Emotions and the heart of a Community

Intimate connection is what really forms community on a deeper, energetic level. What counts is the feeling of closeness, of authentic belonging. Its there when I know: with these people I can be as I truly am. In my joy and in my pain. Living together on this level of intimacy, however, it will also stir up difficult emotions like anger or sadness, envy or jealousy.There might be the tendency to repress such feelings, but that would undermine the deeper levels of connection and could destroy the community in two ways:  People avoid their deeper feelings and settle on a more superficial way of relating. As a result, the energetic level of togetherness starts to break down. People leave the community and it dissolves. b) To avoid the above, members may try to hold the community together by relying on a group identity, ideology and hierarchy. In order to adhere to that group ideology members give up their authentic, individual truth. As a result, the structure of the community may persist but its living heart will die. In contrast, communities with emotional processing skills integrate their emotions triggered by other members. The energetic core of the community becomes deeper and stronger, and authentic individuals grow in authentic connectedness. The Triple Integration - The old paradigm of the "negative emotions" not only causes emotional suffering on a massive scale but also results in what I call the Triple Separation:  The separation from our emotions leads to the separation from others and from nature. Currently we can see where the Triple Separation leads us to as humanity. Intentional Communities can serve as models for the much needed Triple Integration. The integration within our selves, with others and with nature.