1:30 pm
Every Saturday I try to post a new question on the Temple Free Spirit yahoo group. This weeks question is as follows:
Is knowing other people who are on your same path important to your spiritual growth? How do you feel the different forms of social interaction (ie: face-to-face discussion, online chat, telephone) affect your spiritual development? Which method do you prefer?
I want to say, first and foremost social interaction is vital to my well-being (as well as the “alone-time” I need after deep discussed.) I love laughter and debate, I think both grow the soul and one’s personal experience. I am told I am one of those people who can get along with most people. I tend to agree, I love to hear people’s story and am quite good at coaxing it out of them.
I feel we are all connected in some way and that there is a reason people come into my life at certain points, even if they are seemingly disruptive. (One such person came into my life recently and I feel this person is here for a very important reason, to develop inner calm and under-developed ability to let some things go!)
I do not seek out disruptive people though! I tend to form friendships and with those whom I can relate with on multiple levels (I think it is human nature to do so.) Many of the discussion groups I frequent are full of people who are not necessarily on my same path, but at least compatible with it. That way there are enough similarities so closed-minded fights are avoided but enough disagreements to encourage spiritual development.
(Recent local meetup I went to.) As far as forms of communication, they all have their benefits and pitfalls. The internet has its speed and diversity, but distance and 2-dimensionalism can hinder. I am dyslexic and when you accidentally write “can” rather than “can’t” things can get messy quickly. Also, I am one of those people who tend to speak as much through body language as with words, hence the 2-dimensional nature of my online persona. Because of these two factors face-to-face interaction is my preferred method of communication, especially for philosophical discussion, ideally in a discussion groups of 5 to 10 people.
I can go on and on about social interactions and how important I feel they are to our civilizations wellbeing, but I will leave this here. If you happen to blog about this same topic, drop me a link, I’d love to read our opinions.
A few months ago I created a local group called 