Our Own Reality

Reality is our friend. By understanding our circumstances, and knowing where we are on the path we wish to walk, our life is made easier.

Years ago I was working as a math tutor. Quite often people would come to me for help in algebra, concerned about their struggle in the subject. I would explain that mathematics are very systematic, and if the foundation of one level is not firm and solid, the next level would be wobbly and difficult. Before helping them with the requested algebra, I would assess where they were. Every single time it would turn out that their grasp of arithmetic was just not as strong as it needed to be. And so, that would be the focus of our studies. By helping them get a stronger grasp of arithmetic, it would turn out that they no longer needed the help with the algebra. The problem would sort itself out.

This process works similarly to the development of a cluster.

I remember one cluster in which they were told that they were at a certain level of development. When reading the guidance, they saw what the next steps were supposed to be for clusters like that. But when they tried to put those next steps into action, things got messy. They found those next steps extremely difficult. They were unable to sustain certain activities. Momentum was being lost. For years they struggled to seemingly no avail. But then, when they went back and re-examined the Writings and the guidance from the World Centre, they realized that they were not actually working based on their own reality.

Recently a group of us in my cluster were looking at the 30 December 2021 message and read paragraph 7, in which they refer to the three milestones of the developmental path. "Where", we asked ourselves, "were we?"

We had been told that we were at a certain level, but many of us felt uncomfortable with that assessment. And so we looked at the criteria that the World Centre offers for each of them, so that we could verify this for ourselves.

In the 28 December 2010 letter, the Universal House of Justice writes of those clusters that have passed the first milestone, "...devotional gatherings, children's classes and junior youth groups are being maintained by those progressing through the sequence of institute courses..." When we looked at our cluster we all agreed that this was, indeed, happening. Then the House of Justice continues by saying that the friends in such a cluster are "committed to the vision of individual and collective transformation they foster." Again, we all agreed that this was the case.

Later, the International Teaching Centre added "one or more friends in a cluster must be able to help individuals study the institute's sequence of courses and accompany them as they initiate core activities... (T)hese individuals must be able to attract others to participate in the core activities." Again, when we looked at our cluster, the people involved, and the activities that were going on, we all agreed that this was the case. We could strengthen the second part of that quote, but still, it was happening.

First milestone passed. Check.

Then we turned our attention to the second milestone.

In that same 28 December message, the Universal House of Justice describe a cluster in which "a steady stream of friends is proceeding through the courses of the training institute and engaging in the corresponding activities". Here we looked at the numbers and decided that this wasn't really happening. Well, it was kind of starting, but we weren't seeing a "steady stream".

They continued by describing how this stream will help "increase the number of fresh recruits into the Faith, a significant percentage of whom invariably enters the institute process". Nope. We are not seeing that in our cluster.

Second milestone? We can safely say that we have not yet passed it.

Going on to the third milestone, to help us get a broader vision of the whole process, a cluster at that level of development is described as one in which "the believers encounter receptivity within distinct populations"; "greater demands are being placed on the organizational scheme of the training institute"; "the Area Teaching Committee is rising to a new level of functioning"; "the Local Spiritual Assembly is enhancing its capacity"; "a mode of learning... permeates the whole community"; and there are "the stirrings of social action". We are definitely not there. We just don't have enough activities happening to be able to discern, yet, a receptive population within our area, nor are there enough activities to demand greater organization. We don't have an Area Teaching Committee, so it cannot rise to a new level of functioning. We are, however, seeing the Assemblies in our cluster enhancing their capacity, so that's good. And while there are pockets of friends who embrace this mode of learning, we do not feel it permeates the entire community yet. And social action? Well, there are some activities, but they really are more random than arising from the intimate concerns of the friends for the well-being of their loved co-workers in this great endeavour.

So now, in our cluster, this small group of friends who went through this fairly simple exercise have a very clear understanding of what our next step needs to be. We need to work on strengthening our ability "to attract others to participate in the core activities" and encourage this "steady stream of friends" to move through the institute courses.

Invitations. That is what we need to work on at this time.

If we merely tried to work on the steady stream, it would be like trying to work on the algebra before really grasping the arithmetic on which it rests. By looking back at the guidance, we could clearly see that one of the elements of the first milestone was a bit weaker than the rest, and this was causing difficulties for us now. 

"They must", writes the House of Justice in that 30 December message, "be able to read their own reality and ask: what, in light of the possibilities and requirements at hand, would be fitting objectives to pursue in the coming cycle or series of cycles?"