This is a CTP of initiative: Ecovillage Findhorn (UK)
In 1979 the community experienced a “Transition in Leadership: “Francois took over from Peter as the illusions about the community’s expansion in the second half of the 70s collapsed under the weight of a massive structural debt. Our generation of members had to learn the same lessons that Peter and Eileen had learned and had lost track of: that visions are raised in their details, growing organically from the ground up” (Gordon Cutler in: Bijman, Adriana (ed.): Findhorn 50 years birthday book. Findhorn press, 2012)
“The new cycle did not repeat the old pattern of a strong leader actualising a vision aided by a bevy of sensitivities. Reimagining and grounding the vision of Findhorn was everyone’s job. And many stepped forward” (Gordon Cutler in: Bijman, Adriana (ed.): Findhorn 50 years birthday book. Findhorn press, 2012).
Members started different projects and businesses e.g. by inventing a solar panel, by focussing on developing Findhorn into an ecovillage, and by applying successfully for grants so the ‘Universal Hall’ could be completed.
Findhorn had started with developing a special kind of leadership and governance, based on spiritual guidance from the beginning on. Later communal decision making became more important. Based on their experiences and practices, Findhorn had coined the term of ‘foculizer’ which was seen as more adequate than the term of ‘leader’. A ‘foculizer’ is a rather ‘soft form’ of leader, someone who facilitates and moderates a group, holding the focus and the process and reminding of the actual purpose of the group or project.
“Francois kept the focus on the current reality and our goal of long-term sustainability – as an organisation we had made a lot of mistakes in Peter’s final years. […] Information flowed out of decision-making groups far more readily than it had under Peter, which helped rebuild the trust that had eroded […] A flatter, less hierarchical organisation was born” (Gordon Cutler in: Bijman, Adriana (ed.): Findhorn 50 years birthday book. Findhorn press, 2012).
The transition in leadership was perceived as inspiring for many community members, who could step into responsibility and action. The community had grown and many sub-projects emerged which did not necessarily require a central leader. The spiritual based method of decision making, the so called ‘attunement’ to the divine wisdom and inner voice had been practiced already on an individual base since Eileen’s guidance for the community was stopped in 1971 (see previous CTP).
Nevertheless, Peter had made decisions concerning the Findhorn Foundation. The turn which was happening in 1979 was about experimenting with communal leadership. “When Peter left, a level of inspired action emerged. Through his moving away the non-hierarchical structure was allowed to emerge. We experimented with different forms of governance. The ‘attunement’ was done collectively and not just by one person, a leader” (Interview Dürten Lau).
1973 First core group formed with Peter as focalizer
1976 Inauguration of Universal Hall
1979 Francois Duquesne became the new leader of Findhorn Foundation after Peter Caddy had left
1980 Differentiations, and sub-organisations emerge: e.g ‘New Bold house’ seminar centre gets independent
1983 Purchase of Caravan Park, which was the desicion of the new focalizer team: ‘The Park’ is the main location of the community till today. People around the Findhorn community were invited to symbolically buy a part of the Caravan Park. A massive fundraising effort was done by the Foundation.
Peter Caddy was a strong leader with a focus on discipline coming from a military background. Although he had surrendered to the spiritual guidance by Eileen, he had the position to decide how the guidance would be put into action. In 1979 the community evolved and many members wanted to empower themselves and emancipate from the leadership of Peter. Furthermore, there has been doubtful actions made through Peter.
Additionally, “as an organisation we had made a lot of mistakes in Peter’s final years. […] the trust had eroded in the brief era of proposals to decorate […] the Universal Hall with velvet, suede and gold leaf” (Gordon Cutler in: Bijman, Adriana (ed.): Findhorn 50 years birthday book. Findhorn press, 2012).
With the transition of leadership, a less hierarchical organization was born.
Already at that time, it was perceived as a great transition for the community, when Peter as a strong leader had left. The majority was hopeful that the community is mature enough to take over.
It had been announced by the guidance in earlier years that the aim is to empower people for taking responsibility and their own decisions rather than being dependent on an external guidance, may it spiritual or may it a leader as a person.
The transition in leadership was seen as a new level of empowerment and maturity for the members and the community. It has brought a fundamental new culture of decision-making. Nevertheless, taking the spiritual guidance serious and putting it into practice, which was strongly enforced by Peter over more than 10 years has laid the fundaments of the Findhorn Foundation. The discipline in the early years had created a ‘culture’ that supported people in their personal development. With this base of spiritual attunement the community members could grow into empowering themselves.
Looking back, members have learnt to take a broader perspective on acknowledging actors also in the early phase when Peter was the leader.
“But even more important to me now, looking back from three decades later, were our elders – the ‘odd bods’ whose patience and perspective helped us to stay the course – and our families, the moms, dads, kids, most with little in the way of financial resources, who pioneered a broader grounding of the vision with no less commitment than our founders” (Gordon Cutler in: Bijman, Adriana (ed.): Findhorn 50 years birthday book. Findhorn press, 2012, p.76).
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