SAT阅读材料:Characteristics of True Community

　　Inclusivity, commitment and consensus: Members accept and embrace each other, celebrating their individuality and transcending their differences. They commit themselves to the effort and the people involved. They make decisions and reconcile their differences through consensus.

　　Realism: Members bring together multiple perspectives to better understand the whole context of the situation. Decisions are more well-rounded and humble, rather than one-sided and arrogant.

　　Contemplation: Members examine themselves. They are individually and collectively self-aware of the world outside themselves, the world inside themselves, and the relationship between the two.

　　A safe place: Members allow others to share their vulnerability, heal themselves, and express who they truly are.

　　A laboratory for personal disarmament: Members experientially discover the rules for peacemaking and embrace its virtues. They feel and express compassion and respect for each other as fellow human beings.

　　A group that can fight gracefully: Members resolve conflicts with wisdom and grace. They listen and understand, respect each others gifts, accept each others limitations, celebrate their differences, bind each others wounds, and commit to a struggle together rather than against each other.

　　A group of all leaders: Members harness the flow of leadership to make decisions and set a course of action. It is the spirit of community itself that leads and not any single individual.

　　A spirit: The true spirit of community is the spirit of peace, love, wisdom and power. Members may view the source of this spirit as an outgrowth of the collective self or as the manifestation of a Higher Will.