One realization that comes with the coronavirus crisis is that loneliness rooted in feelings of separation, shame and fear is a true pandemic.
Wilber has talked about the need for people on higher consciousness levels to get together and form communities. Many other female teachers like Tara Brach have recommended the creation of intentional communities as the next step to heal loneliness.
What is your perspective on intentional communities? How can we as a society, heal loneliness together?
I think it is absolutely needed. Some folks from here have started a community on Discord for that reason. How does one go about starting a deliberately developmental culture? Speaking only for myself, I sought out a community like Integral Life to find a sangha. I can work on personal transformation but I believe there is something about the group process that accelerates development (horizontal and vertical). I have found each Integralist has their own individual strengths and areas of growth. It’s not all rainbows, but it does help to connect with others in real time, if needed.
I have included a link for anyone that wants to give it a shot: https://discord.gg/vpp2wBE
Just to clarify, are you talking about residential (intentional) communities? Or other forms, such as online communities?
I lived in a residential intentional spiritual community for 3.5 years, and it was quite the experience indeed. I never felt lonely once (my entire teenage years were me all by myself) as it was amazing to connect with like minded individuals. Lots of really joyful LL quadrant experiences and memories. But of course, the shadow side comes with it too: things can get weird really fast (looking back, I would say the community I lived in had some very cult like features), and conflicts tend to be amplified when living in close quarters. Relationship breakups in those environments are the worst, lol.
I could go on, but will stop there to see if this is even what you were talking about 