This clutch of blogs explores the thinking and background that goes into developing an Ecovillage as it matures from teenager to young adult:

  • How to re-think the stewardship of Commons?
  • How to transfer land holdings from a founding organization to the community?
  • How to design Governance for a community of organizations?
  • How to develop a Local Place Plan with the Community?
  • How to think about the Purpose of our Park Ecovillage Findhorn?

This blog continues the unfolding importance of exploring and explicating Purpose in the ecovillage.

Findhorn Foundation (FF) – the founding organization of the Park Ecovillage Findhorn – has, in the last 3 years, survived a series of polycrisis (from Brexit, to Covid, to Lockdown, to arson of Sanctuary and Community Centre, to global financial challenges, to energy cost increases, to global market disruptions). So in order to survive and focus on its core calling of spiritual education, FF has chosen to divest itself of land and amenities that are not needed to serve that purpose.

And the Community of the Park Ecovillage Findhorn (PEF) that has grown up around FF and become a thriving human settlement (aka human hive) has responded by negotiating a 3-stage agreement to buy significant lands and amenities from FF. By stepping into this decision, the Community is attuning to a statement of Purpose that resonates with and serves Planet, Place, People and Person.

As the implications of the changes altering FF have become apparent in the last year individuals, associations and organisations have inquired into different aspects of community life in PEF. We have seen these groups emerge – each with a critical intention:

  • Commons Inquiry – a subgroup of ColCi to identify and explore how common land and infrastructure may be co-owned by the community.
  • Governance Working Group – a self-organising informal group that has explored how governance could be defined and implemented in PEF.
  • Conflict Resilience Group – an informal group that has examined how to resolve conflicts that arise in the community amongst individuals and/or organisations/associations.
  • Local Place Plan Group – a community participative body formed of constituted organisations and informal associations to develop a Local Plan to submit to Moray Council in September/December 2024. (This group took on many of the FF DevCom activities but formed a Working Group and Feedback Group to include and communicate LPP framework to the community as a whole.)

The emergence of these groups has co-existed with the continuation of a number of constituted organizations: New Findhorn Association (NFA), Title Holders Association (THA), Park Ecovillage Trust (PET), Ekopia, Findhorn Foundation (FF),  New Findhorn Directions (NFD) and the creation of Ecovillage Findhorn BenCom (EF) and the collection of Organizations, that meets as the Collaboration Circle (ColCi).

During the last year and half other manifestations have called forth coherence and purpose in PEF.

  • Designing the New Sanctuary through a co-creative charrette process and funding it through FF funding appeals and successful grant applications.
  • Just Transition Feasibility Studies: 4 Research projects explored the advancement of ecovillage infrastructure for energy, heating, housing, food.
  • Call for Ideas: This started with the Call for Ideas first summarised by Collective Architecture (CAL)/FF and then expanded by community contributions of approximately 20 Ideas that were submitted to Moray Council as preparation for Local Place Plans and Local Development Plans.
  • Day of Silence – November 17, 2023
  • What Next? Process (from Game of Transformation) – January 2024
  • Community Game of Transformation – March 2024
  • EF-FF Buyout Proposal – April 2024
  • NFA/EF/LPP Visioning with Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) Dimensions

Through all this organisational emergence and community exploration we have involved Leaders, Residents, Contributors, Policy Setter, Neighbours, Fellows, Friends – and a community Purpose has been implicit in all our actions.

It is now time to renew our community Purpose and to make what has been implicit, now explicit.

So we are planning to gather to engage anew with a Purpose that has been flowing through the community since it began as a spiritual intentional community that manifested the qualities of an ecovillage that inspired a whole Global Network of Ecovillages (GEN).

Purpose can be explored and revealed in many ways – most of our organisations here have used some method to identify their Purpose.

Many PEF residents as individuals have a Personal Purpose.

The Purpose we will now explore will build on the intention threaded through our many activities and outreaches to take on expanded responsibilities as PEF. Let’s seek to create a Community Purpose that is cohesive and purposeful, inclusive and inspiring, spiritual and caring. Let’s anchor our renewed Purpose into our Local Place Plan and regenerate our Caring Capacities for all our spiritual, ecological, artistic and Nature/Subtle Realm relationships.

We can all start the Personal Purpose Process by remembering: What has called us to Park Ecovillage Findhorn? How does PEF create a container for our Personal Purpose? Our Organization Purposes? How do our Personal and Organization Purposes contribute to thriving symbiotic relationships with one another? How are we all in service to the Highest Good of all Life – even to Gaia herself?