Part of section, "TRUE FREEDOM IS A GIFT TO EVERYBODY AND EVERYTHING" in the book, The End of Your World, by Adyashanti also points out the underpinnings of community: freedom--the unconditional allowing people to be themselves.
"True freedom isn't simply "I'm free." True freedom is "Everything is free." This means everybody has the freedom to be who they are--whether they are awake or not awake, deluded or not deluded.
Freedom is the realization that everything and everybody gets to be exactly as they are. Unless we've come to that point, unless we've seen that this is how reality sees things, then we're actually withholding freedom from the world. We're seeing it as a possession, and we're only concerned about ourselves. How good can I feel? How free can I feel? True freedom is a gift to everything and everybody.
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The important thing is allowing the whole world to wake up. Part of allowing the whole world to wake up is recognizing that the whole world is free--everybody is free to be as they are. Until the whole world is free to agree with you or disagree with you, until you have given the freedom to everyone to like you or not like you, to love you or hate you, to see things as you see them or to see things differently--until you have given the whole world its freedom--you'll never have your freedom.
This is an important part of awakening, and it is an easy part to miss. Again, if we were fully awake, it would be impossible to miss this, but most people do not awaken all at once. The idea of freedom is very important, however. Everyone gets to be as they are. Only when everyone is allowed to be as they are--when you have given them that freedom, the freedom they already possess--do you find yourself the capacity to be honest and real and true.
We cannot be true as long as we are expecting or wanting others to agree with us. That will cause us to contract--maybe they won't like what I say; maybe they won't agree; maybe they won't like me. When we are protecting ourselves, we are also withholding freedom from everybody else. When we realize that we are the one and only Spirit that manifests as everything and everyone, in the very nature of that realization is total freedom for all.
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Thus, as a human being, we can't have those childish ideas that enlightenment means "everyone loves me." Maybe everybody will love you, but more likely some will and some won't. But when you have given the whole world its freedom, then you have gone a long way toward finding your own freedom. They are tied inextricably, one to another." - Adyashanti
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