Findhorn Foundation

Findhorn Foundation is the legal organization of the Findhorn Community, a spiritually oriented community in northern Scotland. The Community is an intentional community, dt: intentional community, which emphasizes on an economic purpose Urbanization addition, common goals and joint operations in the lifestyle. She is particularly known as a provider of numerous seminars and guest programs.

Findhorn community usually referred to the whole of the community of people living on the premises or in surrounding communities people who participate in community life, as well as the convention center in Forres. The Findhorn Foundation is a foundation that was established in 1972 to provide a variety of tasks in legal and economic terms as a legal person, including the property management of the Community bodies, the ability to act as an employer of members of the community, and the organization of the seminar operation.

The community lives on a site, which belongs to the municipality of Findhorn on the Moray Firth in northeast Scotland. Due to the geographical belonging to the municipality Findhorn, the term " Findhorn Community " has produced for the community of life, and for the local containment within the village, the terms " Ecovillage " or "The Park" ( discussed in the section Development).

Core of the seminar operation is the Cluny Hill College in nearby Forres ( about 10 minutes by car).

In addition, the Community operates two retreat center on the islands of Iona and Erraid.

Development

Beginnings in 1962

The community was founded in 1962. It goes back to the couple Eileen Caddy ( born August 26, 1917 † 13 December 2006) and Peter Caddy ( born March 20, 1917 † February 18, 1994 ), as well as a friend of the couple, Dorothy MacLean (* 1920). The three were in the small town of Forres before in a golf hotel, the Cluny Hill Hotel, worked. Peter Caddy, a former military officer, headed the hotel. After a falling out with the owners they became unemployed and moved into a caravan on the still run campsite in the nearby fishing village of Findhorn.

Eileen Caddy describes that she was in touch with God and received from this direct messages. According to the description in her autobiography these teachings had already begun a few years earlier (1957 ) with the words "Be still and know that I am God." Many of these messages she later published in books.

In these talks, it opened the voice that they should be set up in this camp and start a community. A growing community of people who had become aware by the Publications caddies on the community, the group joined.

The community built on the site of the park (from " Trailer Park ", campsite), and the adjacent hinterland first community facilities, including a first meditation building ( Main Sanctuary ) and a building for catering and exchange ( Community Centre ).

1967 Publisher ( Findhorn Press) was founded.

As Eileen Caddy at the beginning of the seventies was instructed no longer to pass their instructions directly as such to the community, so they do not get too depended on the person caddies as director, but developed their own intuitive sense, this was another step to the kind of community that lives there today.

1970s

The American David Spangler ( born January 7, 1945) was established in 1970 for a brief but important phase member of the community and shortly after his arrival, he took over the running and the conversion to a conference center. His vision was that people get there, there advance their development and contribute to the world as a conscious and spiritual people that spark back out. Within a few years the community has grown to over 100 members and several hundred guests per year. In 1973, Spangler went back to the U.S.. His book " New Age - The birth of a new age " from 1971 helped the (already older ) term of the New Age to a new acquaintance and following and made ​​Spangler to a known leader of the movement of the same name in the United States.

In 1972 the Findhorn Foundation was founded as a nonprofit organization.

To the growing number of guests and students to meet and be able to expand the range of courses, which is now vacant Cluny Hill Hotel in Forres in 1975 bought and rebuilt the seminar center Cluny Hill College. There, since most of the courses will be held.

The private island Erraid, privately owned by a Dutch family, was offered to the community use. The community operates since there is a small retreat center.

1980s

1982 bought the Foundation to the camp and runs him since in-house further ( Findhorn Bay Holiday Park ).

In 1983, the New Findhorn Directions Ltd. ( NFD ) founded a subsidiary of the Foundation, whose mission sector projects outside the guest and seminar operation. For example, the operation of the public part of the camp was taken over by the NFD.

Adjacent to the park " Cullerne House ", a large former private house, was acquired and its gardens are now used for growing vegetables and plants for the production of flower essences. Today the offices of the Findhorn Flower Essences Company are primarily housed in this house.

1985 in Forres Moray Steiner School founded on the model of Rudolf Steiner schools, also known as Waldorf schools. It has its seat at the old " Drumduan House " on Cluny Hill ( Forres ), which is where the college is. Reason for the founding of the school was the increasing number of children in the community, the school is also children from Forres or surrounding communities open.

