Findhorn Foundation
| Findhorn Foundation | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Foundation, endowment |
| founding | 1962 (Community) / 1972 (Foundation) |
| Seat | Findhorn , Moray , Scotland |
| main emphasis | Community life, sustainability, spirituality |
| Website | www.findhorn.org |
Findhorn Foundation is the legal organization of the Findhorn Community, a spiritually oriented community in Northern Scotland. The community is an intentional community (dt .: conscious community ), which, in addition to an economic purpose-built community, emphasizes common goals and joint activities in shaping life. It is particularly known as a provider of numerous seminars and guest programs.
Findhorn Community usually refers to the entirety of the community of people living on the site or in the surrounding communities who participate in community life, as well as the seminar center in Forres .
The Findhorn Foundation is a foundation that was established in 1972 to guarantee various legal and economic functions as a legal person, including the management of property in the community facilities, the ability to act as an employer for members of the community, and the organization of the Seminar operations.
The community lives on land belonging to the Findhorn parish on the Moray Firth in north-east Scotland . Due to the geographical affiliation to the municipality of Findhorn, the term “Findhorn Community” was used for the living community, and for the local delimitation within the place the terms “Ecovillage” or “The Park” (explanations in the development section).
The core of the seminar operations is the Cluny Hill College in nearby Forres (about 10 minutes by car).
The community also operates two retreat centers on the islands of Iona and Erraid.
development
Beginning in 1962
The community was founded in 1962. It goes back to the couple Eileen Caddy (* August 26, 1917 - December 13, 2006) and Peter Caddy (* March 20, 1917 - February 18, 1994) and a friend of the couple, Dorothy MacLean (* January 7 1920; † March 13, 2020). The three had previously worked at a golf hotel, the Cluny Hill Hotel, in the small town of Forres. Peter Caddy, a former military man, ran the hotel. After a falling out with the owners, they became unemployed and moved into a camper to the campsite in the nearby fishing village of Findhorn, which is still in operation today .
Eileen Caddy describes that she was in contact with God and received direct messages from him. As described in her autobiography, these teachings began a few years earlier (1957) with the words "Be still and know that I am God". She later published many of these messages in books.
In these conversations, the voice opened up to her that she should set up herself on this campsite and establish a community. A growing community of people who became aware of the community through Caddy's publications joined the group.
The community built the first community facilities on the grounds of the park (from "Trailer Park", camping site) and the adjacent hinterland, including a first meditation building (Main Sanctuary) and a building for community catering and exchange (Community Center).
In 1967 a publishing house (Findhorn Press) was founded.
When Eileen Caddy was instructed at the beginning of the 1970s to no longer pass on her instructions directly as such to the community so that they did not depend too much on the person of Caddys as the leader, but developed their own intuitive feeling, this was a further step to the kind of community that lives there today.
1970s
The American David Spangler (born January 7, 1945) became a member of the community for a short but significant phase in 1970 and shortly after his arrival he took over the organizational management and the conversion into a seminar center. His vision was for people to come there, advance their development there and, as conscious and spiritual people, carry this spark back out into the world. Within a few years the community grew to over 100 members and several hundred guests per year. In 1973 Spangler returned to the United States. His book "New Age - The Birth of a New Age" from 1971 helped the (already older) concept of New Age to new acquaintance and following and made Spangler a well-known leading figure of the movement of the same name in the USA.
In 1972 the Findhorn Foundation was established as a non-profit organization .
In order to do justice to the growing number of guests and course participants and to be able to expand the range of courses, the now vacant Cluny Hill Hotel in Forres was bought up in 1975 and converted into the Cluny Hill College seminar center . Since then, most of the courses have taken place there.
The private island Erraid, privately owned by a Dutch family, was offered to the community for use. Since then, the community has been running a small retreat center there.
1980s
In 1982 the Foundation bought the campsite and has continued to operate it independently since then ( Findhorn Bay Holiday Park ).
In 1983, New Findhorn Directions Ltd. (NFD), a subsidiary of the Foundation, whose task is economic projects outside of the guest and seminar business. For example, the operation of the public part of the campsite was taken over by the NFD.
The "Cullerne House" adjacent to the park, a large former private house, was bought and its gardens are now used to grow vegetables and plants for the production of flower essences. Today the premises of the Findhorn Flower Essences Company are primarily housed in this house.
