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Windward Foundation (Walt Patrick) — 2007

July 14, 2007: Explorers Foundation invested $250.00 in The Windward Foundation
 
http://www.windward.org
Windward is an intentional community located just north of the scenic Columbia River Gorge about 80 miles east of Portland, Oregon.
Why Explorers Foundation has invested in The Windward Foundation
There is wisdom about complex systems, human and ecological, being developed at Windward. Good thinking about boundaries, a concept fundamental to freeorder, is being done here. We are learning from their explorations. The document called "Fine Print", noted below as glyph 207 in Explorers Foundation Glyphery is one of the best things I've seen on intentional community. —leif
glyph#207: community (begun in mid-70's) . self-reliance . old, new . creativity . problem solving . washington, klickitat, north of Columbia River Gorge, Oregon ... management of complex systems, sustainability ... intentional community ... designed order, spontaneous order, balance, freeorder ... recognition of and respect for boundaries ... model, test, hands on ... Walt Patrick ... Windward Foundation ... note on taxonomy & parataxic distortions ... plans for civilization — glyph
Governance of Windward - the bylaws
In conversation with Walt Patrick on 16 July 07 I realized that the Windward bylaws may be one of their most important achievements. A project like Windward occasionally encounters rough roads. What are the springs that absorb the shocks? The mode of governance encoded in the bylaws. —leif. — Bylaws
From the Windward website — 14 July 07
The Fine Print [expectations, boundaries, limits, opportunities —leif] — webpage
 These Notes go into lots of reasons why we think Windward is a great idea, and why you should consider getting involved. We believe in what we're doing, and the potential of our community, and we want to convey that joy and vision to others.

But .....

If you're giving serious thought to getting involved with Windward, then we need to have a serious talk about realistic expectations - yours and ours.

Lots of people have tried to make intentional community work, and the historical landscape is littered with the wreckage of their hopes and dreams. This isn't an easy enterprise to engage in, and people have to get very real very quickly if they're going to have a chance to make it. This ongoing section of the Notes will be dedicated to some of the hard things you need to consider if you're tempted to pack your bags and head to Windward. These comments aren't meant to "scare you off," but rather to insure that a measure of realism is included in with hopes and desires.
Stewardship
Stewardship (copied from http://www.windward.org/internship/stprog.htm - 14 July 2007)

     Stewards are called from a wide range of spiritual traditions to undertake the task of preserving the past for the sake of the future. It's easy enough to preserve tangible things by separating them from every day life much in the way that a painting can be preserved by locking it away in a museum, but the preservation of living things isn't achieved so easily since life can only be preserved by living. For example, heirloom seeds can be saved for a few years, but every so often stored seeds must be planted and new seeds produced in order to maintain their viability.

     A person embarks on the path of Stewardship when they recognize within themselves a need to take responsibility for the ongoing welfare of the world around them. Stewardship is not about seeking control or dominion; rather, it is about seeking an understanding of the natural environment and using that knowledge to facilitate positive outcomes.

     Stewardship involves an ongoing search for truth; not "The Truth" ®, but rather a true understanding of how natural forces interact to create the world we experience. This is important because we can not facilitate a process which we don't understand. Today we have an unprecedented amount of knowledge as to how natural systems work, and consequently an unprecedented opportunity for stewardship.

     The concept of Stewardship is integral to many religions. For example, a Christian basis for Stewardship is laid out in Matthew 25:14-30, while a Native American basis for Stewardship is expressed in the Great Law. Similarly, the Dalai Lama has described a Buddhist basis for Stewardship, and Islamic scholars assert that a pro-active Stewardship is essential to Islam.

     The time when humankind had to strive against nature is past; today, we must work with nature in order to preserve its ability to sustain life. Up to now, we have lived off a vast inheritance of natural wealth, but the age of dominion is passing away; the old growth forests are gone, the great schools of cod are fished out, the aquafiers are being pumped dry. Soon, the only resources we will have will be the things we create and the things we recover. Either we will become good and faithful stewards of nature's bounty, or we will pay a heavy price.

     Stewardship is not a theoretical exercise; rather, it is the ongoing, hands-on search for sustainability. Stewardship is founded on sustainable practice. Non-sustainable systems diminish our future, whereas sustainable practices enrich our future. It is the Steward's quest to search out sustainable practices, and to use the knowledge gleaned to create working models which function as an integrated part of nature.

     Over time, nature produces sustainable systems. The question that will be answered in the coming years is whether humankind will play a positive role in that process, or become its victim.
Suggested Reading - the reading list for this year's internship program — webpage
Post-grad Studies — http://www.windward.org/postgd01.htm
Now that the major universities are offering long distance learning options, it's no longer necessary to bear the expense of living in a university town in order to pursue a post-graduate degree. ... Instead, one alternative worth considering is for a post-grad student to earn their masters degree through long distance courses while simultaneously participating in Windward's Apprenticeship Program.
Windward's Chairs: things to be studied and learned — webpage
The history of Windward from its beginning in the mid-70's in the southern Nevada desert to the present — http://www.windward.org/notes/
Windward is engaged in applied research into the challenge of showing how twenty people can be sustainably fed, fueled and clothed on one hundred acres ... marrying pre-industrial crafts with post-industrial technology to create a critical mass of sustainability at the small community scale. — http://www.windward.org/energy/

.oOo.