Transition Culture

31 Mar 2008

Positive Energy: creative community responses to peak oil and climate change. Some last closing thoughts

This has been an extraordinary week, one I feel privileged to have been a part of. The design of the week worked very well, taking the participants on a journey through inner work to setting an intention and then exploring practical responses. In many ways Findhorn was a perfect setting for it as, as a community, it continues its own transition from a focus mainly on inner work to one also on outward engagement and applied Earth Repair. As a laboratory of sustainability, or as Jonathan Dawson put it, a monastery, it provided the perfect venue for the week, a place to unwind, relax, refresh and reinspire.

I was continually touched by the organizers’ attention to detail. The vases of flowers and the candles everywhere. The inclusion of ritual in the day’s events. The frequent invitations to move, to sing, to dance, to soak in the hot-tub, it was John Croft’s advocation that ecological projects need to celebrate regularly and enthusiastically given form.

Being around the beautiful buildings, with the 4 wind turbines majestically overseeing the whole place, the community of people living scantly paid but deeply fulfilling lives, gave one a sense of what is possible. It is also a taste of what a lower energy world might look like if we actually pull it off.

The conference drew together some wonderful people, and as at any event, much of the most stimulating conversation took place over a bottle of local organic ale in the Blue Moon café at the end of each day. For me personally, it was an opportunity to unwind and restimulate, after an exhausting few weeks. It was also an opportunity to top up on inspiration and insight, and to feel held by this rapidly emerging movement rather than feeling the need to hold it. It exposed me to the fascinating work that Richard Olivier is doing around leadership and mythodrama, and to create a space for the depth of work Joanna Macy is doing.

It was also a really precious opportunity to see my son flower in that environment, be stimulated by the week beyond my wildest expectations, and to see how deeply some of what we did touched him. We headed home with a box of ‘It’s Easy Being Green’ books and another box of low energy bulbs for his classmates, and with his having determined to return to Findhorn with some of his friends. A quite wonderful few days, and I offer deep thanks to the organizers, to the other presenters, and to all the wonderful people I met there drawn from the 4 corners of the Earth.