In 1985 the Moray Steiner School was founded in Forres , modeled on the Rudolf Steiner Schools , also known as Waldorf Schools . It is based in the old Drumduan House on Cluny Hill (Forres), which is also where the college is located. The reason for the establishment of the school was the increasing number of children in the community, but the school is also open to children from Forres or the surrounding communities.
In 1989 the Trees for Life (Scotland) Foundation was established by Alan Watson Featherstone as part of the Foundation with the aim of reforesting the Caledonian forests.
1990s
The development of the community can be traced externally, among other things, in the development of the site and the buildings in the so-called “Ecovillage”. The houses that were built in the course of the 1990s also mark a shift in the interests of a large part of the people who settle there within the three core areas (see section on self-image ) from the earlier emphasis on spirituality more towards ecological issues and a way of life that integrates many generations.
The ecological way of life of the community includes not only the construction of the houses and ecological management in the Ecovillage (e.g. using solar systems for hot water preparation), but also the operation of wind turbines and the operation of an ecological sewage treatment plant on a biological basis (a so-called living machine ).
In 1996/1997 Dunelands Ltd. (DL), a society for the conservation and ecological development of the dune land on the peninsula on which the village of Findhorn and the park are located.
In 1997, the Findhorn Foundation as a non-governmental organization (NGO, for English non-governmental organization ) recognized by the state.
Another organization was formed in 1999, the New Findhorn Association (NFA). The reason for this was the development that in the 1990s more and more former members and guests no longer lived on the site, but in the surrounding communities, some of which were further away from the park. In order to enable better integration of these people in community life and better information channels, the NFA was founded. a. publishes its own magazine and operates an internet portal to provide information on current developments and to publish an event calendar.
2000s
In 2001 Findhorn College was founded. The aim is to offer longer-term courses. The college does not have its own building for teaching events, but uses various existing rooms. The administration is located in Forres.
In September 2006 a new training building for sustainable development was opened, the CIFAL Findhorn ( Center International de Formation des Autorités / Acteurs Locaux , in German international center for the education of local functionaries and actors ). Thereto in addition to have Findhorn Foundation and the administration of the district Moray (Moray Council), the United Nations Institute for Training and Research ( United Nations Institute for Training and Research, UNITAR ) and the Global Network of ecovillages ( Global Ecovillage Network involved).
In 2007 the Moray Art Center , located in Ecovillage, was opened.
Self-image
The self-image of the community comprises three core areas: community life , sustainability and spirituality . She describes her goals as "helping to develop a new human consciousness and to create a positive, sustainable future".
Community life
Community life includes working together, taking meals together (on request), and joint events in a comprehensive calendar of events. The work takes place in different work areas in the morning and afternoon shifts (mainly agriculture and gardening, maintenance, cleaning and kitchen). It is attended either by short- and medium-term guests (from a week to a year), or by members of the community who live partly on the site, partly in the surrounding villages and communities and take on voluntary shifts there. There are also Foundation employees who work on the basis of room and board (while the guests are paying participants in workshops). This jointly performed work not only serves the productive accomplishment of arising tasks, but is an essential part of the creation and maintenance of personal contacts and thus to support a sense of community.
sustainability
Sustainability in the way of life is characterized by the above-mentioned ecological construction, energy-conscious management, ecological farming, use of regenerative energy through wind turbines, waste avoidance, biological wastewater treatment and other points.
spirituality
There is no standardized belief in the area of spirituality, it is not a confessional community. In this respect, people live there with different religious and ideological ideas. Caddy's writings are orientation points, but are not understood dogmatically. One of the spiritual principles is "listening to the inner voice" ( deep inner listening ). This is a form of meditation or reflection on intuition, the source of which is accepted outside of the individual human being, in an all-embracing consciousness. Furthermore, the "cooperation with the intelligence of nature" and the "service to the world" by living and passing on these principles as a guest and seminar center are mentioned. As an expression in everyday life, for example, the "tuning in" could be called, the attunement. When members and guests meet, to work together, to discuss, or to make decisions, a tuning-in is carried out, a short period of attunement to the task at hand and to the people present with whom one will tackle this task together . 'Awareness' and 'mindfulness' can be mentioned here as keywords.
