Directory of Eco-villages in Europe - Kennedy Bibliothek

Lebensgarten, Steyerberg
vitality of the individual spirit. Eco-village life can be a very potent
antidote to this phenomenon, calling on the creative undertaking and
the tolerance of the individual in a direct and stimulating way. In working
with this model for development, we have worked with preserving
the sense of place and community that already exists, while transforming
our physical structures to reflect these deeper values.
The ideas that come up in all the eco-villages that are described in this
book point towards therapy and healing in the broadest sense. The Global
Eco-village Network (GEN) has been recognised for its work even
though the eco-villages are still in the development stage. Some projects
- still only barely an initiative - have been written about in the
media, professional journals, have been praised by UN agencies and
various dignitaries for their achievements. But there is not one class of
healers and another to be healed. Evermore we all participate and suffer
the inadequacies and deprivation of our modern urban and suburban
settlements.
There is a fundamental tenet to the social-therapeutic work of the ecovillage
movement. The surrender of fixed ideas - of how one should
live - has become a new experience borne out of a few decades of social
discovery, therapeutic discovery, discovery of community and of the
human. Such an orientation is attributed to the recognition of the eternal
in each one of us and, in this way, when stated or not by one or
other of the eco-villagers, the movement is intrinsically spiritual. We
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