In 1989, the Foundation Trees for Life (Scotland ) by Alan Watson Featherstone was established as part of the Foundation, with the goal of reforestation of the Caledonian forests.

1990s

The development of the Community can be trace " Ecovillage " externally, among others, the development of the land and the buildings in the so-called. Which arose in the course of the 1990s houses also feature a displacement of the interests of a large part of there colonizing people within the three core areas (see Section self-understanding ) from the previous emphasis on spirituality more on environmental issues and to many generations integrating lifestyle.

For ecological lifestyle of the community in addition to the construction of the houses and the environmental management in the Ecovillage (eg by solar panels for water heating ) also include the operation of wind turbines, as well as the operation of an ecological sewage treatment plant on a biological basis ( a so-called Living Machine ).

1996/1997 was the Dunelands Ltd.. (DL ) founded a society for the preservation and environmental development of the dune land on the peninsula on which the village of Findhorn and the park are.

In 1997, the Foundation was recognized as a non-governmental organization (NGO, non- governmental organization for English ) state.

1999 another organization was founded, the New Findhorn Association (NFA ). Reason for this was the development that in the 1990s more and more former members and guests were no longer living on the premises, but in the surrounding communities with some greater distance to the park. To organizationally to allow better integration of these people into community life and better channels of information, the NFA was established, inter alia, publishes its own magazine and is an Internet portal operates to provide information on current developments and publish a calendar of events.

2000s

In 2001 the Findhorn College was founded. The aim is to offer longer-term rates. The College does not have its own building for tuition, but uses different existing premises. The office is located in Forres.

In September 2006 a new training center was opened on Sustainable Development, the CIFAL Findhorn ( Centre International de Formation of Autorités / Acteurs Locaux, International Centre for Education in German local function owners and players ). This is followed in addition to the Foundation and the administration of the district of Moray ( Moray Council ), the Training and Research Institute of the United Nations (United Nations Institute for Training and Research, UNITAR ) and the Global Network of Ecovillages (Global Ecovillage Network Europe ) are involved.

2007, the Moray Art Center, located in the Ecovillage opened.

Self-understanding

The Community self- understanding includes three core areas: community life, sustainability and spirituality. Your goals they designate as "help to unfold a new human consciousness and create a positive, sustainable future."

Community life includes common work, common mealtimes ( on request ), common events in a comprehensive calendar of events. The work takes place in the morning and afternoon layers (mainly agriculture and garden, maintenance, cleaning and kitchen) in different areas of work. It is of short-and medium-term guests perceived either (from one week to one year), or by community members, some of which live on the ground, partially in the surrounding villages and towns, and there take voluntary layers. There are also employees of the Foundation, which operate on the basis of room and board ( while guests paying participants at workshops ). These together work done not only serve the productive coping applicable tasks, but are an essential part of creating and maintaining personal contacts and thus to support a sense of community.

The sustainability of life is characterized by the above-mentioned ecological construction, energy-conscious management, organic farming, use of renewable energy through wind turbines, waste prevention, biological waste water treatment and other points.

In the area of ​​spirituality, there is no standardized attitude of faith, it is not a confessional community. In this respect, people can live with different religious and philosophical ideas. The Caddy's writings are indeed landmarks, but are not understood dogmatic. The spiritual principles that " listening to the inner voice" heard (deep inner listening ). This is a form of meditation or reflection on intuition, whose source is assumed outside the individual man, in an all-encompassing consciousness. Furthermore, the " cooperation with the intelligence of nature " and the " service to the world " by living example as guests and seminar center, these principles and pass called. As an expression in everyday life here would be about the " tuning in " to call, the self- attunement. When members and guests meet to work together, to talk, or to make decisions, a tuning - in is performed, a brief period of attunement to the task at hand and to the present people with whom you approach this task together is. ' Awareness ' and ' mindfulness ' can be called as keywords here.

An explanation of the Community's spiritual base can be found next to the versions on the website of the Foundation in a "Study Paper on the basis of Spirituality at the Findhorn Community " (in English ) of the long-standing member Carol Riddell. One of her books, the author makes on their website also accessible free of charge (in English, it was published in book form in German ).