MIMI MADURO Page 20 RAIN May/June 1984 Once upon a time, spiritual or intentional rural communities were places where people went to commune with nature, self, and divinity. News of the world outside was unwelcome. Well, that's changing. Now, community members are actively communicating with the world outside. They are still expressing their core values of attunement to spirit and service to the earth while developing deeply rooted connections with a specific place, but “service to the earth" is taking on a wider meaning. In fact, communities like Findhorn and Chinook are social laboratories where we can test new forms of social organization. Their visions are to create harmonious blends of community life, spiritual sensitivity, ecological integrity, global responsibility, economic viability, and appropriate technology. Steve Rudman's curiosity about Findhorn was piqued during his travels, and then Steve and Mimi Maduro visited Chinook, located in the Pacific Northwest. In the next three articles, they record their impressions of community. -TK Skeptical Activist Explores Community Roots by Steve Rudman It was autumn 1982 and I was traveling in the Scottish countryside, enchanted by its history and by its lochs and hillsides covered with heather in purplish bloom. I took a good case of workaholic burnout with me for a year's vacation from Reaganomics and Portland politics. I thought a journey through Europe and the Middle East might reinspire me and maybe even provide a few answers into the wonder of it all. In a cafe in Edinburgh, I saw an announcement for a conference at the Eindhorn Foundation, a "Onearth Gathering" on "Building a Planetary Village." Great buzzwords, 1 thought sarcastically, but 1 was curious and, since 1 was in the neighborhood, I decided to visit. Like many community activists. I've long had my suspicions about the sincerity and (lack of) political consciousness in the various "spiritual" movements. Given the Findhorn founders' myths—communicating with angels and nature kingdoms—1 fully expected to find a lot of new-age "hokey-pokey-ness." My skepticism gradually waned as I experienced the genuineness and critical self-reflection of almost every member 1 met. No one seemed content just to escape into this "Garden of Eden." The Findhorn I saw is a mecca for people seriously concerned with the world's future and determined to provide sensible alternatives. Findhorn thrives on the continual flow of guests. People who visit learn to make changes within themselves, and then they return to their communities. The foundation has been most influential as a seedbed of new ideas and community experiments internationally. Now it's over a year later, and I'm fully involved again in Portland community-development activities and planning the future direction for the Rain Community Resource Center. Findhorn, planetary villages, even my travel memories generally, seem a long way from the world I see in my everyday work—the stark realities of social-change and low-income community groups fighting for organizational survival and the growing concern among many more people about nuclear war and global survival. This winter, just as it appeared my cynical community-organizer edge was beginning to dominate my perspective, 1 visited Chinook Learning Community, in my own bioregion, for a brief retreat. As at Findhorn, I was confronted by caring and sharing people committed to realizing a vision of ecological responsibility and spiritual peace. Something stirred within me again. I felt a strong sense that 1 needed to contemplate the obvious challenge of integration and to cut through the political/ spiritual dichotomy of progressive movements. How do spiritually based communities venture out of their protected cocoons to address global problems while retaining their integrity? It is ironic that both Findhorn (located adjacent to a Royal Airforce base) and Chinook (overlooking a nearby Trident nuclear-submarine base) are constantly reminded of our most critical choice: evolution or extinction. These communities have chosen the path of spiritual development and education rather than direct social action. Members of Findhorn and Chinook believe that society begins to change when people's attitudes and assumptions change; thus, we need concrete demonstrations of positive alternatives. Both Findhorn and Chinook have made conscious decisions to focus many of their educational activities outward, to venture outside the community. They've established resource centers (similar to Rain's, with Chinook
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