The Extended Community
Secular Associates

The Extended Community consists of members who, while trying to live up to the spirit of the Contemplative Order of Compassion, have not formally taken the vow to observe the Fourteen Monastic Precepts of Mindfulness, nor received ordination in the Contemplative Order of Compassion. The members of the Monastic Community accept the responsibility to organise and support a local Sangha, and help sustain Mindfulness Training, days of mindfulness, and mindfulness retreats.

Secular Associates may choose to live in formal or informal "intentional communities", which, to varying degrees, may resemble monastic or semi-monastic communities within the Order.

Bridging the World's Spiritual Traditions

Another unique feature of our Secular Associates is that they may actually be members of other formal religious communities and spiritual traditions. For example, a community of Franciscan sisters may choose to become part of the Spiritus Project, and live as an intentional community, with the objective of integrating the Dharma of Compassion into their vowed lives as Catholic Franciscan religious. Or a Quaker Universalist, finding few or no fellow Secular Quakers in his or her geographic vacinity, may form an intentional community within the structure of the Spiritus Project, assembling like-minded folks from various faiths, who wish to come together and celebrate their Common Ground, as part of the Emergent Spirituality Movement. As such, they would be welcome to become members of the Contemplative Order of Compassion as well.