The healthy social
life is found
When in the mirror of
each human soul
The whole community
finds its reflection,
And when in the
community
The virtue of each
one is living.
~Rudolf Steiner
|
An Orientation to
the Goodenough Community System
The story of any
community begins in the lives of individuals and their relationships and
very slowly becomes an organized social response to their own needs,
intentions, and values. It was like that for the Goodenough Community.
The American Association
for the Furtherance of Community (AAFC)
For more than a decade a loosely knit group of friends, many of whom
were professionals in a variety of human service fields, worked and
played together. Then on the weekend of Jan. 10-12, 1981, 105 of these
friends gathered at Pilgrim Firs Conference Center in Port Orchard, WA,
to discuss the process of becoming formally a community.
The idea excited people enough that they moved immediately to
incorporate as a non-profit corporation with a mandate to research,
educate, and train people for active community involvement. This
corporation, The American Association for the Furtherance of
Community (AAFC), has a mandate to research, educate, and train. Its
first project was to create a learning community.
Many people were studying the potential contributions of community to
society, as well as identifying how a community could serve its members
in practical ways. It was in the ferment of studying communities, old
and modern, that a group of adherents called for the formation of a
multi-generational, multi-residential community that would describe its
vision, mission, and goals prior to considering extensive shared
housing.
AAFC Initiatives:
- The
development of a culturally oriented community of friends whose
primary purpose is to develop themselves and improve their
relationships under the guidance of the Goodenough Community System.
This is The Goodenough
Community.
- A spiritual initiative that has
deepened their lives and motivated them to support a church with its
ongoing programs of spiritual guidance and general watchcare. This
is Convocation: A Church and Ministry.
- An initiative that values people living
collaboratively and developing among themselves a quality of
life that lifts their sights as to what is humanly possible. The
challenge of the Goodenough Village Cooperative has provided
valuable experience for forming additional close living groups.
Thus, Sahale Ecovillage is made up
of ecologically informed persons who are demonstrating
sustainability. We intend to be ecologically wise, preparing
ourselves for social challenges and adjustments, while being
spiritually open to being changed ourselves. We do this because we
want to demonstrate a community in service to the greater good and
to the larger society.
If you find your self interested in any
aspect of our work, and want to become more involved, please email
office@goodenough.org) to continue a dialogue with us. If the
telephone is more to your liking, call (206) 323-4653. |
The
Goodenough Community
System |
