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Ultimately, the objective of the Order and of its Founder is to assist
each person to create within themselves a safe space, from which they
can deepen their spiritual journey. His vision is to create an intentional
community at a grassroots level, in which the members of that community
share in the process of supporting one another, and doing whatever they
can to alleviate suffering in all sentient beings.
Since its inception in 1983, the Spiritus Community, functioning first
as The Franciscan Companions of the Immaculata, and then expanding
to include the broader Ecumenical Servant Franciscan Order, and
post-denominational Contemplative Order of Compassion, has offered
spiritual practitioners innovative ways to engage the spiritual teachings
of Christ and Buddha through a broad selection of individual and group
retreats, residential programs and authentic, non-sectarian monastic
formation programs.
It is one of the dreams of the Khenpo to see a 20-acre monastic centre,
located in Central Florida, built to house the on-going monastic formation
program, lay retreats and a central training facility for our social
justice and peace outreach. The proposed centre would be comprised entirely
of green, sustainable homes, made from recycled shipping containers
(like the ones pictured here).

.. 
Additionally, a more secluded, contemplative hermitage would be established,
allowing the Servant-Father to spend more time writing, teaching and
producing legacy video instruction for the future generations of monastics
and contemplatives.
The ultimate vision of the Order is to create an international network
of teachers devoted to nurturing the Light of wisdom and compassion
that resides in the heart of all people and all spiritual traditions.
By heralding a new, postdenominational and emergent spirituality - a
spirituality that transcends and includes (but does not compete with)
the past and present religions and spiritual traditions, which we call
"the Spiritus Project", we want to contribute to create an
open space for discussion, and developing the project further, so that
Emergent Spirituality becomes a viable option, visible in the lives
of many people around the globe.
We affirm that such a world culture of respect, compassion and solidarity
can emerge and trasnsform the planet into a place of wisdom and beauty,
harmony and love.

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Copyright
©2008, The Contemplative Order of Compassion (Office of H.E.
Dharmacharya Gurudas Sunyatananda, O.C.) - 43 North Prince Street,
Second Floor (Rear) - Suite 1; Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17603 USA.
Except where otherwise noted, the content on this website is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution no Derivatives License. This
license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial,
as long as the content remains unchanged and intact, with credit given
to The Contemplative Order of Compassion (Office of H.E. Dharmacharya
Gurudas Sunyatananda).
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