The Community’s Collective Autobiography
As we honour the Past, we meet in the Present
and Together we step into the Future…
For the occasion of the Ecovillage Findhorn Community’s 60th Birthday in 2022, the Community began the creation of its collective autobiography – a kind of “People’s History” of this Centre of Light. Initially based on personal reflections of Community Members past and present, it has grown substantially since then and now also includes previously published articles, videos and related documents. By our 62nd birthday we had already almost 1200 posts – and there are still many more to come.
We also offer here a brief overview of the history of the Ecovillage Findhorn Community and a Community Timeline.
Members have built this Community over the decades. This is a collection of their stories. It contains not only reminiscences, but the record of the evolution of this Community – which has been described variously as a Centre of Light, as the birthplace of the New Age, as the mother of all ecovillages … and more.
We tell our collective autobiography through members’ Findhorn Journeys and through stories of their personal experiences of our many Community Facets.
We invite our readers – both those who have known about the Community for a long time, and those who have yet to hear about it – to sit by the fireside with us and listen to our stories… and to join a journey of discovery.
For this we also offer an extensive Reading & Media Section. This includes the 50th Birthday Book, a beautifully produced coffee table book published in 2012, which had a similar objective to that of this web site, and we are pleased to include it as an electronic edition as well as a series of individual stories. And going back even further, Faces of Findhorn captures the 1970s, which were such a formative period in the Community’s history. More e-books will no doubt follow.
How to Access Our Stories
Our “collective autobiography” gives you access to information about people, places, organisations, events and concepts related to the history of the Findhorn Foundation Community, through the media of original stories, published works, documents, media files and more.
Stories are at the heart of the project and this is where the stories are located. They can be accessed in a number of ways – primarily either by who wrote them or who they are about, or by the facet(s) of Community life that they draw upon (see below).
The Storytellers’ Gallery follows the tradition of our beloved photo boards. Clicking on an individual will bring up an information card on that person along with information and links to the story or stories they have contributed or have been involved in. You can also locate stories with the Search facility using the magnifying glass icon at the very top right of this window.
Our Community Kids Many young people have lived and grown up in the Community over the years, and the Community is in their DNA. The Community is a unique place for young people, but one that brings its own challenges, such as bridging life in an “alternative” community and peer groups of local young people.
In Memoriam Here we list former Members and Co-workers who have passed away. If they have left stories that we have incorporated into the collection, or if people have written stories about them, then their name is highlighted and the stories can be accessed by clicking on the name.
Most Recent Stories is the place to go for stories that have been newly added to the site.
In addition to the methods described above, you can access stories by the Community “facet(s)” they represent.
Each story is categorised under one or more colour-coded facets, or elements, of Community life and activity. To derive these categories, we’ve used what we call the Eight Leaf Ecovillage Model in a slightly extended form. To determine in which category each story belongs, we look at how it relates to four questions, which are discussed in the following submenu items:
- WHY – Why we do what we do
- HOW – Connecting culture
- WHAT – Implementation/manifestations
- WHERE – Contributions to the world
Each of the “leaves” or ring segments are colour-coded and represent a different set of attributes which are broken out in their corresponding sub-menu item. In addition, the coloured mosaic fragments that illustrate the different primary categories echo the mosaic elements of the Celebrating One Incredible Family globe.
