Light Morning has, over the years, passed through various developmental (perhaps gestational) stages. There was an early, vision-driven, living in tents year-round stage. Then a decades-long era of raising families and developing the skills of cooperation and sustainability. Now, with the children grown and gone, and the younger families having moved on, Light Morning seems to be entering a stage that might almost be called monastic.
There are, of course, a number of good reasons why this term does not fit; is not appropriate. We are not affiliated, for example, with any existing religious order. Nor do we consider ourselves to be monks and nuns. During many a tumultuous century, however, in both the east and the west, monasteries have been practical, contemplative, and welcoming. And these underlying values are closely aligned both with Light Morning’s founding vision and with its current sense of direction.
Practical, by re-adapting a labor-intensive, homesteading lifestyle to the needs of these times. With cheap, abundant energy rapidly receding in the rear-view mirror, and no longer able to either fuel a growth economy or feed the American Dream, those of us living in the industrialized world will be nudged (more or less forcefully) into learning to meet many of our most basic needs more directly.
Contemplative, by allowing that strangely insistent, inwardly alchemical process of fermentation to have its way with us. This cultivated willingness may be strengthened by establishing a strong daily meditation practice; by tuning in to the tidal insights of dreams; and by harnessing the power of prayer.
Welcoming, by practicing hospitality. Hospitality with friends and neighbors. Hospitality for those made homeless, as it were, by a migratory impulse and/or by the nagging suspicion that a conventional lifestyle may be perilously sterile. For some of these restless, uprooted ones, Light Morning serves as a way station along a contemporary underground railroad.
Those of us who are striving to anchor these core values at Light Morning (more as crew than community) are slowly learning to call this rolling Appalachian hill country home; to call the still unfolding dream that drew us here home; to call the numinous present moment home. As a wandering poet from the Tokugawa era of Japan put it, “Each day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.”
We invite you to explore Light Morning both here on the web and, if you’re moved by what you find here, at our home in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. We welcome visitors and interns from April through October.
We wish you well on your journey and hope to see some of you down the road.