that now, even the scientists are telling us exists. Relax in the knowing that as you live as your true Self… there is value…goodness. Enjoy the energy of this field and community… and when you go through rites of passage… and we all will… that we are given the opportunity to grow and move into a higher vibration.
We can trust in that inherent greater order, … and our vital unique role in it!
