Residential Life

The culture of MorningSun is a culture of presence, understanding, and non-violence. We value living and working together without stress and with care, thoughtful consideration, and joy. We practice communicating in a spirit of harmony and work to embrace and transform reactivity and blaming. We are aware that happiness is not found in the attainment of one's desire but in celebrating the unfolding of life together in each moment.

Living Together in Harmony

There are a number of guidelines, based on shared values and aspirations, that MorningSun members observe.

• We aspire to live each moment of our lives in concert with the spirit of the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings of the Order of Interbeing.
• We believe that our stability, clarity and capacity to live mindfully are best served by a life free of all intoxicants. MorningSun members do not use any recreational drugs or alcohol. Our reverence for the land and all life is reflected in the food that we eat. We are a vegetarian community.
• The backbone of our community is shared practice. While some of us will have jobs that take us away from the community from time to time, we are all committed to daily practice together; including sitting and walking meditation, community meals and a continuous training in the practice of loving speech and deep listening.

Becoming a Resident

If you are interested in becoming a member of the community, we must first explore compatibility. There are several clear steps through which the necessary "getting to know one another" can occur:

• Letter of interest (described below)
• Initial visit (2-3 days, preferably during the first weekend of a month)
• Clarification (a kind of written interview and reflection process that looks carefully at the fundamental and practical issues of living in MornignSun)
• Trial stay (several weeks to several months immersed in community practice and life)

In the Letter of interest, please share your aspirations for community life. Letters can be sent electronically or by mail (see the contact section of our site). Your letter should include these three things:

• A brief description of your current situation (location, livelihood, hobbies, family, commitments, etc).
• A description of your current personal spiritual practice, where and from whom you have learned it.
• An overview of your experience of living in intentional and/or spiritual community (if you have done so) and your reasons for wishing to become part of MorningSun at this time of your life.

Please share as much as you feel comfortable writing about so that we can have an initial sense of who you are and whether there is potentially a harmonious fit for all of us living in a small community setting. After we receive and consider your letter we will be in touch with you to share our response.

Livelihood

Initially, as MorningSun is forming, each of us involved needs to be responsible for our own financial stability. MorningSun does not yet have the resources to support individuals and the staffing community, although there are some small opportunities for income through construction, land work and creative entrepreneurship (eg: woodlot management). As it is established and grows, many residents will be supported through the Education Center (which includes the farming and craft activities).

Some residents will either need or wish to work "outside" of MorningSun. We hope that those who do will strive towards a sustainable and compassionate livelihood as they will be appreciated as hands of the community reaching out into the world.

Housing Opportunities

Residents of MorningSun are able to live in community-owned spaces or to build their own homes. At present we are building two homes and a couple of cabins that will house the co-founders of MorningSun. This includes some space to accommodate visitors who may wish to join our community; a place to stay as we get to know one another.

As we grow in size, community buildings and individual sites will be built out by community members. (In order to be a model of healthy development, construction of the built environment will have a high degree of ecological sustainability. It will be gentle in appearance, following the typical principles and patterns of eco-village development and Permaculture design.). Please read on to learn about this process!

Ownership Structure

The majority of the land will be held in common trust and homes will be built in clusters, some single family, some two and three family, close to the land for the education center. Residents purchase these home sites from MorningSun and the homes are built by their owners with the oversight of MorningSun's ecological development council.

Welcoming residents during the next 3-4 years, we would like see 10-12 new homes built. However, we need to complete the permitting and infrastructure necessary for this growth. In order to cover the costs of this work, we are interested in pre-selling house sites to future residents. Essentially this means that a future resident will make an investment in MorningSun, secured by the value of the land, and the investment will be converted into a deed for a house site when the permitting is complete.

There are opportunities for creative financing regarding the purchase of house sites including owner financing and price adjustments for income and capacity.