The concept of Planetary Consciousness became more and more important for Community members in the late 1970s and early 1980s. As in many instances, Conferences at Findhorn have played a formative role in the evolution of the Community over the years.

The ‘ONEARTH GATHERING – BUILDING A PLANETARY VILLAGE’ in 1982 brought together the presenters James Hubbell, Sim van der Ryn, Eileen Caddy, Wendell Berry, John & Nancy Todd, Keith Critchlow, Andre Gregory, Sir George Trevelyan, Diana Whitmore, Guy Dauncey and John Twidell. The conference was focalised by John Talbott and Roger Doudna.

My memory of the One Earth Gathering, ‘Building a Planetary Village’ in 1982 is that it was utterly inspirational – with presenters who evoked inspiration, aspiration as well as action. Some presenters spoke of the material and environmental requirements for a planetary village while others, like myself (Sir George and Eileen), focused on the psychospiritual vision and requirements.

Diana Whitmore

Roger Doudna with James Hubbell's clay model 2024 photo CFeatherstone

 

In an interview in January 2024 Roger reflects on the conference.

The Presenters

At the time of writing this post we don’t have a lot of information available on the content of some of the conference presenters’ talks. Please add a comment if you have any memories or recollections of the event.

James Hubbell (Born 1931) is a visual artist, architect, sculptor, stained-glass designer and founder of the Ilan-Lael Foundation. He is known for designing and building houses based on organic designs. He and Sim van der Ryn came to Findhorn in the summer of 1982 to make design ‘charettes’ with those at Findhorn keen on developing housing for the Community.

In that process the area between Cullerne House and Gardens, Pineridge and the central area became ‘The Magic Triangle’. Magic, because it would connect those three Community areas and place the Universal Hall central to the settlement (rather than on the edge). Magic also because at the time this land was part of the private Wilkie Estate and out-of-bounds for Community members. This lasted until 1997 when the estate was purchased by a group of Community investors and became integral to the Ecovillage.

The community charettes resulted in drawings and a clay model of a potential housing cluster for the area which now houses the Barrel cluster in Pineridge. The Sun Petal Living Cluster was designed to accommodate six families of four and five singles, i.e. 29 people. It sadly was never built as the only construction material capable of implementing the design at the time seemed to be concrete which was deemed incompatible with the aspired to eco-specifications.

 

In 1988 James Hubbell created the ‘Firebird Panel’ that hung upstairs in the community centre but was destroyed in the fire at Findhorn in 2021. It was recreated by James Hubbell in 2023 and is temporarily hanging in the Universal hall. Roger tells the story of the firebird.

Sim Van der Ryn is an American architect, researcher and educator known for applying principles of physical and social ecology to architecture and environmental design. He spent 35 years as professor of architecture at UC Berkeley and was California’s State Architect in the late 1970s. He designed and built California’s first energy efficient and climate-responsive building. He worked with James Hubbell above in designing housing options for the Community.

Eileen Caddy (1917-2006) was one of three founding members of the Findhorn Foundation, along with her husband, Peter Caddy, and Dorothy Maclean. She was a visionary, author and spiritual teacher and had a world-wide following. She came to Findhorn in 1962 and lived here for the rest of her life. In 2001 she was named one of the 50 most spiritually influential people in Britain, and in 2004 she was awarded the MBE by Queen Elizabeth II.

Wendell Berry is a poet, novelist and environmentalist living in Kentucky where he has maintained a farm for over 40 years, based on agrarian values. He has developed many of his agrarian themes in his writing. He has written over 30 books of poetry, essays and novels. There is no information about his presentation at the conference but here is a link to some of his poems – The Peace of Wild Things in particular spoke to me.

The expansion of the ecovillage Craig Gibsone The Living Machine © Findhorn Foundation

Living Machine © Findhorn Foundation

John and Nancy Todd are pioneers in ecological design based on biological principles. Dr John Todd, a Canadian biologist experimented with ecologically engineered solutions to architecture and agriculture. In the 1970s he, along with his wife Nancy, developed the beautiful Living Machine, a biological, low energy wastewater treatment system mimicking natural purifying mechanisms such as marshes and wetlands.  The first Living Machine in Europe was installed at the Ecovillage Findhorn in 1995, to treat the waste water of approximately 300 people. The project was completed under the guidance of Michael Shaw, who had worked with John Todd in the US. (This article in The Ecologist gives a good introduction.)

