Crafting the recipe for the wise community, by Rev. Karin Wilson

At the height of the pandemic lockdown when we relied so heavily on technology to connect with the outside world, my household became known for a series of social media posts with the hashtag “covidkitchen”.

It was my partner’s way of easing the pain and strain by cooking up a delectable dish – often Mexican – and then I would describe the details in the manner of a menu item enticing a diner at a longed-for restaurant. Our goal was not so much to make mouths water, but to bring people into our home as we so often did pre-pandemic, and metaphorically raise a glass together.

While he was in the kitchen kneading dough for masa tortillas, I devoured books and engaged in conversations determined to find the “secret sauce” that would bring my spiritual community from its state of dissention and upheaval into a place of shared acknowledgment that even in the midst of mayhem, Spirit was in the house.

Now I’m not a crowd lover, and groups over five can easily unnerve me – and yet I have a deep awareness of the power of the collective and love building communities. I’ve built common ground around soup recipes, hockey, arts/culture and architecture, as well as spiritual community.

I could always feel there was a recipe, an alchemy if you will, that helped to form the fibre of these magical gatherings. I easily recognize the Presence when it’s there, and yet was unable to identify the tools needed that facilitated recognition. I watched with anticipation for spontaneous intakes of breath, a-ha moments and eureka-laughs.

What I knew was that there needed to be an invitation – and before anyone says yes to an invitation, there is a need for a safety. Safety comes before trust, so creating a safe container that allows everyone to be themselves in the midst of potential chaos became my goal.

Safety comes when we create space to get to know each other. So there were conversations, and gradually people became comfortable with silence, which provided space to allow Spirit to enter in and be heard above the din.

Ernest Holmes said: “let us learn to see as God sees, with perfect vision.” It’s a tall order, but one that our Centres embrace with the practice of visioning. As the community began to show signs of safety and willingness, I invited Rev. Jeffrey Ryan in for an introductory community visioning session.

That one step proved to be the singular ingredient that turned everything.

As visioning made its way into every layer of the community, it provided a pathway forward that was organic and reflective of the best that was already expressing in and through each individual. It provided a means for people to see each other’s wholeness – and to train themselves and each other gently in the art of using the soft eyes of God to move forward together, while leaving no one behind.

Chefs say that when cooking any kind of bread (that pandemic-favourite pastime), is to add a bit of salt and let it rest. Salt is like the grit – it gives us humans sometime to bump up against, to work with. Conflict (the salt in the collective wound) provided the opportunity to see a bigger idea of Spirit. As for rest, my experience is good things take time. Patience not only helps – it is vital if we want to hear that still quiet voice and “rise” above it all.

Carl Jung spoke of the collective unconscious, the default mechanism of archetypes that we humans are subject to. Ernest Holmes referred to “race mind consciousness”. We have been trained in some regard to guard against “group think”, and to consider that the collective can somehow be less than the individual. And yet, we know this cannot be so. While there are individuals who are celebrated for their brilliance and their ability to move communities and cultures ever upward, none do their work in isolation.

James Surowiecki, a staff writer at The New Yorker who specializes in business believes there is wisdom in crowds. His recipe looks like this: “diversity of opinion.. independence.. decentralization.. and aggregation.”

Knowing we are safe, knowing we can lean into Spirit, knowing that there is something that is asking to be birth facilitates the wisdom of the collective, while allowing each voice – each gift – to remain both valued and valuable.

We cannot do anything alone.

As our communities increasingly grapple with this new era of societal integration, we need to find new ways to work together for both the individual good, and the collective good. The beauty is that what we need is already here. We need to do nothing more than simply allow the truth to emerge from what Spirit has brought together.

Rev. Karin Wilson has been in ministry since 2008. She was ordained and installed into the CSL community she founded in Vancouver, Canada in 2015. Today she serves on the interim ministry team, serving CSL Edmonton South where she has helped rebirth the community through transition and the pandemic. A professional journalist for 20+ years and a frequent contributor to Science of Mind magazine, Karin combines her interest in current affairs and spirituality to facilitate social justice and a new vision of community through means of personal transformation.