An explanation of the spiritual basis of the community can be found in addition to the explanations on the Foundation's website in a "Study Paper on the Basis of Spirituality at the Findhorn Community" (in English) by long-time member Carol Riddell. The author also makes one of her books available free of charge on her website (in English, it has been published in book form in German).
literature
- Karin Bogliolo, Carly Newfeld: Findhorn: The light of a new time (translation of In Search of the Magic of Findhorn , Findhorn Press, 2002). Munich: Aquamarine.
- Eileen Caddy: flight to the inner freedom (Flight into freedom, Element Books, 1988), Freiburg i.Br: Greuthof. [ Autobiography. ]
- Eileen Caddy: God spoke to me (God spoke to me, first in booklet form from 1966, as a book from 1967, Findhorn Press, 1992), Freiburg i.Br: Greuthof.
- Eileen Caddy, David E. Platts, Franchita M. Cattani von Greuthof Gutach: Open doors to the heart 2004.
- Eileen Caddy, David E. Platts: Opening the gates to love. A Findhorn Book Silberschnur 2010.
- Eileen Caddy, Christine Egli, Erika Ballert, Anna Ch. Rassmann: Traces on the way into the light Greuthof 2009.
- Eileen Caddy: Listen to love with your ears and speak with your voice Kamphausen Verlag 1998.
- Eileen Caddy: Findhorn, Kingdom of Light Kamphausen Verlag 1997.
- Eileen Caddy, David E. Platts: Bring more love into your life, the choice is yours Kamphausen Verlag 1996.
- Dorothy Maclean: You can talk to angels Aquamarin Verlag, 1996 and Heyne Verlag 1997.
- Dorothy Maclean: The Angels of Countries and Peoples. Like great angelic beings watch over the fate of the nations Aquamarin Verlag 2005.
- Findhorn Community (Ed.): The Findhorn Garden (The Findhorn Garden, Findhorn Press, 1975), Freiburg i.Br: Greuthof. [ Basic book for understanding the values of the community, with contributions from the various leaders ].
- Paul Hawken: Der Zauber von Findhorn (The Magic of Findhorn, Harper and Row, 1975), Hamburg: Rowohlt.
- David Spangler: New Age - The Birth of a New Age (Revelation: The Birth of a New Age, Findhorn Press, 1971), Freiburg i.Br: Greuthof.
- Dorothy MacLean: You can talk to angels (To hear the angels sing, Lorian Press, 1980), Munich: Aquamarin.
- Carol Riddell: The Findhorn Story (The Findhorn Community, Findhorn Press, 1990). Freiburg i.Br: Greuthof 1991. [ In English, this book can be read free of charge on the author's website, see web links. ]
- Angela Hoffmann: Under the magnolia tree. Story in "Sisters of the Earth", ed. von Dolt / Weltzien, Goldmann TB Verlag, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-442-42236-1 , page 170f. In it a description of the Findhorn community.
Movies
- 2010: Follow the rainbow to Findhorn - a documentation . Documentary by Markus Werner
Web links
English speaking:
- Findhorn Foundation
- Findhorn Community: Ecovillage
- New Findhorn Association (NFA)
- Findhorn Community: Findhorn College (NFA)
- Moray Steiner School
- Findhorn Bay Holiday Park
- Duneland Ltd (DL)
- Trees for Life
- CIFAL Findhorn
- Moray Art Center
- Carol Riddell: Website of the author with the above texts
Video:
- youtube: An Introduction to the Findhorn Foundation [ approx. 8 min., English, presentation by the Foundation ]
Individual evidence
- ^ "Be still and know that I am God". Caddy, Eileen: Flight into freedom. Moray: Findhorn Press, 1988. [ Corresponds to Psalm 46:10 , in German 46:11. ]
- ↑ "... helping to unfold a new human consciousness and create a positive and sustainable future" website of the Findhorn Foundation: Vision ( memento of the original from November 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked . Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ "... deep inner listening, and acting from that source of wisdom, co-creation with the intelligence of nature, service to the world" and "Our service to the world is to be a center of learning, practice, exploration and demonstration". Findhorn Foundation website: Founding Principles ( Memento of the original dated November 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
