Last Sunday Michael Gornik was our guest for the Sunday Satsang. Michael was the Ananda Village manager for many years and co-founder, along with his wife Ann, of Polestar Community in Hawaii. That community has existed since the early 2000’s. We invited him to share with us what he has learned from building spiritual community and what he found works best to create an environment of spiritual growth and harmony. Here are the “cliff notes” of the talk record by our dear community member Malorie Tolles. There are two reasons for community:

  1. to encourage and support our spiritual intentions through group practices including meditation
  2. to serve others

There are many models! Among which are:

  • individual homes but common areas to share meals, meditate, play etc.
  • multi family dwellings like apartment complexes
  • ashram style with rooms under one roof plus teaching spaces and temple

There are three main things needed for successful community:

  1. sharing sacred space
  2. service, working as a team
  3. eating and cooking together
  4. playing together (sports, drama, music, fun gatherings)

To listen to the complete recording (well worth it!) we have broken it down into two parts. Here is part one.