Values, Lifestyle and Community Glue
My last entry raises a couple of questions. Why is it that the quality of life in the Findhorn Community is high even though the economic standard of living is relatively low? And why is it that money and the things it can buy are less important here than in mainstream society? Please forgive me if I leave you to google for further information - it takes too long to enter all the links in HTML, and experience shows that the Shift in Action site will not link to exact pages. I also can't find a way to insert photos. For a fully linked and illustrated version go to my Gaia blog
The answer in a nutshell is community life. But community doesn’t just happen, it has to be built. And to build community, there must be a ‘glue’ that holds its members together. In traditional societies, that glue was provided by a shared sense of place, by extended family relationships, by shared beliefs, myths and values, by common celebrations and rituals, by economic necessity, and by the link between personal identity and community. In modern societies, those glues have been dissolved by mobility, individualism, family breakdown, the loss of old religious beliefs and values, the transformation of cooperation into impersonal economic transactions, the professionalisation of the arts and entertainment, and so on.
So intentionally rebuilding community requires that we recreate the glue, or find a new one. Intentional communities around the world demonstrate many forms of glue. Perhaps the commonest is religious faith or the less dogmatic and vaguer ‘spirituality’. In the last few decades there has been an upsurge of ‘ecovillages’ committed to developing a sustainable lifestyle and living in harmony with nature. Other communities have a common purpose, like Kitezh which cares for Russian orphans, or the Camphill communities in the UK which care for people with learning disabilities and mental health problems. In many cases, the practical business of earning a living provides powerful ‘glue’, as at Twin Oaks in Virginia where growing food, and making hammocks and tempe are major parts of community life. Shared activities are also an important constituent of glue in most communities, whether that be helping each other out, caring for land and buildings, preparing and eating communal meals, celebrating birthdays, seasons and other meaningful events, having fun together, or even business meetings.
Findhorn is a spiritual community that coalesced around shared beliefs and values, but includes most types of ‘glue’. In the early days, its spiritual life was closely aligned with western esoteric traditions such as the Rosicrucians, Theosophy, and teachers like Alice Bailey and Madame Blavatsky. To these was added a deep and distinctive connection with nature when Dorothy Maclean, one of the founders, began to get instructions on growing plants from their Devas and Nature Spirits. Indeed, Findhorn first came to the attention of the outside world when a handful of people began to grow giant vegetables.
Today, the situation is quite different, although we are still a spiritual community in co-creation with nature. Many first-time visitors to Findhorn find it hard to see our spirituality. There is no Teacher, Guru or spiritual leader. There is no grand temple, just a variety of small, simple meditation sanctuaries. There are no common beliefs or practices. Instead there are a few hundred people from many different religious and spiritual backgrounds living together in harmony. There are still some from the western esoteric traditions, but most now come from various Christian, Jewish, Buddhist and Hindu traditions. There are many who follow shamanic paths, and New Agers of all shades. We share beliefs in the reality of the spiritual realms, in the possibility of communicating with and being guided by nature, and in the power of collective meditation. And we share a commitment to spiritual growth, and daily life and service as a spiritual path.
The people drawn to Findhorn are mostly disillusioned with modern consumerist society. They are more interested in personal and spiritual development than in career, status and possessions. They want to be more deeply connected with each other and the natural world, to demonstrate another way of being – both as individuals and a community. They want to pursue their own creativity in whatever form that may take, and to promote compassionate and loving change in the world. And we aim to live together in integrity, peace and harmony – which means acknowledging and dealing with the inevitable conflicts rather than pretending they don’t exist. These values are expressed in a Common Ground statement which all members sign.
These shared beliefs and values are important, and are supported by other strong glues. Of great importance are Community celebrations that bring us together for fun and fellowhip, sometimes mixed with a more serious purpose. Community sharings when we entertain each other with music, dance, comedy, stories and other performance arts are pure fun – as are the popular traditional Scottish Ceilidhs (country dances). Celebrations of the seasons, full moon, ancient Celtic and other religious festivals mix fun and deeper meanings.
Closely related to celebrations, but more individual, is the glue of creativity. This is a Community of artists and crafts people including theatre, dance, music, song, storytelling, clowning, pottery, weaving, furniture making, wood carving, painting, drawing, jewellery, photography, poetry, and more. The strength of this strand of community life is demonstrated by the regular Craft Fairs, and the opening last year of a new Arts Centre costing close to £750,000 (US$1.5m). The vision and leadership for this project was held for a decade by one person, Randy Klinger, but he couldn’t have manifested it without the support of many community artists.
