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by Glenda Green with Jeshua
Community THE HUMAN CONTEXT
The Message… There are few words loaded with more different meanings than “community”. When we hear the word we might think of anything from fellowship to township to global politics, and each meaning would be valid from its own perspective. In many ways, the idea of community is the collective equivalent of love and is applicable to all things. Certainly, it seems that Jeshua espoused the more universal meaning. The foundation of his message consisted of two simple instructions:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and like unto that is the second. Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39)
In other words, view love as an extension of yourself to others and upwardly to
the Divine. Stated more pragmatically: build, sustain, and honor community on all levels. On the many occasions that we spoke, it was rare that our conversation did not touch on some aspect of community. These references were historical, reverent, practical and timeless. One of his conversations that most clearly revealed his thoughts about community began as an historical anecdote on the beginnings of communal bonding and sharing. “All of the categories and sub-categories of life are defined by the natural chains of support that create living community. The science of ecology has mapped the network of ecosystems in vivid detail. These ecosystems are natural communities of life. Often the network of one system will overlap that of another and many may combine into a larger integrated community. “Once, very long ago, human communities were intimately tied to the land through the biological family and the ecosystems providing their sustenance. In the beginning, this was the only basis for
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unity. But, Divine Consciousness ordained that man would also develop communities of thought, spirituality, purpose, industry, and conscious caring. “A great leap was necessary for man to develop collective values. That propulsion came from the discovery of fire as a controllable form of energy. Fire provided warmth in the winter, light in the dark, and nourishing food for large numbers of people. As fuel, it turned the first wheels of human industry. It was the center of every camp and village. More importantly, fire brought a great intangible lesson that would stimulate movement toward larger, more complex networks of economic support. The realization was that sharing this valuable commodity or extending it to others did not diminish the quantity of fire for oneself. To the contrary, sharing fire only created more! By sharing, each family and tribe was more secure in the knowledge that this vital resource would not be extinguished. “Here is a truth that elevates co-habitation into community: the quality of life for all is more assured by the survival of each person, and the quality of life for each
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hot topic person is more assured by the survival of the whole. Your neighbor’s survival adds to your own. Fire gave man his first lesson in this truth. Once this lesson was learned, it quickly spread to other applications such as the sharing of seed reserves, technology, labor, knowledge, and beliefs. Progress continued uninterrupted for millennia, until the idea of scarcity was presented as a very sophisticated form of ‘knowledge’. Beliefs changed quickly, neighbor turned upon neighbor, and village upon village until every generation would have to contend with war.
Scarcity was an important discovery within mid-range perception and intelligence, but it was tragically misapplied to human society. The principle of scarcity is certainly valid for such mechanistic functions as engineering – where the balance of cause and effect must be determined in solid pre-existing properties — or in any science where the energy being used is already in a state of entropy. Nevertheless, it applies to only the smallest dimension of the universe, and most certainly does not limit the greater laws of the human heart and community. “Just as fire is not diminished by sharing,
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so too is communication not consumed by transmitting it, or truth made less valuable by imparting it to another. All of the great principles of human consciousness are expanded through sharing. That includes liberty, honor, and the right of each person to find his own natural place for giving and receiving. You must learn the true and loving laws of community if you would live in a supportive world.
There are rights and privileges of the human soul, and these rights and privileges extend to the choices we make about our patterns of nourishment. There is nothing more important than to nurture the love that you are and to assist others in doing the same. As you do, the natural love that you are will grow into values that support the love of others. This is the basis of community. “The defining characteristic of any community is its pattern of sustenance. By concentrating on how you give and receive it, you may innocently discover your true community. In the human context, nurturing also includes thought, emotion, play, work, celebration, and
worship, as well as caring for economic and biological needs. Advanced and progressive forms of social infrastructure were essentially created for support and growth. If you would find health and live a progressive life, it is essential that you study and implement appropriate patterns of nourishment. “Study the chains of sustenance and the contexts they create. Set aside all considerations of conformity such as race, nationality, gender, or social class. Not all social structures are built on the true and living nature of community. Conformity merely protects you from your own ignorance — until someone with greater understanding challenges it. If you would harvest the wealth of God and flourish in your own life, you must study and respect how your own life nourishes others and how others nurture you. This is true for all your relationships, your place in community, service, and business. Consider how your activities, attitudes, and resources have served and enhanced the lives of others. Study the support cycle of nature and humanity and then contribute according to your values.
Whatever you nourish will increase. But be aware — it will increase according to its own nature.
“Ye have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy: But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to shine on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” ~ Matthew 5:43-45
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“Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing.” ~ I Peter 3:8-9
You cannot change a rock into a tree by feeding it compost and nitrogen. “It is written that I said to my disciples, ‘Do not throw your pearls to swine.’ In the sparse context of that isolated statement, it would seem that my principle intention was to say, ‘Do not give that which is precious to one who is unworthy.’ However, it was not in my nature to teach them judgment. On many other unreported occasions, I was known to say such things as, ‘Do not plant seeds in the ocean or fish in the fields.’ The reality of every context is created through its chain of nourishment. Appropriateness and logic about this will add to your health, wealth, and wisdom immensely.
