The health crisis is causing every entity on this planet to restructure; the Findhorn Foundation — educators within the living Findhorn Ecovillage — included. Two recently read blogs (links below) highlight some “How2 & In2What” considerations that might help us all with our evolution[mfn]I contend that evolution is hugely influenced by what causes it: classically: by mutation and selection, and now also by ‘cooperation.’
Cooperation: in the last 50 years or so, game theorists (mathematicians) have been trying to work out the conditions under which an evolutionary strategy which involves an immediate loss to an individual in terms of fitness (in a population in which another thereby gains) can nonetheless become stable and go on recurring in populations—such a strategy ought not to work if pure selfishness is the sole key to success in evolutionary development.[/mfn] ie. with what motivates & informs our evolutionary choices — outward objects & material lifebelt thinking? Or symbolised inward values & our degree of belief in higher, more subjective, purposes?
“We are creatures who do things, but we are also creatures who contemplate things. We can’t live a flourishing life simply by satisfying our basic needs… Engineers and other specialists need to work together to build the products [& communities… Ed.] that serve our human nature, including our desire for awe and wonder.
One of the reasons universities structure learning across disciplines is that different ways of looking at the world train our minds in different ways: reading a text; proving a theorem in mathematics; closely observing an object in its surrounding; pondering the meaning expressed by a piece of art; and building a bridge all require different types of cognitive skills, which need to be honed, tested and pruned.” source blog
All levels of entity-building would benefit from nurturing the creative intuition that is the engine and fruit of artistic/poetic knowledge. Actively building communities since the 7th century, the Benedictine way (Pluscarden Abbey is Findhorn Ecovillage’s “local”), is the example of “living (self-)education” presented in this post.
“…the Benedictine poetic way of living and educating — a simple, joyful emphasis on teaching languages, learning about nature, and studying the history and stories of great civilisations of the past — mingled easily with the desire to nurture a child’s wonder at the marvels of nature or history and a child’s eager intuition to find symbolic meaning in all things.
The importance of the Benedictine charism is evident in its power to elevate the being mode of life and … at least slow the analytical mode of life aimed at investigating means and ends, predicting outcomes, or examining premises and conclusions. Not educating the inner core of our soul from which all other capacities emanate—including our reason—leads (and has led) to dissonance, dispersion, and the fragmentation that results from a lack of direction for our drives, passions and instincts.” source blog
Let’s not be afraid to dare to nurture a more child-like attitude to our community building. Enjoy the resonances!
