What Is a Soul Tribe?
A Soul Tribe is a group of heart-centered individuals who are walking the spiritual path together, at various stages in our journeys, coming together with the intention of marrying Practice and Purpose. Many communities gather together to engage in spiritual practice—through meditation, prayer, yoga, dance, singing, and praise. Other communities organize around an activist cause, like saving the rainforests or civil rights. Our intention as a Soul Tribe is to bring the two impulses together, since Practice without Purpose can lead to a kind of “spiritual narcissism.” (“It’s all about me and my meditation practice.”) On the other hand, Purpose without Practice can damage the very causes we’re passionate about, as activists polarize, demonize and divide the oppressor and the oppressed. (Think the “angry activist” who spews hatred at the very people whose help we need in order to effect lasting change.) When we stop polarizing Being (Practice) and Doing (Purpose), bringing the two together in nondual awareness and surrendering our separate minds to Divine mind, personal and global transformation becomes not only possible; it activates a kind of white magic that can make real life miracles accessible to anyone.
Finding Your Soul Tribe Improves Your Health
According to an AARP study, approximately 43 million adults over age 45 in the United States are estimated to be suffering from chronic loneliness. This kind of loneliness not only inhibits spiritual development; it causes disease. One meta-analysis involving 148 studies representing more than 300,000 participants found that greater social connection is associated with a 50% reduced risk of early death. Another meta-analysis involving 70 studies representing more than 3.4 million individuals found that social isolation increased the risk of premature death as much as obesity. Another study found that air pollution increased the risk of death by 6%, obesity by 23%, alcohol abuse by 37%, and loneliness by 45%. Loneliness is as dangerous for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes/day. (I go into the science—and the solution—about loneliness as the #1 public health issue in my latest TEDx talk here.)
These numbers are not meant to scare you. They’re meant to change the conversation about what predisposes you to illness and what true wellness requires. A healthy lifestyle requires more than a nourishing diet, regular exercise, and toxin-free habits. We must also have healthy, nourishing, growth-filled, spiritually mature relationships in community as medicine for the soul.
Finding Your Soul Tribe Helps You Find & Fulfill Your Calling
By nature, we are tribal beings. We need each other like oxygen. We need to know that we belong to a Soul Tribe in order to feel safe enough to fully self-actualize. As Abraham Maslow expressed in his “hierarchy of needs,” we must first have our most basic needs met before we can feel free and spacious enough to express our greatest gifts. First, we must have our basic physiological needs met — food, shelter, clean water, clean air, medical care. Next, we must feel safe, free of war zones, abuse, and emotional trauma. Once these two sets of needs are met, we yearn for love and belonging, then esteem. Finally, at the top of Maslow’s pyramid lies self-actualization.
Toward the end of his life, Maslow expressed that he missed one facet of the Hierarchy of Needs. He came to believe that another pinnacle is possible, beyond self-actualization. After the impulse toward self-actualization, there is an impulse of service — to find and fulfill one’s calling in the world.
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