“The next Buddha will be a Sangha,” Thich Nhat Hanh, meaning the community of practitioners, not an individual, will embody the awakened state. He emphasized that the Sangha, a community practicing understanding and loving-kindness, is the most vital of the three jewels in Buddhism (along with the Buddha and Dharma). This highlights the importance of collective practice and the power of community in achieving enlightenment and fostering positive change.

These first 7 words have been guiding my life from as long as I can remember, and surprisingly, before I encountered them as an adult. I can only guess that it was somewhere in my late twenties or early thirties when I first heard of Thich Nhat Hanh and became aware of him as a spiritual teacher and only years after that when I first heard the actual words.

From the time I was 7 years old I had this feeling deep in my bones that school was not being done right. I have an early memory of my second-grade teacher humiliating my fellow classmate and friend, Douglas Baker, and I knew she was not being a good teacher. From that day on I kept experiencing my school life as being unfair. That feeling was so strong that I eventually became involved with co-creating a school that was based on love. Our experiment grew out of a movement that began in the 60’s and continued to evolve that was called by some the ‘Free School Movement’. When our school first opened in the fall of 1971, there were an unknown rather large number of experimental schools throughout the world.

My spiritual practice was then and still is today nourishing, attracting, and co-creating community. This practice has many dimensions and involves a great deal of risk because it ultimately leads to a series of rites of passage, some of which we co-create and some that simply happen.

When I look back at that first decade of our school, I’m amazed at how idealistic we were, how little we knew and how unprepared we were for the journey ahead. For over 4 decades we created and sustained a community that grew, almost died, was reborn, and is still in operation, entering its 54th year.

So my spiritual practice is a ‘we’ practice with a me component.

Let me attempt to describe the spiritual practices by making a list:

1. The natural world is my primary teacher
2. A lifelong commitment to playing an infinite game
3. Kindness to myself and to others
4. Falling in love with people of all ages
5. Shadow work
6. Making music
7. Riding my bike
8. Gratitude
9. Stillness
10. Breath work
11. The three body workout
12. Cold plunges and sauna (or sweat lodge, heat)
13. Adventures that often include marking a rite of passage
14. Children
15. Mushrooms
16. Retreats
17. Meditation
18. Dream work
19. Wisdom in persons, media, online
20. Praying in the medicine wheel
21. Forgiveness self and others
22. Teaching and learning as mythopoetic awakening
23. Connecting with alive and dead souls

All these items on the list and the ones I forgot are important to me so that I can navigate each moment with more equanimity and compassion. When I lose my temper, or get depressed, or feel fear is present any one of these practices can be the medicine I need to ingest or embody.

The result is a way to live in the now that allows the great mystery to surprise me each day with one gift or even many. The Mystery School has proven to be a home for my spiritual wanderings. A gift that keeps on living.