The Glider

The spiritual hero|ine #8

Today we turn to think about relationships. And how the spiritual path means some heroic choices when it comes to who you have in your inner circle.

I have found that my relationships have changed as I have gotten older. I have certainly lost some important people from my life. I think especially of an intense period 20 years ago when I moved out of my Christian faith and out of the church. I lost almost all my relationships at once - not least because I was an Anglican minister at the time!

My two favourite philosophers both have a lot to say about relationships and community. They both think it is extremely important to build the right sort of community around you. Both of them think there is a heroic effort required. This effort is about balancing maximise your own experience of life with the entanglements of intimate relationships.

Friedrich Nietzsche - 19th century atheist philosopher - uses the image of a flock of seabirds to describe the ideal community. In this community is is p…