Culdees-Ecovillage

What Makes a Ecovillage a Success

Section 1:

Ecovillages need a social contract or social management plan, and state their visions and objectives; An internal decision-making and conflict-resolution system. A range of other matters which concern the functioning of the ecovillage and development of “community” within the village. Below are some examples.

Example A:

A strong clear set of founding principles given by ‘the Mother’ in the Auroville Charter.
A group of though pioneers who believe in the transformation of consciousness and see the ecovillage as a living laboratory for evolution.
A real environmental focus on building sustainable eco-system, which leads to creative reforestation, seed banks and appropriate energy systems.
An intense commitment to art, music, dance and culture. (honouring beauty and the inner being nourishes the imagination and brings extraordinary joy).
A deep commitment to new forms of experimental education and the development of the spiritual being.
A firm commitment to being willing servitors of the divine (in a philosophical rather than a religious sense).
Sheer stubbornness, an absolute persistence and a refusal to believe in the impossibilities.
A sense of humour.
The courage to laugh at ourselves and acknowledge our mistakes.
A commitment to higher collective goals; being part of the solutions for our Planet rather than part of the problem.

The Charter:

The village belongs to nobody in particular. The village belongs to humanity as a whole. But to live in the village, one must be the willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness.
The village will be the place of an unending education, of constant progress, and a youth that never ages.
The village wants to be the bridge between the past and the future. Taking advantage of all discoveries from without and from within, The village will boldly spring towards future realisations.
The village will be a site of material and spiritual researches for a living embodiment of an actual Human Unity. (copyright Auroville)

Example B: Statement of Common Ground: Findhorn’s Statement of Common Ground establishes ways for its residents to put their holistic worldview into practice in their daily life. They are the result of 40 years of experience in living a spiritual life:

Spiritual practice. I commit myself to achieve spiritual practice and align myself with spirit to work for the greatest good.
Service. I commit myself to service of others and to our planet, recognising that I must also serve myself in order to practise this effectively.
Personal growth. I commit myself to the expansion of human consciousness, including my own, and I recognise and change any of my personal attitudes or behaviour patterns which do not serve this aim. I take full responsibility for the spiritual, environmental and human effects of all my activities.
Personal integrity. I commit myself to maintain high standards of personal integrity, embodying congruence of thought, word and action.
Respecting others. I commit myself wholeheartedly to respect other people (their differences, their views, their origins, backgrounds and issues), other people’s and the community’s property and all forms of life, holding these all to be sacred to the divine.
Direct communication. I commit myself to using clear and honest communication with open listening, heart-felt responses, loving acceptance and straightforwardness.. In public and private I will not speak in a way that maligns or demeans others. I will talk to people rather than about them. I may seek helpful advice, but will not seek to collude.
Reflection. I recognise that anything I see outside myself –any criticisms, irritations or appreciations – may also be reflections of what is inside me. I commit myself to looking at these within myself, before reflecting them to others.
Responsibility. I take responsibility for my actions and for my mistakes. I feed back to others in a caring and appropriate fashion, to challenge and support each other to grow.
Non-violence. I agree not to inflict my attitudes or desires (including sexual) on others. I agree to step in and stop, or at least say that I would like stopped, actions (including manipulation or intimidation) that I feel may be abusive to myself and others in the community.
Perspective. I take responsibility to work through and put aside my personal issues for the benefit of the whole community. I will resolve all personal and business conflicts as soon as possible. I acknowledge that there may be wider perspectives than my own and deeper issues than those that immediately concern me.
Co-operation. I recognise that I live in a spiritual community and that it functions only through my co-operation and my good communication. I agree to communicate clearly my decisions. I agree to communicate with others who may be affected by my decisions and to consider their views carefully and respectfully. I recognise that others may make decisions which affect me and I agree to respect the care, integrity and wisdom that they have put into their decision-making process.
Resolution. I commit myself to every effort to resolve disputes. At any time in a dispute I may call for an advocate, friend, independent observer or mediator to be present. In the event of a dispute continuing unresolved I will have access to the grievance procedure. I commit to following this procedure (to be decided by the community)
Agreements. I commit myself to keeping agreements I have made and not to break or try to evade any laws, rules or guidelines, to have honest dealings with all bodies and to pay all charges and dues owing.
Commitment. I commit myself to exercise the spirit of this Statement of Common Ground in all my dealings. (copyright Findhorn Foundation)

Example C: Principles of Spiritual Activism: they are used as key learnings and guidelines that, taken together, comprise a useful framework for ‘spiritual activism’.

