Introduction Editorial

Becoming ‘Blessed Community’


We don’t need to travel to Mars or the Moon to build a new community. We have a real chance to become a new community right here on Earth.

We are ever-evolving, and from an integral perspective, we are always moving toward inclusion, transcendence and synthesis. It may appear to be opposite, but we are going beyond polarization and marginalization. That’s because it is nature’s way to curate what is most useful and valuable from the past and systematically integrate the lessons of our failures into the meshwork of ‘the new’ to serve the wellbeing of the Whole. Nature is always pruning away the bits that don’t benefit survival – and polarization, isolation, we know, has no survival benefit. The largest, most diverse communities are the ones that thrive.

Even so – we often feel isolated and alone, like the world is against us. That is an illusion. The Earth is always ‘for us’, because togetherness is essential to thriving. The problem may be our very narrow view of community. We may think it only consists of people who look, act and think like us. In truth, the whole world is our community. Community is every connection we have that sustains Life. As a wise woman recently taught me, “We don’t build community; it builds us.” We each exist in a set of relationships that shape us, individually and as a species.

Community always serves the common need. The question is, do our narrowly-conceived communities “meet the common need” and do they nourish us?

This matters. If I don’t feel I have a community that understands me, cares about me or encourages me, I am likely to wither, like a flower without sun or rain. I will feel lost, powerless. The quality of our communities requires more thoughtfulness than we usually give to it. If we are part of a community that blames, excludes or dehumanizes those who do not look like us or agree with us, we are adding to the trauma of the world, not meeting the common need for safety and peace. We can help transform communities that do not serve Life or join one that does – what we call blessed community.

How do we become a blessed community, aligned with all Life? Answering that question is a powerful mission of Kosmos.

The blessed community lives in our hearts – a community where peace and harmony prevail, a community that not only shares, but restores and regenerates the wealth of the Earth. When we feel the steadiness of the sunshine, the air, and the trees, we feel encouraged and alive. We care for the Earth and feel nourished in return. When we find a community that is peaceful and alive like that, we know we are home. We believe a beautiful future is possible and we long to live and work with others who feel the same way.

Thankfully, we do have ways to find others who want to live consciously. And luckily, many groups and communities do exist, based on principles like these, and many more are forming. We explore some of them in this edition.

Each essay, video and image holds a part of the blessed community. Find the parts that resonate and inspire you. Don’t let anything stop you from belonging to a community that nourishes you, one that lives in harmony and understanding.

You can begin right now. You are an integral part of the Kosmos community and we are so grateful you are here. Welcome home.

About Rhonda Fabian

Rhonda Fabian is Editor of Kosmos Quarterly. She is an ordained member in the Order of Interbeing, an international Buddhist community founded by her teacher, Thích Nhất Hạnh. Rhonda is also a founding partner of Immediacy Learning, an educational media company that has impacted millions of learners worldwide.

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