There are those who are ready to receive what you have to offer, and there are those who are not. If you nourish those who are willing and ready to receive, then there will be abundance that others can carry into other contexts. Do not worry about what you cannot do. Be concerned that you have done what you can do — one to another as your lives connect. You are wasting your energy to support illogical directions of ‘influence’. Human society has often ignored the laws of community with disastrous societal consequences. Many have taken support they could not develop or reciprocate. Others have used their resources to manipulate the recipients into being paid allies. These imbalances of exchange may satisfy immediate needs or achieve temporary compliance, but they do not result in true community or making of friends. “Beyond the human context, you will find that community extends forever throughout time and space. Creation unfolds as an endless web of support. What you nourish now will be your future, your community, and the pathway for your own return sustenance and fulfillment. To this expanded view, you may add the many ‘communities’ within yourself. Each person is an integrated whole of many microcosms. How do you nurture your physical body, your heart, your mind, and emotions? There are patterns within you to be discovered and supported or evaluated and changed. Every choice you make is about community on some level, and the support in which you vest it is the basis for all you will ever have or create. Choose well.”
CORRELATIONS Romans 13:8 “Owe no man anything, save to love one another: for he that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law.” Matthew 5:43-45 “Ye have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy: But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to shine on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” John 15:12 “This is my commandment, That you love one another, as I have loved you.” I Peter 3:8-9 “Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing.”
APPLICATIONS It’s a paradox that in order to experience individual freedom and well being, we have to connect to the collective consciousness of humanity. When we realize, even if only intellectually, that we are one, then we will care that many are deprived while relatively few flourish.
The goal of community is connecting all parts of the whole. That includes the community within yourself. When you do, there is a great feeling of being satisfied and fulfilled in every area of your life. That means you must connect with others in genuine service, celebration, intention, and sharing of life. It also means that you may have some real inner traveling to find out who you are as well. You may need to define your values and figure out what will bring you peace and joy. Then you have to find the courage to act upon what you discover. The following eleven steps may help you create a more fulfilling experience of community and greater personal abundance:
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Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. It unlocks the fullness of life, and turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, and confusion to clarity. Step 1. Define your values. Make a list of what matters to you and write a description of wl you want your life to look like. Step 2. Take a good look at your life. Look at the energy you are generating, the people with whom you interact, the condition of your home, what you eat, how you fe etc. Also, examine whether or not the life you are living is agreement with your values. If it isn’t, what is keeping you from doing what you want to do? Step 3. Make a commitment to change. If you are not living the life you want, you will have to mak deep commitment to change your thoughts, beliefs, emotions a the physical expression of your consciousness. Step 4. Accentuate the positive.
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From the choices you make, you can predict the outcome. If you expect the worst, that is what you are likely to get even if you working for a positive result. You have the option of believe that life is benevolent and that you can live a fulfilling; satisfying life. Learn to look at your experiences for positive point of view.
Learn the “attitude of gratitude.” Instead of feeling that you aren’t getting enough, you will be to appreciate what you have. Step 5. Treat yourself like someone you love. Dismiss the critical parent, or any voice in your head, that says you are not perfect just the way you are. Treat yourself with loving-kindness and remember to say to yourself at least once a day in the mirror, “I love and accept you just the way you are.” Remember that you will treat others as you treat yourself.
Step 7. Be grateful. Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what you have into enough. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, and confusion to clarity. Gratitude can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. Step 8. Let go of the past. Forgiveness and letting go of the pain of your past takes time, but opens the door for positive energy to come into your life. You can begin the process of letting go by cleaning out the things that you no longer use — things that remind you of uncomfortable times in your life. Step 9. Spend time with yourself.
Step 6. Share your time, energy, and resources. Sharing your life with other people feels good and contributes to your future abundance. Give freely of your time or resources to show your appreciation. If you want to receive more support, then you need to support others. If lack is what defines your life, then you may have to make an effort to connect on a deeper level with more people. Go to meetings; join clubs that interest you; go to spiritual gatherings, etc.
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Spend time in solitude getting to know who you are. Pray or meditate. Also, spend some quiet time doing whatever feels good to you. Connect to nature as often as possible. Even if you just sit on a patch of grass and feel the earth beneath you, that will help. Become aware of the birds, trees and flowers. Step 10. Take responsibility for your life. As long as you blame others for what is happening to you, or if you keep yourself in a victim role, you will seek separation
hot topic more than connection. Happy people understand that it is their reaction to life that determines the course of their lives. They are willing to examine their role in creating whatever negative dramas may play out. The idea is to let life happen through you, not to you. Step 11. Each day do at least one new thing that builds community with others. In order for your life to change, you have to consciously make changes. This takes effort and commitment. That’s why success does not happen to people who just wish for it and hope that some unseen force will give it to them. You can start by changing the quality of your thoughts, or by getting in touch with what you are feeling in a variety of situations.
