How do we view our Life Group? The Heavenly Doctrine points out that the whole of heaven when viewed from the highest perspective, is in the form of a human being. That all its inhabitants when taken as a whole form a “Grandman” within which there exists every function and structure found in a single human being. This is because the human form is the Divine form, and therefore is that which comes into being as the only possible expression of the Lord’s life within those He is creating. The Lord is order itself, and the manifestation of that order is in the form of the Divine Human. This means that on the largest or smallest scale of creation, all is organised or strives towards a more complete and thereby perfect human form.

To see our Life Group as a human being requires a perceptual shift whereby our sense of person, as something limited to a single individual, expands to incorporate many individuals functioning as one in support of a common use. In Logopraxis that use is one of supporting people to come into an ever-deepening sense of the Lord as the Word through our willingness to work from its truths, not just for our own benefit, but for the benefit of all those we are in connection with. We can encourage this shift in perception through offering ourselves gentle reminders that what reaches out to each of us from the text to work with provides material not just for our personal spiritual development, but also for the development of the life of other individuals in the group and for the group as a whole. The more expanded our sense of a human being becomes the more we will come to appreciate that the Lord is present in our midst as those goods and truths that pass between us as we share our life with the Word. We all can relate to being supported by the Text on the level of our own personal work. As part of a Life Group, we have also experienced being nurtured through what others share out of their direct experience of the Text working in their life. The idea however that we are part of a collective human being that takes form as we meet together is somewhat more abstract and so more difficult to grasp. But whether the collective human being is consciously acknowledged by us or not it remains as something present that we each participate in and are influenced by as we engage in Logopraxis work.

It is a collective human being that is brought into being through the Word as we share our direct experience of the Text working in our lives with others. When goods and truths from the Word form the basis for being together new possibilities for new ways of relating together in the Lord open up. In an effort to preserve these possibilities attention has been given to how we meet when we come together. The form of the round as the basis for meeting fosters higher relational linkages that serve as the ground for developing a deepening sense of being in a spiritual community (i.e. being in connection with others with the express purpose of supporting each other to experience the Word as the Lord.) In the very act of meeting, what we bring from our experience of the Word’s operation in our life becomes a living conjoining presence, creating connections between us and the Lord, between us and those in the spiritual world, and between us and each other. Many have spoken of the higher quality of contact experienced in the sphere created through sharing their direct experience of the Word working in their lives, and it is this that constitutes the Lord being made visible in our midst.

In Logopraxis work each individual is asked to attend to what reaches out to them from the Text as a basis for their personal work. From a Logopraxis perspective the individual’s work is also for the sake of the others in the group and so we see that the selection of Text has wider implications under the Lord’s Providence. In this sense what reaches out to us from the text to work with is the Lord’s gift to us and is offered for the sake of bringing what’s needed for the life of the group as a whole. It is in making a conscious effort to see the group as a whole, as a collective human being, as we approach and work with the Text that will provide us with a stronger sense of working on ourselves for the sake of others in our group as well as for the group as a whole. By holding this in mind as we approach the Text and apply it to our life we can have our sense of what it means to love the neighbour expanded in relation to spiritual work within a small group context.

So in coming together as a Life Group, we are really exploring the dynamics involved in how to be together in the Word. This involves expanding our sense of what constitutes a human being. All the descriptions of heaven as a Grandman made up of countless societies, with each society being a fully functioning human being that is composed of individual angels, can help us gain a fuller appreciation of what a Logopraxis group can be. The whole of heaven is governed by the Word and it is its reception into the hearts and minds of all there that organises it into the human form in which the Lord dwells as a spirit within its body. The Lord is looking to be present in our midst, and He is indeed present when the things of the Word are made the basis for our being together, for then it is the Word that leads, guides, and directs, all things toward a fuller experience of Himself as the “living bread come down from heaven.”