Linking community and spirit: a commentary and some propositions

This paper argues that community is a necessary element of spirituality. Community is based on connectedness and a healthy interdependence. Using Wilber’s integrative framework, I argue for three propositions linking community and spirituality: people need to belong to communities where they can make meaningful contributions building a better world; organizational prosperity and survival depend on building in structures and relationships that permit people to make meaningful contributions and fulfill the fundamentally spiritual need for community; and we need collaboration as much as competition to survive as the interconnectedness of the world grows more apparent.