Nothing will build a connection faster than a smile. Smile at someone you might have scowled at in the past. Give something away — if only to pass around your bag of potato chips at the office. Keep extra change on your desk for those who are a bit short of cash. Take one small step each day, and you will adapt yourself to the process of always moving toward community. Regardless of your starting point, the direction of your movement is what really counts.
Prayer O! Thou God, Creator of all beings, of all worlds, and of all times, We pray, To look beyond the small variations among ourselves That distinguish the atoms of individual people From one another in the vastness of your creation. May these differences become as tiny and meaningless, For us as they are for you. May we focus not on the variance in our clothes, Our languages, our customs, our imperfect laws, Our illogical opinions, or our social ranks and conditions, But seek to enjoy the banquet of community that You have laid before us. May we see our human variety as an invitation to Feast and celebrate! With humbleness, May I face everyone with compassion. Grant me the heart and wisdom to serve the best In everyone.
Meditation This meditation begins with your eyes wide open in a place that is quiet enough for you to enjoy inner peace, but interesting enough to engage your attention. A place in nature or with a view would be perfect. Sit quietly and behold. In a peaceful state, behold your connection with all that is around you. Because your eyes are open you may think more than in a typical meditation. Don’t try to stop the thoughts, just watch them. Imagine that you are on the bank of a river and that your thoughts are the river going by. Don’t try to stop the river, just watch it. Within a few moments, you will see the river begin to slow.
May I abide in true community, With devotion to enlightened life. May I endeavor in every way for a better world, For the generations to come. May I abide in the Energy of the Universe as The source of wisdom and opportunity. Empowered by Your grace, May I share the wisdom of life and death In true community. Amen.
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“This is my commandment, That you love one another, as I have loved you.” ~ John 15:12
If you find yourself becoming impatient, bored, or complaining, that’s okay. Just watch the thoughts pass by. Notice how everything supports something and receives support from something else. If you are in a natural environment, notice the bustling activity all around you. Now begin to direct your attention inwardly by noticing your own body. The whole of the human system lives by giving. If we view the microcosm of the human body, we find that the heart pumps blood into one valve and out another. Blood is normally circulating, seldom stagnant. In a healthy body, all the fluids are in a constant state of expenditure. If one cell stores its secretion for a few moments, it is only until the other organs of the body are in need of it. If any cell in the body should begin to store up its secretion, that stagnation would soon become the cause of chronic disease. Any organ that does not give forth its products is seriously impaired and eventually loses its ability to function at all. So too, it is with the larger parts of your body. The eye cannot say to the foot, “I have
no need of you and will not guide you.” If the eye does not perform its watchful duty, the whole body will stumble and fall. If the members refuse to contribute to the whole, the body will collapse and eventually die. Now, let us learn a great lesson from nature. We must give in order to get. We must scatter to accumulate. We must make others happy to make ourselves happy.
To attain our goodness and become spiritually strong, we must do well and seek the spiritual goodness of others. You will enjoy the fullness of your place in nature, when the sea itself flows in your veins, when you are clothed with the heavens, and crowned with the stars. Perceive yourself as the sole heir of the whole world. Then behold that others are sole heirs to creation also. When you can sing, rejoice, and delight in God — as a winner does with his trophy and a mother does with her infant — you will enjoy the bounty that has been given to you. In this state of unity, there are unlimited dimensions. There is nothing too small for your attention to support and nothing too
grand for your attention to embrace. The expansive quality of love and the innocence of perception alone define your heart. At this point, you may close your eyes and gently drift into your inner world. In this state of unity, recite the following affirmation of inner truth: This is the spirit in my heart, smaller than a grain of mustard seed. This is the spirit that is in my heart, greater than the earth, greater than the sky, greater than heaven itself, and greater than all these worlds. This is the spirit in my heart. This is the light in my heart, smaller than a firefly in the night. This is the light in my heart, greater than a cosmic sun, a galaxy, or the universe. This is the light in my heart. This is the love in my heart, smaller than a frightened moth in a windstorm seeking to find shelter. This is the love in my heart, large enough to embrace my fellow man, to serve all of nature, and reach for the stars to touch the face of God. My spirit, my light, and my love all have unlimited dimensions. I can join everyone through compassion and community. I say this again and open my eyes to behold that it is true.
Glenda Green Glenda Green is widely acknowledged as a true Christian mystic. She is one of the world’s leading teachers of contemporary spirituality. Although her guidance and inspiration stem from a living spiritual relationship with Jeshua, her teachings are not directed toward the cultivation of religious doctrine. Instead, they revolve around universal truths that are uplifting and enlightening to all people of all beliefs. She is the author of best-selling Love Without End, Jesus Speak, and The Keys of Jeshua. She is also acknowledged as one of the world’s foremost painters and spiritual artists. In addition to fine art, she has mastered the ancient alchemical art of blending essential oils to create a sensory bridge to higher realizations of life. Glenda has taught on the faculties of 6
Tulane University and the University of Oklahoma. Biographical references include, North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary; Who’s Who in American Art; Who’s Who of American Women; Dictionary of International Biography. To contact Glenda, please email: gg@esedona.net
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