Devotional Community as Refuge

Mirabai found her people—other devotees, other seekers, those who understood that love of the divine justified social transgression. She was not alone in her courage because she belonged to a community of practice. As anticipatory grief for civilization threatens to isolate us in individual anxiety, this concept emphasizes the necessity of intentional community: groups bound not by ideology but by shared commitment to truth-telling, mutual aid, and devotional practice. These are not utopian communes but practical networks of people who examine their hearts together, witness each other's grief, and create pockets of meaning and resilience. Mirabai's sangha was scattered across geography and time, connected through song and shared longing. Devotional community becomes refuge—not from reality, but from the narcissism and despair that isolation breeds. In such communities, anticipatory grief becomes collective and creative rather than paralyzing.