Aldea Spiritual Community

Enjoy Kathleen's meditation from the services on August 23, 2026.

Join us for the first part of our new series "Belonging, Becoming, Loving" as we reflect on one of the most important aspects of spiritual community and a fulfilled life: Belonging. 
 
Quotes: 
 
“Fitting in is about assessing a situation and becoming who you need to be in order to be accepted. Belonging, on the other hand, doesn’t require us to change who we are; it requires us to be who we are.” — Brené Brown
 
“The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.” — Michel de Montaigne
 
“There can be no vulnerability without risk; there can be no community without vulnerability.”— M. Scott Peck
 
“To be is to inter-be.” — Thich Nhat Hanh

Enjoy Mary's meditation from the services on August 16, 2026.

For our Sunday message, we took a look at the newest adaptation of the classic myth "The Odyssey". What does this most recent adaptation bring to this ancient tale?
 
Check out the full message as we explore the Hero's Journey, the meaning of Ancient Greek words Xenia and Metanoia, and how this 2700 year old story has so much to show us about our current place in history and our own individual journeys of consciousness. 
 
Quotes:
 
“It has always been the prime function of mythology… to supply the symbols that carry the human spirit forward.” Joseph Campbell
 
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” Marcel Proust
 
"Until he extends his circle of compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace." Albert Schweitzer
 
“The Myth of Redemptive Violence enshrines the belief that violence saves, that war brings peace, that might makes right.” Walter Wink
 
“Hatred is never appeased by hatred. By love alone is hatred appeased.” Dhammapada 
 
“History has to be rewritten in every generation, because although the past does not change, the present does; each generation asks new questions of the past and finds new areas of sympathy as it re-lives different aspects of the experiences of its predecessors.” Christopher Hill

Enjoy Robyn's meditation from the services on August 9, 2026.

As we conclude our Perennial series, we arrive at one final paradox:
What if the spiritual path can itself become another identity to defend?
Drawing from the Perennial Philosophy - the timeless wisdom found across the world’s spiritual traditions - we explore how the ego can quietly co-opt even our best intentions, transforming practices meant to free us into new forms of striving, certainty, and separation.
This message is an invitation to loosen our grip, laugh at ourselves a little more, and remember that awakening isn’t necessarily something we achieve...It’s something we continually return to.
 
Quotes:
 
“The ego wants to own even enlightenment.” — Anthony de Mello
 
“The ego is the mental construct that constantly tries to protect, defend, and build a version of ‘me.’” — Michael Singer
 
“As long as you are trying to become enlightened, you are reinforcing the one who wants to become enlightened…. The greatest trap on the spiritual path is to believe that you have arrived.” — Adyashanti
 
“There is a contradiction in wanting to be perfectly secure in a universe whose very nature is momentariness and fluidity…. If I want to be secure… I am wanting to be separate from life.” — Alan Watts, (The Wisdom of Insecurity)

For our meditation on August 2nd, Joseph Amormino gave a special presentation on Mudras and their benefits. 

In Part 3 of our Perennial series, we explore the heart of the mystical traditions found across Christianity, Sufism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, and beyond.
 
Rather than beginning with doctrine, the mystics begin with direct experience - an encounter with ultimate reality that transcends language, labels, and religious boundaries.
 
Quotes:
 
“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.” — Rumi
 
“The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me.” — Meister Eckhart
 
“Between you and the Beloved, there is no barrier but your own mind.” — Kabir
 
“A human being is part of a whole called by us the Universe.” — Albert Einstein
 
“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” — Julian of Norwich
 
“Every little thing is gonna be alright.” — Bob Marley
 
“The parallels between modern physics and Eastern mysticism are not merely interesting; they suggest that these two traditions are leading to the same vision of reality.” — Fritjof Capra
 
“Mystery is not something that you cannot understand, but it is something that is endlessly understandable. It is multilayered and pregnant with meaning and never totally admits to closure or resolution.” — Richard Rohr
 
“God can be embraced by love, but never by thinking.” — The Cloud of Unknowing
 
“Love is the bridge between you and everything.” — Rumi
 
“Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone—we find it with another.” — Thomas Merton
 
 

Enjoy Suzen's meditation from the services on July 26, 2026.

What happens when belonging becomes dependent on believing the “right” things?
 
In Part 2 of our Perennial  series, we explore the movement from dogma—beliefs handed to us—to dharma—the unique path that arises from our own deepest knowing.
 
Dogma shows up in families, politics, workplaces, communities, and whenever unquestioned conformity replaces curiosity. But the deepest spiritual traditions point us toward something far more intimate: learning to trust the wisdom of your own experience while discerning what genuinely bears good fruit.
 
The goal isn’t simply to reject tradition, but to move beyond inherited certainty into authentic wisdom - discovering a belonging rooted not in conformity, but in truth, love, and lived experience.
 
Quotes:
 
Ram Dass:
“The spiritual journey is individual, highly personal. It can’t be organized or regulated. It isn’t true that everyone should follow one path. Listen to your own truth.”
 
Bhagavad Gita 3:35:
“Better is one’s own dharma, though imperfectly performed, than the dharma of another well performed.”
 
Thomas Moore (A Religion of One’s Own):
“When I speak of a religion of one’s own, I’m not talking about a selfish, ego-centered, loosely patched together spiritual concoction. I’m recommending a courageous, deep-seated, fate-driven, informed, and intelligent life that has sublime and transcendent dimension… To be religious even in a personal way, you have to wake up and find your own portals to wonder and transcendence.”
 
Matthew 7:17–18:
“People and their lives are like trees. Good trees bear beautiful, tasty fruit, but bad trees bear ugly, bitter fruit. A good tree cannot bear ugly, bitter fruit; nor can a bad tree bear fruit that is beautiful and tasty.”
 
Guru Nanak:
“Truth is high, but higher still is truthful living.”