Transformation of motivation from anger/fear/despair to compassion/love/purpose. This is a vital challenge for today’s social change movement. This is not to deny the noble emotion of appropriate anger or outrage in the face of social or ecological injustice. Rather, this entails a crucial shift from fighting against evil to working for love, and the long-term results are very different, even if the outer activities appear virtual identical. ‘Action follows Being’, as the Sufi saying goes. Thus: “a positive future cannot emerge from the mind of anger and despair” (Dalai Lama).
Non-attachments to outcome. This is difficult to put into practice, yet to the extent that we are attached to the result of our work, we rise and fall with our successes and failures – a sure path to burnout. Hold a clear intention, and let go of the outcome, recognising that a larger wisdom is always operating. As Ghandi said: “the victory is in the doing” not the results. Also, remain flexible in the face of changing circumstances: “Planning is invaluable, but plans are useless” (Churchill)
Integrity is your protection. If your work has integrity, this will protect you from negative energy and circumstances. You can often sidestep negative energy from others by becoming “transparent” to it, allowing it to pass through you with no adverse effect upon you. This is a consciousness practice that might be called ‘psychic aikido.’
Integrity in means and ends. Integrity in means cultivates integrity in the fruit of one’s work. A noble goal cannot be achieved utilising ignoble means.
Don’t demonise your adversaries. It makes them more defensive and less perceptive to your views. People respond to arrogance with their own arrogance, creating rigid polarisation. Be a perpetual learner, and constantly challenge your own views.
You are unique. Find and fulfil your true calling. “It is better to tread your own path, however humbly, than that of another, however successfully.” (Bhagavad-Gita)
Love thy enemy. Or at least, have compassion for them. This is a vital challenge for our times. This does not mean indulging falsehood or corruption. It means moving from us/them thinking to ‘we’ consciousness, from separation to cooperation, recognising that we human beings are ultimately far more alike than we are different. This is challenging in situations with people whose views are radically opposed to yours. Be hard on the issue, soft on the people.
Your work is for the world, not for you. In doing service work, you are working for others. The full harvest of your work may not take place in your lifetime, yet your efforts now are making possible a better life for the future generations. Let your fulfilment come in gratitude for being called to do this work, and from doing it with as much compassion, authenticity, fortitude, and forgiveness as you can muster.
Selfless service is a myth. In serving others, we serve our true selves. “It is in giving that we receive”. We are sustained by those we serve, just as we are blessed when we forgive others. As Gandhi said, the practice of clinging to truth confers a ‘matchless and universal power’ upon those who practice it. Service work is enlightened self-interest, because it cultivates and expanded sense of self that includes all others.
Do not insulate yourself from the pain of the world. Shielding yourself from heartbreak prevents transformation. Let your heart break open, and learn to move in the world with a broken heart. As Gibran said, “Your pain is in the medicine by which the physician within heals thyself.” When we open ourselves to the pain of the world, we become the medicine that heals the world. A broken heart becomes an open heart, and genuine transformation begins.
What you attend to, you become. Your essence is pliable, and ultimately you become that which you most deeply focus your attention upon. You reap what you sow, so choose your actions carefully. If you constantly engage in battles, you become embattled yourself. If you constantly give love, you become love itself.
Rely on faith, and let go of having to figure it out. There are larger ‘divine’ forces at work that we can trust completely without knowing their precise workings or agendas. Faith means trusting the unknown, and offering yourself as a vehicle for the intrinsic benevolence of the cosmos. “The first step to wisdom is silence. The second is listening.” If you genuinely ask inwardly and listen for guidance, and then follow it carefully, you are working in accord with these larger forces, and you become the instrument for their music.
Love creates the form. Not the other way around. The heart crosses the abyss that the mind creates, and operates at depths unknown to the mind. Don’t get trapped by “pessimism concerning human nature that is not balanced by an optimism concerning divine nature, or you will overlook the cure of the grace.” (Martin Luther King) Let your heart’s love infuse your work and you cannot fail, though your dreams may manifest in ways different from what you imagine (from the Satyana Institute, Colorado, U.S.A.)

We can base our own guide lines on those three examples.

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