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Awakening the
Community of Bliss
(Yes We Can!)

Perfect Joy (a.k.a. Nirvana)

That Wonderful Gift of Tears

There is a Happiness that is greater than all other happiness, a Joy that is higher than all other joy. It is the highest and happiest that it is humanly possible to be, a state of such perfect satisfaction and fulfillment that all desires evaporate into unimportance having nothing more to add. This state of Perfect Fulfillment simply cannot be improved upon. When a person experiences this Perfect Bliss, they do not smile or laugh – They Cry! The tears flow out of us like an excess of blessings pouring forth,... like a bucket held under a waterfall, incapable of containing the abundance that keeps being added. We get a taste of this perfect happiness when we find ourselves crying at weddings. It is especially significant that the joy we feel is for the couple getting married; we have no concerns or desires for ourselves whatsoever.

We might be inclined to look at pursuit of such great happiness as a self indulgence or selfish pursuit, however the path that leads us to this ultimate state is not a path of selfishness, on the contrary as it nears its goal it increasingly becomes a path of selfless love. Remember that when we cry at weddings, it is not our personal desires that we are indulging, but rather our love for and abundant joy for the happy couple who are joining, and our personal desires have evaporated.

Desires motivate us. Desires cause us to associate happiness with the object of our desires. We think of our desires as a vehicle to happiness, but actually our desires do not make us happy. On the contrary, they tell us that we cannot be happy until we get this or achieve that, or are in the process of getting or achieving this or that. Our desires are part of an internal system the function of which is to make certain that we are taking care of our survival needs, that we have enough to eat and drink, that our bodies are comfortable, safe, secure and able to procreate, and that these needs along with the safety and security of our families are being met now and into the future. Unfortunately this internal system doesn't have the intelligence to realize when all true material needs have been met such that it really should let us sit and rest in complete peace, joy and perfect contentment. Having achieved whatever goal our desires set in front of us, it seems that we barely have time to enjoy our success before our desires kick in again and motivate us to seek the next (usually senseless) goal, telling us that we shouldn't be happy until we achieve it... How sad!

There is a Chinese saying that, "Those who know that they have enough, are rich." This saying dovetails well with a wonderful Aboriginal saying that, "The more you know, the less you need." The knowledge in question that will overcome our needs is a knowledge of ourselves, for the better we understand ourselves, the easier it will be to let go of the desires that make us miserable, and thus we will have better control over our lives, and be far happier and much richer. (Of course we always assume that we are in control of our own lives, even as we desperately search out the next bauble.)

This website began in 1995 (initially under a different domain) to serve two purposes.

First was to provide a template for building an intentional spiritual community around a set of rules or guidelines designed to hold such a community together while providing for maximum spiritual growth and minimal Ego growth for all concerned. The original community for which these rules were written did not continue (but because of problems unrelated to the guidelines provided.) Several other communities said that they liked the guidelines and wanted to be listed as Liberation Communities, so they have been listed. Therein lies the Community part of Liberation Community. The Liberation part came about because I was incredibly fortunate to have an opportunity to live with some very wise (and extremely powerful and astonishingly humble) Native American Medicine People who were kind enough to share their teachings about their spiritual connection with me. They made it very clear to me that all of the spiritual paths are valid. They were not the least bit interested in finding converts to their religious practices. One of these great Holy people when asked, "How should I Pray?" responded, "However you believe - Pray That Way!" Accordingly I am not interested in passing on the specific cultural practices of these native people as those practices relate to how they and their ancestors lived and will not have the same meaning to people whose ancestors never hunted buffalo (for instance). What I do want to share are the living parts of their culture that are common to almost all religious cultures, such as the Vision Quest which has roots in most religious traditions, but has been abandoned and forgotten in most religions. What has also been lost that needs to be restored are the instructions to prepare someone to undertake a Vision Quest. The underlying content that I am sharing on this website is a Western reinterpretation of that great wisdom with supporting content from many sources (Chinese, Aboriginal, Biblical, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist, Freudian, Jungian, Carl Rogers, Soren Kierkegaard, Martin Bell, Antonio Damasio, etc.) Truth can be found in many strange, wonderful and unexpected places.

You may notice on these pages that I make abundant references to Jesus Christ. It is not that I favor Christianity above other religions and beliefs. The reason for this is that I live in the United States and many of our Christians really need a little extra help and explanation in order to have things make sense for them. (Most American Christians know exactly what I'm talking about.)

One of the Medicine People gave a teaching that went like this, "You know, all of our human religions are like spokes on a wheel. They all take different paths to the Great Mystery who is the center of all things, ["Great Mystery" is one of the names that Native Americans use for God] but they all get there. When you are on the spoke, you can go one of two ways. If you go away from the center, you get caught up in the differences and minor details. Rules, scripture, dogma, doctrine, judgement and holiness become important. You feel very spiritual and holy, especially compared to all of the evil people around you. People who move away from the center often believe that their path is the only true spoke on the wheel, that everyone else is wrong or even evil, and as the wheel turns they have to hang on for dear life. If you move into the center of the wheel, love, compassion, understanding, forgiveness and mercy become important. At the sacred center of all things it becomes apparent how all of the other spokes of the wheel lead into the center, and you can lightly step from one spoke to the next, easily recognizing the sacredness and truth of each path to the Great Mystery."

That is the end of the introduction. The part about building a community is further on. Much of the rest of this website (that is slowly being developed and revised) is in sections to make it easier to print (and share.)

To begin to approach an understanding of who we are, we should look at the formation of our understanding of right and wrong, or good and evil, as they have a surprisingly strong influence on us. Check out

Transcendent Ethics and Spiritual Transformation

It is fine to talk about bliss and the heights of nirvana, but sometimes we humans need to deal with the other end of the spectrum, the end with sadness and despair. This section is about

Vanquishing Despair.

There are other topics to check out as well, including

The Atheist's Explanation,

True and False Fundamentalism and

An Answer to the Tea Party plus

A Query for our Conservative Christian Friends.

Here's an essay written shortly after September 11, 2001 about religious fanaticism titled

The Greater Jihad.

Two Powerful but unsettling papers by Richard H. Lundstrom

And Finally We Come To....

Liberation Statements

These Liberation Statements and their associated comments were written around 15 years ago and have not singnificantly changed since then. I have wanted to revise them because I am led to believe that our communities should be open and completely welcoming to everyone, including Atheists and Agnostics, and the language in these Liberation Statements may come across as overly "religious" for the tastes and comfort level of people unaccustomed to church beliefs and teachings. Because of the adoption of these principles by the communities that have identified themselves as Liberation Communities, I would like to run any changes to the language in these Statements by those pastors / leaders before making those changes, so it may take a while.

Here, then are the