We have found and we practice…

From our seeking a spiritual home we learn that many paths have offered some answers, but have not presented the whole picture. In our seeking completeness, we adopt the practices of some paths and we reject some others as discredited. We add other practices that we find have been revealed by wise men, both ancient and modern, and we practice daily devotion to these principles of the ages.

"The chosen ones" - ALL are chosen, if they so choose to open their eyes, ears, hearts and minds, so none are "chosen" or preferred by any God or gods - we choose to be "chosen"; we recognize and adopt into our community others that choose to be "chosen" and we remain aware for those who are seeking and invite them to share our quest and community;

Equality - we recognize no "special rules for special people" - all law is common law in that it applies to all equally - this concerns civil matters as well as matters between man and his idea of his creator, so we acknowledge no priesthood that endeavors to intervene between man and any higher God;

Honesty - our quest is for the wisdom that can only be found by consistent discovery of the truth using methods of honesty of perception and conceptualization. We express ourselves truthfully at all times, so we will not be party to swearing that a "better quality" of truth will be told in some circumstances. Truth-telling is most important when it comes to our own spirit and the truth must be recognized in our own perceptions - we must be truthful with ourselves. Our truth-telling includes using our good judgment to not speak at all, if we choose this as the path our wisdom indicates. Our honesty in personal and business relations engenders a deep trust in our fellows and cements relationships as the bedrock of community;

Privacy - We know of the importance of exercising our spirit's wisdom in freedom, without fear or criticism, so we always retain the right to operate our lives, home, family and business in a manner that shares the intimacy of those pursuits with only those who share the same spirit;

Peace - we choose to pursue peaceful relations with all people and will not make war against another community, since to do so would be indiscriminate and not in keeping with justice. This is not to say that we will not defend our self, family, home or community -- it is our commandment to do so;

Sanctuary - because we too have suffered and been attacked, we offer help in the form of shelter and protection, from the elements or from attackers, to those who turn to us as their last hope - we offer to share the security, care-giving, knowledge and wisdom learned from our quest in the knowledge that by making the world better by one, it becomes better for all and for all times;

Education - we must, in order to fulfill our potential, continue in daily practice to learn all we can about ourselves, our world and the universe throughout our lives. We avoid cynicism about our ability to acquire knowledge, because we have the ability to learn much and the capacity to know much, though never all. When we come to mature levels of knowledge, we must freely give that knowledge to others yearning for it;

Physicality - as our body houses our spirit for the time on this earth and enables it to operate best when the body is fit, and as we can act to the fulfillment of our spirit to the greatest extent when strong, we must develop our physical abilities to the highest reasonable level;

Health/nourishment - as our body cannot nourish our spirit when ailing, we pursue health through diet and healing in a pro-active program of positive health practices, and we eschew known health risks;

Trades, professions and business - we develop our skills in our chosen trade or profession and pursue the business of our livelihoods with vigor and excellence with the goal of producing the maximum financial results for our family and ourselves - our community benefits by our prosperity, as well. Even if we are not in our ideal working circumstances, we do the work in front of us well and joyously in the knowledge that in so doing, we elevate ourselves higher in spirit and prosperity;

Care of community throughout life - because we begin our lives in helplessness, and depend on our families and communities for our nourishment, shelter, care and protection, we return that care in support of our family members and community who are in need, ailing and elderly;

Cooperation - Since we are stronger when we recognize the strengths of others and trade on our strengths, we recognize the wisdom and power of operating together with others to achieve either common or individual goals;

Silence and meditation - we recognize the value of stilling our minds to allow the messages that are already there or are being sent to us to be heard. We join in a group experience of our silence to allow ourselves and our group consciousness to experience that greater power's effect on us;

Fasting and other physical experiences can enhance spiritual life and experience, and should be pursued with knowledge and care for the physical body;

Music and dance are wonderful expressions of our inner joy and sorrow and are encouraged for all as a way of fully experiencing the wealth of our inner world by bringing it to the outer world;

Sexuality is a matter given us at birth and exists for important reasons, so is never a matter of shame or fear, but, since it is a powerful drive and influence, we exercise our spirit's will in a manner showing the wisdom of moderation and respect for others;

Self-knowledge/moderation/self-control - When any practice or imbibing is taken to the extreme, it is likely to cause us more long-term damage than the temporary benefit we experience, so we recognize the value of the slow, steady experience of all life's good things. Like all practices, we may not be perfect in our avoidance of extremes, but our striving and making progress rewards us with self-evident values in our lives. Self knowledge entails awareness of both one's strengths and weaknesses and knowing our own limits. Making progress in the struggles involves choosing the "battles" that we can win and knowing when we should run away to fight again another day;

Commerce and the matters of buying and selling are natural activities for us. We approach such activity with vigor so that we may profit and increase the wealth of ourselves, our family and community, but it should go without saying that to pursue this without honesty or ethics can only be destructive to our values. Frugality is a great value because it preserves what we have labored hard to earn for our families;

Clarity of perception and conceptualization comes from our honesty with ourselves and increases our awareness while reducing our confusion. Clarity improves our communication and is an essential for developing our inner vision and our insight, which allows us to develop the great talent of foresight, which eases our journey into the future. Plain speaking in clear terms allows our clarity to be transferred to others for their benefit, as well;

Building community is an active process and involves 'hands on' involvement by all in all the processes of its active creation and maintenance. Actual physical building is a great value to us and the fellowship of creation of dwellings and places of business is one of the most rewarding experiences for us all;

Queries for self-evaluation enable us to see ourselves as we really are, and asking questions of ourselves helps us to determine if we are continuing productively on the quest;

Reality-based views - When we were as children, we enjoyed the belief in fables, myths, legends and such, but as adults we find we must know the truth of reality to survive and thrive, so we find fables, myths and legends useful as entertainment for children, but we also exercise great care to select these stories so as to instruct children in good values;

Fair value exchange is important with our community members, since it follows from respect and it builds trust and supports all other community values. Money may be used for exchange, but it, itself, must have intrinsic value to be trustworthy for fairness;

Respect for others entails granting them the same rights, physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually that we would want granted to ourselves. We know and practice every day the respect that engenders a healthy, happy and safe society and leads to a world of peace.