Lisa Haney writes: In 2023 I took part in Experience Week at the Findhorn Foundation in Cluny Hill college. I used that experience as part of a study for CLIE Summer Community Praxis: The Soul of the World at Pacifica Graduate School, California.

In the paper and video, I explore “utopian praxis,” what I am calling the dynamic interplay of imagining and manifesting alternative social visions, at the Findhorn Foundation and Ecovillage Findhorn at The Park, in Northwest Scotland. Grounded in my participation in the Findhorn Foundation’s core educational program known as “Experience Week” and interviews with eight community members, my research examines Findhorn as an example of utopian praxis amidst complex challenges.

The paper analyzes the way in which founding core principles, especially “inner listening’ and integrative models of sustainability spanning spiritual, social, economic, and ecological dimensions have served personal and social transformation.

Also illustrated are the necessary and ongoing struggles inherent in manifesting utopian visions as the Findhorn Foundation and Ecovillage Findhorn at The Park enter a period of great transition brought on by the pandemic, Brexit, and larger social and economic forces; and grapple with a complicated and unsustainable organizational structure.

After setting some personal and community context through autoethnography, I convey some key insights gained via interviews with eight residents and then describe how learnings might be applied to Findhorn and other contexts including my current professional endeavors as an educational leader. My studies suggest that tapping deeply into the pluriverse of intrapersonal, interpersonal, transpersonal practices and systemic structures can bring us closer to the good life and the good place, the utopia we envision.

To browse through the paper please use the arrows at the bottom left of the window, use Zoom or Toggle Fullscreen for easier reading.