concerns

concerns
This page will state concerns expressed by council, members and guests regarding establishing and living in a new spiritual community and follow with some comments. As our community develops in wisdom, our answers to these concerns will be precisely stated as best we can resolve them. Some may remain concerns for future contemplation and study.
concern expressed	comments
1. What form of organization should we use for our community?	We must be fairly democratic, but must still be functional and efficient, avoiding practices that stymie and delay us, making us ineffective.
2. How can we heighten our experience of "seeking" and "finding" by interacting in a community?	We should try known good practices, but implement them in practical, workable ways that suit us in our times.
3. Can we create an environment where others can have an enhanced experience of "seeking" and "finding" when we, ourselves, are very much in need of more spiritual development?	We hope that the mere act of beginning our association in a quest together will inspire others in their quest. Giving hope is a gift of incredible spiritual bounty.
4. How do we establish our position to be taken on outside issues?	We must respect the individuals who wish to take their unique positions, but theirs must not reflect badly on the community as a whole.
5. How do we prevent our membership and leaders from being corrupted in their use of our treasury?	We should use practices which involve "open books" oversight by all members of our council. ® See our adopted treasury procedures.
6. How can we settle disputes within our own community?	We should develop methods and practices of resolving disputes within our community without outside assistance.
7. How should we relate to other communities of seekers?	We should develop ways to communicate, support and complement other communities of seekers for our common good.
8. How should we relate to communities outside of our beliefs?	We should strongly hold onto our right to hold and express our own views and engage in our own practices, without being critical of others' choices.
9. How can we answer the new questions of people of this modern age?	Our seeking, we hope, will enable us to integrate the knowledge of the ages with discoveries of the modern age into new workable beliefs and practices for ours and future ages, even though some older practices may have to be examined and re-considered or modified.
10. Should we just immediately begin open, public discussions or develop a top-down plan from our founding leaders?	Our best and most productive path is to lay an organizational framework before formally meeting with outsiders for discussions. All informal (not under our name) discussions are part of the normal course of a free life and are not under our purview in any case. ® began discussion meetings under x procedure and public meetings under y procedure.
11. Should we invite and include people of all beliefs into our community or should we strive to only include those we agree with already?	Our purposes of building a community are best served by first "skimming the cream" of people who already have beliefs very similar to our own. Outreach to those further from our beliefs is best done later, when our community strength is more evident and our ability to educate is established.
12. Will acquiring property (or committing to a lease), especially for a meeting place, corrupt our motivations and make us "money-driven" in order to continually meet rent, mortgage payments or other ongoing bills?	One thing that we should always do is live so far within our means that this never becomes an issue. ® We will not commit to a rental space until we have at least 3 months of rent in reserve and a sensible revenue plan in place for meeting monthly rent.
13. Will we be able to provide a forum for people of a wide variety of beliefs and have them still remain committed to our community? That is, will diversity of opinions drive us apart and make the group splinter? Will anyone want to participate in a gathering that has so many different viewpoints expressed in it?	comments to follow
14. Will the size of our discussion meeting become large enough that it should be split up to allow everyone to have a chance to express their interests in a reasonable-sized group? Some have noticed several people getting interrupted and/or deferring their comments b/c someone else started speaking at the same time. What are the details of how this should be done?	suggestion has been made to use "salon"-style format, see earlier Utne Reader article as posted on mvseekers Yahoo group. One interesting approach mentioned was the "world cafe" approach that has people break into groups that rotate membership after 15 minutes. Perhaps a "talking stick" could be used to indicate who has the floor.

Legend:

® = resolved by council