An intentional community

 

The Chisholme Institute is a registered Scottish Charity, which has run residential courses and retreats at Chisholme House in the Scottish Borders for over 40 years.  In addition to these there has always been a group of people at Chisholme living working and practising  together in the spirit of service to the aims of the Institute.  These people have constituted a community fluid in size and duration who have worked together in the spirit of service and exploration of the understanding that the whole of existence is an expression of a single Unity.  The courses and the community are for those who question their reality, their place and their purpose in this life and who wish to explore that which is at the heart of all spiritual traditions.

The communal expression of this community is through the understanding and practice that work is service to one’s fellow human beings and through the aspects of meditation, study and spiritual practice. 

The nature of the work engaged in by members of the community is not the prime focus, rather it is the individual concentration on what it means to be truly human and on the possibilities of completion for each person.  All meals are shared in common and as much as possible the necessary work to support the aims of the Institute is also undertaken in common.  A specific area of responsibility may be assigned to members of the community, but any work undertaken is of a non-contractual nature.  Members may receive subsistence allowances to help them financially but this is not payment for work done in the normal understanding of ‘wages’. 

Although job functions at Chisholme may be advertised the pre-requisite is not the ability to do a particular job, but that applicants wish to explore the belief that the whole of existence is a single Unity and wish to come to an understanding of their own place and reality within that.