COMMUNITIES OF KINDRED SOULS

 
There are many reasons why people join spiritual groups. Often, people look for answers, advice or solace in times of crisis. Others simply look for spiritual growth and enlightenment. I belonged in the first group when I began my search, and progressed to the second group after I outgrew the first. I didn’t have any expectations when I started and just went with the flow. In time, I realized an emerging pattern that happened in most of these groups. You begin with an open mind and end up with a closed one.

I began my search because of a spiritual crisis in my life. I couldn’t find the answers from my religion, and so I looked for them in the other faiths. My introduction to these groups began with a common adage: Keep an Open Mind. It was a reasonable enough expectation, I thought, as there may be certain principles or practices that I may not be aware of or may find strange. In extreme cases, they may even be contrary to and prohibited by the belief system I grew up in. As I progressed in my studies and practices, I was prohibited to do certain things in order to move on to the next level. If I found these prohibitions reasonable, I would comply in order to progress. The higher the level I reached, the more demands and prohibitions were imposed. This went on until I realized an ironic twist in my spiritual development. I began with an open mind and was now approaching a closed one. In fact, I suddenly realized that I was a product of a similar conditioning and indoctrination by my childhood religion. Feeling indignant at being controlled and not having any freedom of choice, I knew instinctively that it was time to move on. This pattern would repeat itself in subsequent groups. What surprised me more was why people stay in these groups at the expense of abdicating control over their lives.

People stay in a spiritual community because the group satisfies an important inner need in their lives even if it means giving up control and surrendering to another. Abraham Maslow’s Theory of Motivation provides a helpful structure to explain behavior in this regard. According to Maslow, human beings are motivated by a hierarchy of five unsatisfied needs, and that certain lower needs need to be satisfied before higher needs can be addressed. General basic physiological, safety, love, and esteem needs have to be fulfilled first in that order before achieving growth and eventually self-actualization .

There was a spiritual community that settled in the wilderness of Canada. The leader of the group provided for everybody’s needs. Not only did he give the community spiritual sustenance, he provided for food, looked after their safety, nurtured love, and recognized the elders of the community. The community prospered and grew. One day the leader suddenly died, and the community expected the son to assume all the father’s responsibilities. The son refused to accept the father’s legacy and announced that each member of the community must do their share to work for the survival of all. In time, many left the community because they no longer had someone to fulfill their needs.

Man’s basic need is to survive and to provide for his food, shelter and clothing. He will use any means to achieve this even at the cost of surrendering his soul. Missionaries are successful in proselytizing because they provide food and other basic necessities in poverty stricken areas. Their ability to satisfy the physiological needs of the hungry will assure them of a continuous stream of ready converts.

With his basic needs addressed, man now seeks to meet his concerns for personal safety, financial security, health and well-being and a safety net for unforeseen circumstances. A spiritual group that provides income and other material benefits for its members in terms of employment or business opportunities will always attract loyal followers. Faced with a choice between a group that provides both spiritual and material sustenance against one that only offers spirituality, people whose security needs are wanting will surely choose the former over the latter.

With physiological and safety needs fulfilled, man needs to belong and to be accepted by others. They need to love and be loved. This need is so strong that, given the right kind of peer pressure, it overcomes the two lower needs. The devotional fervor of a group can transform it into a fanatical machine capable of doing almost anything for the leader. The kind that cult groups are made of. One can easily discern that a group without nurturing love will soon be extinct. Fellowship among kindred souls is just as important as lessons from spiritual treatises.

The next need involves the human desire to be accepted and valued by others. This normal need for recognition has led to people joining groups that are perceived to be more popular or more prestigious whether or not the teachings are the same. It has led to the formation of hierarchies and ranks with symbolic or actual powers and authorities within the group. People will argue that these are all unnecessary for people in genuine spiritual work. Unfortunately, in this mundane existence these glamour constructs are effective motivational and marketing tools if proselytizing is the group’s ballgame.

After satisfying and mastering all his needs, man finally reaches and realizes his full potential. That could mean a number of things, but simply put it means becoming everything that one is capable of becoming. A self-actualized man on the spiritual path need not depend on any group to satisfy any of his lower needs. His only need is enlightenment. And when he finds it, he achieves transcendence.

Provide food, shelter, clothing and you will bring the poor and hungry at your doorsteps. The group who provides a regular income stream for their leaders and followers will gain a loyal cadre of workers. The community that provides emotional support and solace will nurture dedicated devotion among its followers. A spiritual teacher who can bestow the title of master on his astute leaders will have an army of workers throughout the world. A master who has nothing but wisdom to offer and simply points the way will have a handful of advanced souls for students within the threshold of enlightenment.

Is one group better than the others? Are any of these groups wrong? No. They are all right because all roads eventually lead towards the same direction. People will find a group suitable for their needs given the circumstances at a particular point in time. Sometimes, they join several groups at the same time, as they cannot find a single one that can satisfy all their needs. When they are ready to move on, another teacher appears and another group joined. We only have eternity to find what we ultimately seek.