Keith Critchlow (1933-2020) was a British artist, lecturer, author, sacred Geometer, professor of architecture and co-founder of the Temenos Academy in the UK which offers education in philosophy and the arts based on the sacred traditions of East and West. Keith’s love of Platonic philosophy, Islamic art and sacred geometry led him to a lifelong study of esoteric meaning of number, symbolism and geometry in art, architecture and nature. He is the author of many books.

Sir George Trevelyan (1906-1996) was a British educational pioneer who studied Anthroposophy before founding the Wrekin Trust in 1971. He was awarded the Right Livelihood Award in 1982 for ‘educating the adult spirit to a new non-materialistic vision of human nature.’ In his teachings he inspired and encouraged the synthesis between science and spirituality and he worked closely with the Findhorn Foundation and the Soil Association. For more information on Sir George’s work click here.

André Gregory (born 1934) is a French-born American theatre director, writer and actor. He has been at the forefront of experiential and independent theatre for over 40 years. In the context of the Community he is best known for co-writing and starring in ‘My Dinner with Andre’ – a 1981 comedy-drama film directed by Louis Malle. We have not found any record of the contents of his presentation at the conference in 1982, but a quote from his famous film gives insight into his experience, ‘I heard about this community in Scotland called Findhorn where people sang and talked and meditated with plants … when I was there I remember being in the woods, I would look at a leaf and I would actually see that thing that is alive in that leaf and then I remember just running through the woods as fast as I could with this incredible laugh coming out of me and really being in that state where laughter and tears emerge.’

Diana Whitmore is founder and a current trustee of the Psychosynthesis Trust. For twenty-five years she was Chairperson of the Trust, Joint Chief Executive, Head of Professional Courses and a Senior Trainer and Supervisor in psychosynthesis. Having practised psychosynthesis for 35 years, she has trained professionals throughout Europe, and consults on research and development of new projects in positive psychology. She was on the trustee board of the Findhorn Foundation from 1994 – 2012, and is a Findhorn Fellow.

Psychosynthesis was informing and underpinning my presentation in that conference, with emphasis on the journey from the individual, to the interpersonal, to the social, to the global and finally, the cosmic and the importance of working on all these levels.  Perhaps starting with the individual and their journey toward soul, the transformation of obstacles into stepping stones (blessing the obstacle) and evolution towards self realisation. Alongside that, with awareness and identification with Soul,  the social level organically emerges  with questions like ‘how do I interface with the larger whole’, ‘what is my place in the world’, ‘what are the values by which I live and relate to all living things’? Roberto Assagioli, the father of psychosynthesis postulated that accompanying the journey to self-realisation came the desire to serve others, to feel that our life made a positive difference and that we belonged to the larger whole. I think I spoke about activism on the personal, social and global levels – to model and actualise the value and importance of these levels.

Guy Dauncey was born in England. Before coming to the 1982 conference he authored ‘The Unemployment Handbook’ and was involved in the British Unemployment Resources Network. The conference was his first visit to Findhorn; the focus of his presentation was creative responses to unemployment. He stayed on after the conference to complete Experience Week and several years later, through a friend, he organised a Youth Exchange Tour linked to youth enterprise initiatives uniting youth from Mama-Wi-Chi-Itata Centre in Winnipeg and those from the Findhorn Foundation. He moved to Canada in 1990 and now works as an ecotopian futurist. He is an Honorary Member of the Planning Institute of British Columbia, Founder and co-chair of the West Coast Climate Action Network, a Fellow of the Findhorn Foundation, and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts.

John Twidell is Emeritus Professor of Renewable Energy at De Montfort University and has worked as an adviser to the UK Parliamentary Select Committee on Energy. He is Editor Emeritus of the academic journal ‘Wind Engineering’ and has served on the boards of the British Wind Energy Association and the UK Solar Energy Society. 

John Talbott was co-focaliser of the conference and was Director of the Findhorn Ecovillage Project from 1982 for more than twenty years. During that time he helped pioneer green building methods, ecological infrastructure and renewable energy systems. He is the author of ‘Simply Build Green, A technical Guide to the Ecological Houses at the Findhorn Foundation’ 1993, and has lectured widely on the subject of building sustainable communities over the years. In this presentation from 2020 John talks about his involvement in ecovillage development both at Findhorn and and Narara Ecovillage, Australia.