The Future

Eileen always asked: Why are you here? If you’re here for community, it’s the wrong place. If you’re here for the ecovillage or education, it’s the wrong place. But if you’re here to do the will of God, it’s the right place.

More and more people want to come and be here. I hope the Foundation will continue to thrive at the heart of the community. When I think of our challenge, I think of a tree. As we grow broader, with more branches, leaves and flowers, we need to deepen our roots. We need to intensify our spiritual practice and continue asking why we’re here, work on our attachments and preferences, offering ourselves more and more in service without thinking about what we get back, journey into trust and faith, in the spirit of our founders. Are we providing the optimal environment for spiritual growth? That’s what the place is about for me.

In the absence of a central spiritual teacher or guru, and aware of the ego’s tricky tendency towards comfort and self-protection, we need to develop skilful ways of giving and receiving robust and honest feedback to one another, to help each other to learn and grow. We do that extremely well with newcomers, but as we get older and more established here, we can set up nice little niches to retire into. That needs to be watched. It isn’t about throwing people out. It’s about helping one another to live on the edge. In that way we can continue to be a shining embodiment of spiritual life.

Robin Alfred

Have you ever thought that what you do, how you live and

how you think can help or hinder the peace in the world?

Eileen Caddy 1994