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Mission
Statement
Our mission is to show it is
possible to create a sustainable community with the many layers of
culture and
organization required for the development of mature, healthy human beings over a
whole life, and that it is possible to enjoy doing this by using learning games.
Our History
The Goodenough Community traces its beginnings beyond 30 years ago. It
began in a collaboration among leaders of the human potential movement
in the Northwest. For many years its primary expression was an annual
human relations laboratory that gathered people together to grow, learn,
and play. For a week each summer, people attending the annual labs
experienced a way of life based on freedom, respect, and the value of
personal growth, and over time they sought a way to continue that
experience throughout the year. They discovered that a network of
like-minded friends and colleagues was essential for sustaining an
authentically improving life style.
After a
decade, the community identified itself as intentional and was
incorporated as the American Association for the Furtherance of
Community in 1981. In 1985, the community became a covenantal
organization. Throughout this period and in the years following, the
community and all of its programs were designed and supported by about
100 friends who desired to help develop one another and share a good
quality of life. Starting in the mid 80s, discussions began on the
implications of formal membership, and in 1994 the community instituted
an experimental three-tiered membership system, honoring the fact that
individuals have different levels of interest and investment. In 1999,
the community adopted a formal system of membership and participation,
with members declaring their intention to provide governance and
financial support.
Our covenant
expresses our sincere longing to live, learn, and relate well together.
However, our first learning from the covenant was about our inability to
live up to our promises. This period of our history revealed to all of
us our inconsistencies, and we became disillusioned at the human
condition. We also began to learn the importance of accepting and
loving each other in all of our imperfections. Although at first we were
embarrassed and lived in denial about our inadequacies, soon we began
to design our programs in order to learn ways to keep our agreements and
fulfill the specific elements of our covenant. We use this covenant
to remind us of our primary values and it is recited at many of our
meetings.
The
Community has always intended to be both a caring, healing environment
and a learning/training laboratory. An essential strategy of the
Goodenough Community is to develop its members well, and then guide and
support them in serving society. A core of leaders, most of them friends
and colleagues for more than 15 years, has developed an approach to
community which involves learning-by-doing. This multi-residential and
multi-generational community is expressed through a school (Village
School for Human Development), a church (Convocation: A Church and
Ministry), and an emerging ecovillage (Sahale EcoVillage).
We are primarily a learning
organization.
This requires
openness to experimenting with ways to approach our ideals, allowing failed
attempts to be lessons learned that improve the next experiment, rather than
excuses for giving up. We realize that we are ultimately engaged in the
infinite game of life. Success at this game requires us to play many
creative finite games in order to sustain the momentum and renew the
promise of the infinite game.
Our members regularly meet as women, as men, as couples, a family of families,
as youth (Young and Restless, Turtle Clan), and as Third Age. All of these
cultural programs include a developmental focus that helps people accomplish their developmental tasks and age
gracefully. The overall goal of these cultural programs is to help people become
mature, sane, proactive, and creative.
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