Yesterday I gave you some broad outlines of what our community might look like as we move out of an era of materialism into an era of interrelatedness. Today we’ll look at how to attract others of like mind and heart so we can know who our community really is and “join together with the band!”

I last gave this to you 5 years ago, and rewritten a lot to bring it up to date and flesh out some concepts.

I first wrote this in response to a client who had gone to some sort of a "spiritual group meeting" and had the reaction "Holy Crap - run away!" She figured there may be "some who are fine individuals, just not my type of thing..."

I told her that this is a perfect example of the Law of Attraction at work, as well as an advanced class in Divine Discrimination. We confront these situations more than we think, and a lot of good as well as many friends can come of such circumstances, if we find the right point of view about what our interactions can teach us, both through what attracts as well as what repels us.

Throughout our lives we search for others of like mind, believing they are our friends and part of our community. While many fall by the wayside, as we walk on we find we have old friends with whom we have great experiences. We often are introduced to others by our friends, and we introduce them to others. This builds community, whether we’re consciously doing that or not.

The extraordinary thing is that due to a variety of astrological spiritual factors in play at this time in history, people are finding others of like mind and heart in these "destiny producing" times. There is a global gathering of the various tribes, and people with similar interests and aspirations are finding ways of connecting with each other. This is the "group of groups" I've been speaking of for many decades.

The coming Age will show us that we are not separate from each other, the Earth, God, or anything else. Our Spiritual Community, both global and local, is one of the means by which we will know this.

In learning who is and is not part of our Community, the trick is to know who fits where, and what that means for us on our Path to Self Realization. Along the paths of life, we meet many people. Some really aren’t part of our Spiritual Community due to differing approaches to “truth.”

Others are temporarily part of our Spiritual Community due to our need to connect and learn something. Then there are those who are the more “permanent” members of our Spiritual Community. The last group share our heart, and we theirs.

The Law of Magnetic Attraction brings us to people and circumstances which show us our magnetism in some way. Everything, every feeling, every perception is somehow magnetically resonant with who we are. Of course not everything that comes is supposed to stick, but everything that comes shows us what we are attracting, or need to repel. Growth really is a process of sequence and selection as we move from lesser relationships to greater ones, whether within ourselves, with others, or with the Divine.

The Law of Magnetic Attraction always works simultaneously with the Law of Economy of Energy and the Law of Synthesis. These are the three great Spiritual "Laws" of our system. Therefore we must assume what we attract and what we are attracted to works to bring forth a greater economy of living, and also serves in some way to help us synthesize parts of our life into a greater understanding and/or awareness.

In learning how these Laws are transforming our life into our most perfect expression, we also learn what is toxic to our well-being. That usually involves those things we've attracted or been attracted to that are inappropriate to our Highest Self in the Now. Also, some things that weren’t toxic at one point became toxic when we had nothing left to learn from those patterns of activity.

We create habits by what we think, feel, and do. These magnetize things and people to us. Often toxic experiences are generated by things and people we magnetized in the past, so that we could experience something we hadn't, or wanted more of.

When those purposes fulfilled themselves, then what was good became obsolete, and could no longer feed or fulfill our desire for “spiritual” experiences. That happens throughout our lives in various forms. Along the way, potential Spiritual Brothers and Sisters show who they really are. As the old saw states, some are there for a season, some are there for a reason, and some are those of our heart.

When we realize a person or behavior is no longer feeding our Soul, or we get into unresolvable differences of our view of the truth of something which matters deeply to us, then we learn we must willingly disconnect from the old patterns of attraction. At the same time, we must find ways to renew attracting what is good for our hearts and minds by letting go of the forms of what we were attracted to, and reshape our image of friendship and community to a better pattern of attractions. Regardless of the reasons we once desired that thing or connection with that person, we must take a new look from time to time about what our Spiritual Community would look and feel like in the here and now.

We all desire a connection with our Spiritual Brothers and Sisters in the Eternal Fellowship. That is what attracts us to certain people and circumstances. And we will throughout our lives find our Spiritual family, but the key is to separate the Soul from the circumstance.

While some feel that the circumstance is directly related to the Soul and its lessons, it can also be said that while the circumstances serve the need for connection, they are not necessary for the furthering of that connection. In other words, while a circumstance might be great for an initial connection, it doesn't necessarily mean we're supposed to stay in that circumstance.

Throughout this lifetime I have been a guest at many types of "spiritual gatherings" of infinite variety. As I believe "there is no religion higher than Truth," I have been open to all kinds of teachings, but not very attached to any particular dogma. I've always felt that dogmas are a lot like perfume - you can smell them, but you shouldn't swallow them.

Still, spiritual gatherings are a great place to meet people who at least profess to have a spiritual intention, regardless of how, or to what degree. And in any gather of people, we will find those who harmonize with our Truths, and those who don’t. Usually if we're attracted to a gathering of Souls, there's at least one or two who we might make our Friends.

The issue always involves observing others’ good hearts and mind separated from the dogma being offered by so-called "group leaders." I’ve found over the years that regardless of the group focus, if our inner voice says it's time to beat feet, then it's a good thing to do just that. But even if we feel we must roll with the flow out of the situation, still take note of those Beings you've met there, since at least one could at some point become your Friend without the baggage of the group circumstance.

So if you find yourself attracted to a "Spiritual gathering," focus on the beings you find yourself attracted to. You'll know quickly if there is an affinity, or if it's just a show. Then if you find the dogma is not your thing, you may still be able to maintain some connection with your Spiritual Brother or Sister. I find my best friends, the members of my community I’ve know the longest, are those who are welcoming and tend not to lay trips on others.

I've found that often those I feel a bond with also are not exactly keen on the dogma but didn't want to say anything for fear of disapproval. Then in the interaction we've both freed ourselves of dogmas and found a Spiritual Friend.

Whether the bond is brief or long, each of our Spiritual Brothers and Sisters reveals something of our Higher Self to our lower self. Each shows us what we love, what we attract, what we're learning to welcome, and what we're learning to leave behind.

All of them show us how we're moving from the unreal to the Real, from darkness to Light, and from death to Immortality. The dance is infinite and eternal, and offer us chances to become wisely loving and lovingly wise expressed through our Divine Intelligence. Not a bad thing to come out of a "spiritual gathering."

Reprinted on crystalwind.ca with persmission from Robert Wilkinson.