# Chain: Spiritual Fellowship > *The company of other seekers is a requirement of the path, not a comfort* **The argument it traces:** Fellowship holds the seeker against the pull back into the human conditions → it also supplies perception the seeker cannot reach alone, since each journey reveals what another's cannot → but fellowship sought for its own sake costs the truth, when belonging is traded for what one is told to believe → so a true church is any community that seeks Light together, with no institution, label or office required **5** messages · **6** supporting · main statement not yet chosen --- ## Foundation ### 2015-03-28 - [[2015-03-28 The Journey of Divine Love Takes Time but Brings Great Benefits|The Journey of Divine Love Takes Time but Brings Great Benefits]] The message's largest single block argues for fellowship rather than commending it, giving two reasons: it holds the seeker against falling "back into the human conditions," and it supplies perception the seeker cannot reach alone, since "each has a unique perception and understanding and journey to take and in sharing this with one another, it opens new awarenesses." Section anchor. The second reason is the bar every later member is measured against: encouragement to gather is everywhere in the archive, and the claim that other souls reveal what one's own cannot is rare. ## Elaboration ### 2015-06-15 - [[2015-06-15 The Imaginings and Ideas of Men Create Falsehoods and Misinterpretations|The Imaginings and Ideas of Men Create Falsehoods and Misinterpretations]] Defines what a church actually is, which the Foundation ([[2015-03-28 The Journey of Divine Love Takes Time but Brings Great Benefits|2015-03-28-af-augustine]]) does not attempt. Not a building, an institution, or a label: "you seek it together and this is a true church, a church of Love, a community in fellowship that seeks Light and true understanding." He also names the cost of getting it wrong, and it is the reverse of the usual warning: the danger is not isolation but the trade people make to avoid it, "some seek community and long for that fellowship and are willing to abdicate their desire to seek truth in a clear way and adopt that which they are told to be truth." So fellowship is necessary and also the thing most likely to cost you the truth, depending on what it is founded on. ### 2016-11-28 - [[2016-11-28 Luke Welcomes Those Who Are a Part of the Punalu'u Gathering|Luke Welcomes Those Who Are a Part of the Punalu'u Gathering]] Luke states the exchange as an obligation running both ways, at the moment a circle is being formed: "each of you has something to give to your brothers and sisters here and each of you has something to learn from your brothers and sisters in this circle." He gives the instruction that follows from it, "Continue to observe and be together as you form your bonds, and form this Circle of Light," and then the ground of the whole thing: "each of you comes from a different life experience, a different perspective, yet, each one of you is touched by God's Love and this Love is what binds you together and brings you to a place of common understanding and experience." The founding message, [[2015-03-28 The Journey of Divine Love Takes Time but Brings Great Benefits|2015-03-28-af-augustine]], says that sharing between souls opens awarenesses none of them would reach alone. Luke says what makes that sharing possible across real difference, which is the Love they have each received rather than any shared background or belief, and he makes the exchange a duty rather than a benefit. ### 2016-11-28 - [[2016-11-28 Unite in the Name of Love|Unite in the Name of Love]] Moses names what stops a fellowship forming at all, and it is the mirror of the failure this chain already records. "when you are bogged down in judgement, in fear, in assumptions, this cannot happen. You will have pockets, several here, several there but not unity, not true brotherhood and sisterhood." He states what is required, "you are required to give each a choice in a loving way, to open the door in a loving way and say 'you are welcome'," and he accepts that some will not come without forcing them, "Invariably there will be some who cannot and will not release those conditions... I am not suggesting that you accept those in a forcible way." He offers his own commission as evidence that it can be done: "I was charged by God to bring together the Jews, my people, and there were many such conditions and strife within that family; much larger than your own, and yet we did bond together, we did unite, we did put aside our differences," closing "no challenge is too great when God has his hand in your life." In [[2015-06-15 The Imaginings and Ideas of Men Create Falsehoods and Misinterpretations|2015-06-15-af-joseph-smith]] the failure is belonging bought at the cost of truth. Here it is belonging that never forms, because judgment and old slights keep people apart, and the cost is named for the work rather than for the individual. This and [[2016-11-28 Luke Welcomes Those Who Are a Part of the Punalu'u Gathering|2016-11-28-af-luke]] were given the same day to the same circle and divide the subject cleanly, Luke on what fellowship gives and Moses on what prevents it; weigh them together. Testimony is a defensible alternative reading for this message, on the strength of the commission paragraph. ### 2017-08-21 - [[2017-08-21 Only the Soul Can Know God's Love|Only the Soul Can Know God's Love]] The thread's argument in its practical form, and it develops the Augustine claim rather than repeating it. Augustine says other people's journeys reveal what your own cannot; Matthew says what the circle must do to make that possible: share the experience, "It is important to teach this my beloveds, to share in this experience together in prayer, to speak of your feelings, to speak of your perceptions," and then receive it without measuring, "Be open to the experiences of others. Accept their words even if they do not match your own." The failure mode is the same one he names above: a fellowship that shares experience will tend to standardise it, and that tendency has to be actively resisted for the sharing to be worth anything. --- ## Also touches on this *These messages restate or echo the idea rather than carry it forward, so they sit alongside the thread rather than in it.* - **2016-03-16** [[2016-03-16 The Resonance of Love Amongst You|The Resonance of Love Amongst You]] (witness) - What binds a circle, given as shared longing rather than shared belief, "in your small circle you each long for God, you long for His embrace, for His Love to flow into your souls and this desire that you share amongst you, my brethren, makes for a powerful bond which shall last for all eternity." [[2016-11-28 Luke Welcomes Those Who Are a Part of the Punalu'u Gathering|2016-11-28-af-luke]] carries the same claim developed, that the received Love is what makes sharing possible across real difference. - **2016-08-17** [[2016-08-17 The Minds of Men Hunger for the Reality that Words Create but the Soul Hungers for Love|The Minds of Men Hunger for the Reality that Words Create but the Soul Hungers for Love]] (sighting) - "There is no competition when there is Love. There is only a beautiful sense of family," with divisiveness traced to "those fearful desires to be right, to be acknowledged, to be loved." - **2016-12-01** [[2016-12-01 Sowing Seeds of Truth|Sowing Seeds of Truth]] (sighting) - Service as the parts of one whole, "Like the petals upon a beautiful flower, each one unique, each one joined to the other, and you all must be a single voice," with "Each one complementing the other, each one supporting the other." Nothing is said about fellowship holding the seeker or supplying what one cannot see alone. - **2016-12-02** [[2016-12-02 Welcome to This Circle of Love|Welcome to This Circle of Love]] (witness) - Fellowship as a need rather than a comfort, "continue to bond together in love for you need one another, and in this beautiful fellowship will come many gifts." Stated, not argued. - **2016-12-04** [[2016-12-04 Blessings of Healing and Love|Blessings of Healing and Love]] (sighting) - Healing received through being together, "you will receive healing as you are together in this group." Nothing is said about what fellowship holds the seeker against. - **2016-12-05** [[2016-12-05 Talks of the Challenges That Come with Soul Growth|Talks of the Challenges That Come with Soul Growth]] (witness) - The gathering as what holds the awakening in place, "your minds continue to resist yet you come together because your souls draw you together to reinforce this new awakening."