The Findhorn Community is also united by a sense of purpose. As already noted, it was giant vegetables that first brought the Community to the world’s attention. Today, it is often said, we grow people instead. This ambition is reflected in our diverse educational programmes that draw 3,500 people a year from around the globe. These programmes include not only personal and spiritual development, but also UN endorsed trainings in ecovillage development and other aspects of sustainability, and a study abroad semester for college students accredited by the University of Massachusetts. Our biennial Conferences often have lasting effects. One on “Soul in Education” sparked a series of such conferences around the world. And one on Communities led to establishment of the Global Ecovillage Network, whose headquarters has been based here for some years. We share with other ecovillages the intention to demonstrate a way of life that is ecologically, economically, socially and spiritually sustainable. We may disagree amongst ourselves about what this means and how to balance these four factors, but such active debate is itself a form of glue rather than division.
Finally, we are bound together by the need to earn a living – both individually and as a Community. Today, there are about 35 businesses and charities within the Community, although many members still work outside. The biggest business is the Findhorn Foundation, which directly supports about 120 members. But there are many others including a store, printer, publisher, manufacturer of solar water heaters, a building company, organic horticulture, flower essences, wind farm, and more.
In my last entry, I focused mainly on how individuals cope with the lack of money. The Community as a whole has taken a couple of initiatives to address this issue. It is not possible to set up a community bank under British law, but a way was found by which individuals could invest in the Community. This has raised several hundred thousand pounds for various projects including the community store, and the wind farm. The second initiative is a community currency, the Eko. There are two main benefits of having our own currency. First, Ekos are only accepted by local businesses, and hence circulate locally rather than leaking out to line the pockets of supermarkets, big banks, oil companies etc. In this way they can boost the local economy without anyone needing to earn more $ or £. Secondly, community currencies often run at a profit which can be reinvested in the community. This is because some notes are not redeemed when the issue closes – at Findhorn, some may be kept as souvenirs by visitors, and others are lost or put through the washing machine!
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There, in brief, are my perceptions of the ‘glues’ that hold the Findhorn Community together. What can we learn from this experience for life elsewhere?
First, it’s important to recognise that the Findhorn Community is not utopia and we cast a large shadow as well as shed a bright light. We are simply humans trying our best like everyone else to find our way through the challenges of life. And so we often fail to live up to our values and achieve our aims. But we are nevertheless a living example of how 25 nationalities and many spiritual traditions can live closely together in harmony and (often) joy with a much lower ecological footprint than most of the developed world.
I think the main lesson is the importance of community life. In the past, there was a sense of community even in big cities, particularly amongst the poor. But mobility, suburban lifestyles, commuting, consumerism, the entertainment culture, and turning services and relationships into commodities have combined with other factors to destroy community. It will take a lot of effort to revitalise it, but, as I argued in my blog on beating climate change, I believe it is a key to a sustainable future.
Community requires trust, shared values, goals and activities, and a commitment to work through differences and conflicts rather than retreating into opposing camps and demonising ‘them’. As climate change, peak oil, and other pressures bite in the coming years and decades, life is going to get tougher for most of us. We have a choice. Either we can metaphorically build defensive walls and pull up the drawbridge, retreating into isolation and opposing camps. Or we can take the risk of reaching out in trust, seeking the common ground of our humanity, of building bridges between each other, and recreating community locally and globally.
But where to start? I’m no expert and cannot advise from personal experience. But it seems to me that a first step is to look at our own values, goals and needs, and then to look around for others who share at least one thing with us. Perhaps it is no more than your desire to care for your kids, and the need to transport them to and from school, or to find a ‘babysitter’ for evenings out. Or perhaps your challenge is to care for an aging parent, or a wish to grow food, or beautify your neighbourhood, or save energy ...
Imagine how cooperation between two families on the school run could help you both and might lead to a larger cooperative group. Imagine how shared transport might grow into collective activities such as picnics and outings, or an evening entertaining each other. Relaxing together and having fun is a great way to build trust, and find the common ground. And who knows where from there? Perhaps ideas will surface for creating a garden in a vacant lot, or sharing trips to the supermarket, or buying in bulk at wholesale prices, or ... Cooperative solutions to whatever challenges life throws at us. The only limit is our imagination.
