This article was first published in the One Earth Magazine Issue 16, Winter 1994.

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As one of’ the most glorious ever of Findhorn summers draws to a close, it’s a good time to: 1) apolo­gise for having to fry the rest of the world to get such weather here, and 2) take stock of what’s been and is.

As good a place as any to begin might be the Annual Report of the Findhorn Foundation Trustees. Recently produced with pride and professionalism, it provides a succinct overview of what we’ve been up to of late and the ‘juice’ currently running through ‘the system’. In addition to chronicling our myriad educational, environmental and com­munity functions, it provides handy maps which reveal the extent of our global impact and the amount of money we bring to the local economy, and it describes our future plans for the dreams that keep us going. All of which adds up to a portrait of a growing, healthy, busy organisation.

However it neglects to mention two stories of arguably ‘cosmic’ import. In the annual ‘battle of the budget’ that recurs every late winter, the Foundation management team, spearheaded by Patrick Nash, announced they were tired of’ ‘zero sum budgets’ which precluded much needed improvements of consequence. So, in response to the rec­ommendations of various public rela­tions wizards who have been passing through and extensive funding research by Glenn Walters (our own Public Relations officer), Patrick announced that it was time to ‘go for gold’ in the form of creating some noticeable profits. The suggested strategy to achieve this was to be two-fold: a more professional fund-raising effort and increased guest numbers.

To this end, the Foundation has creat­ed a new Stewardship fund to receive donations and grants. Significantly, we have received to date some £32,000 from the first two of three planned fund-raising mailings this year, in addi­tion to some £20,000 in donations and bequests. ln like manner, after a slug­gish start, guest numbers have been rising vis-a-vis budget expectations in response to a concerted collective invocation and effort, with surprising concentrations of Italians, Spaniards and Latin Americans. So, if this keeps up, the obvious conclusion will have to be that the time-honoured ‘laws of manifesation’ still work.

Local Economic Impact: shows direct impact of the Foundation’s expenditure and that of its subsidiary company New Findhorn Directions in the local area (represents 40% of total expenditure, a 9.5% increase over last year).

Global Impact of the Findhorn Foundation: indicates which countries 1) residential guests have come from, 2) tours and external programmes have visited and 3) have members of the Resource People Network.

The second story is almost humorous. For the past year, there has been only one political issue of real conse­quence. It has had to do with ‘who’s in’ this expanding community and ‘who’s not’, and ‘on what basis?’ As more and more people have been drawn to the area because of the Foundation and have sought to establish meaningful relationships with it, the Foundation has been somewhat pressed to include and integrate them.This ‘inclusion/exclu­sion’ issue was a recurring theme in vir­tually all of the conflict resolution ses­sions conducted with Max Schupbach and Jytte Vikkelsøe in May of which Mike Hawkins spoke in the last instal­ment of this column. The underlying issues have had to do with ‘membership’ and membership ‘of what?’. When it got so heated and complicated that Management decided to take legal advice from our Edinburgh solicitors, the upshot was that we were advised that our formal constitution legally precludes ‘membership’ altogether!

In view of this counsel, the Foundation Management immediately decided to delete all references to ‘mem­bership’ in our literature and lingo. In the eyes of the law, it seems, what we have in this community is employees, students and volunteers. Well, it may be a shade prosaic, but it’s also a straight forward and inclusive enough description of ‘what is’. Although we’ve yet to fully integrate all of this, especially for those who had much invested in their membership status, the immediate effect has been singularly liberating for those growing numbers who have grown weary of the ever increasing complexity of the category and labelling system.

What will replace it is not yet clear. At this point, however, it certainly feels like an invitation to expand the parameters of our identity and purpose from a comparatively closed system to a more open, expansive and inclusive one. It also reflects a growing sense that whatever it is we’re doing and growing into, it feels increasingly like we’re doing it together. Something, perhaps, not unlike a budding ecological village?

Speaking of which, the year’s building projects in the form of budding barrels are steadily proceeding towards completion this Fall. Although it is unfinished, John Talbott has already settled into his rather grand, if thoroughly ‘green’, two-storey rendition. The final contribution to the ‘barrel cluster’ is the fruit of’ architect Nicole Edmunds and builder Phillip Stewart’s inspired collaboration: a two storey but four half level ‘dovecote-like’ (circular stone structures that dot the Scottish landscape) combination of’barrel and sandstone for Auriol de Smidt, teacher in our burgeoning Steiner school. A perfectly ingenious use of space!

Important to mention that David and Julie Spangler, William Bloom and Sabina Dearborn and their growing families were with us for virtually the whole month of August. Although they spent much of this time ‘work-shopping’ and simply readjusting to the intense demands of community life, David and William also made the rounds of many groups who continue to seek out their gentle inspiration, reassurance and suggestions for dealing with our incessant ‘issues’ and ‘challenges’. David got our attention early on by mentioning casually that he was having difficulty contacting the ‘Angel of Findhorn’. However, he later explained that he had been suffering from the ‘flu, and once recovered, was able to renew this significant connection. It was his sense that this overlighting presence was no longer confined to the Foundation but now suffused the entire area and reached out to touch many areas of the planet. In his concluding chat before leaving, he encouraged us to renew our traditions of hospitality and “to let the stranger in”.

John and Caitlin Matthews also joined us for a week of ‘relaxation’, re-introducing us to the Western Mystery Tradition (on which they have jointly written some 60 books!) and planning our Easter 1995 Conference on that subject, to be jointly co-ordinated by Rosie Turnbull and yours truly. The result of this week was that we were able to complete a provisional schedule for what will be an exceptionally rich exploration of the spiritual traditions indigenous to the West (not to mention this community) and their contemporary relevance. Our current challenge is getting the word out to interested parties. If any of you would like to receive or to help distribute brochures for the event, please write to the Accommodations Secretary at Cluny Hill.

While on the Conrerence theme, you may also wish to know that the October 1995 event will look at ‘Eco-Villages As Models of Sustainability in the 90s’ and will be co-ordinated by John Talbott, who worked with me on our first offering of this ilk 12 years ago. The idea is to review our own progress and lessons in the company of various comparable efforts around the world, relevant visionaries, professionals and planners who are increasingly warming to the mainstream viability of what we are doing.

His Eminence the Twelfth Kentio Tai Situpa’s entourage

We’ve also had a steady stream of ‘special guests’ presented through the auspices of the ‘Findhorn Foundation Lecture Series’ (courtesy of May East, Craig Gibsone and various financial contributors). These have included, amongst others, pioneering botanist Rupert Sheldrake and spiritually inspired architect Peter Dawkins, as well as several Tibetan lamas, one of whom, His Eminence the Twelfth Kentio Tai Situpa, arrived at the Caravan Park by helicopter from Samye Ling, a Tibetan monastery in Southern Scotland with which we’re cultivating a deepening connection.

Speaking of ‘special guests’, Foundation Focaliser Judy Buhler-McAllister and even longer term ‘member’ Gordon Cutler embark on a coast to coast tour of the USA from mid October to mid-December designed to reacquaint interested folks with the community today. Please contact your local Resource Person or Terry Ryan at the Shenoa Community in Philo, California if you wish details of their itinerary.

Hopefully, this gives you an idea of what’s happening and how you can partake of the current action here!

Roger Dondua co-ordinates the Findhorn Foundation Fellowship