In the early years if the Idaho study group, our meetings tended to be open-ended with no set dogma, goal or model into which we were to be “led ”. Once we'd learned to meditate and recieve inner buidance, aach of us was allowed to find his own way, form his own opinions, principles and belief systems, even if they differed greatly from the others’, while respecting our individual rights and needs to do so. We took turns monitoring the meeting and the meditations. We were actively, consciously seeking__ we knew not what__ perhaps, just “something better”.
After meeting for several years and delighting in the changes in ourselves and the feelings of brotherhood between members, we desired to share the joy over our discoveries with the community. Each member invited a few people to attend a special meeting. Seven people accepted the invitation. But on the big day, none of the people who’d earlier accepted appeared. What went wrong?
The usual warm, loving group feeling was not there at the next meeting__ we were all at odds with each other and remarked on it. I asked higher self for clarity: “Intense expectations of glamorous phenomena. Thoughts and expectations are at variance. No development of loving unity before or during the meeting.”
We did not feel any unity or love at that time. Instead, we were thinking, acting and communicating as separate individuals. Some members had been attending because of the psychic phenomena that occasionally occurred during meetings. Others expected the group to help heal friends or relatives. Some wanted guidance from higher sources. Still others simply came to socialize and for the novelty of the weekly experience. Choosing to forego the usual hand-holding during meditation and remote healing at this current meeting symbolized the disunity among us. Fellow member Sherry expressed it perfectly: “When we hold hands, we feel all the pulses, and soon all our hearts beat in rhythm and even our breathing coordinates.”
Social or cultural systems change their entire meanings when, like huge, symphonic musical compositions, their vibrational rhythm changes__ replacing a waltz tempo with a march, for example. (4) Speaking out about our group activities, holding our varying ideas about the purpose of the meetings when we invited local residents changed something. So did our new plans for future meetings with newcomers.
Chaos and creative tension occurred because we didn’t consider how to manifest or establish the necessary new structure for our future meetings. We had chosen to create a new form__ one through which we would hold regular weekly meetings for “old members” and a second weekly meeting to provide introductory ideas and procedures to the newcomers. We were, in effect, separating the “new” from the “old”. Separation was in direct opposition to our chosen purpose of unity and love. Without any inklings of this plan, every one of the invited seven, who’d earlier stated they wanted to attend, backed out on the last day. One small separation in the group's consciousness had a powerful affect on the community's energy fields
We learned that in order to create a new form, we had to first re-define our group’s relationships, value system and purpose. We needed to release from the mistaken impression that a large group is somehow better than a small group__ to embrace quality, rather than quantity.
The group as a whole has certain responsibilities, as does each individual within the group. Some old members continued to evolve together, but those who had avoided lifting their consciousness fell farther and farther behind until they found the ever-increasing vibrational frequencies of the group overwhelmingly uncomfortable. A split occurred.
People can’t or won't learn if they’re not ready or they fear change. Partially sleeping members began to sense an inner need to decide whether to stay with the group and focus on learning and evolving, or leaving. We soon saw how this very issue was what we’d tried to do with the local residents invited to our open house. We had not stayed within our original, spontaneous non-hierarchical structure, viewing each individual’s inner self as his own specialized teacher. Neither had we planned time or ways for the old and the new members to adjust to each others' vibrations.
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