Rejected!
I suppose an ecovillage can only house so many people, but if we want the concept to spread, we need more ecovillagers.
Well, I'm not surprised you already read the book, back when it first came out. I can see that it inspired you - that's why I thought of you (and keep thinking of you, and Sam) as I continue to read this book.
Closing lines from the bbc.com/news linked above:
"It has much to do with people getting in touch with the non-tangible world, the spirit world if you like. It's to do with people's connection with nature whether that be 40lb cabbages or the eco village that is here."
The freethinkers of the sixties were swimming against the tide but now their ideas of environmental sustainability are mainstream.
"In some ways what is exciting is that it is no longer new," says Anna Rhodes Castro, director of the Findhorn Foundation. "That is why now we can make a difference."
But, but, if they're rejecting people like your friend who apply to be part of this community, how are they to SPREAD and grow?
She was very gung-ho about their lifestyle and has stuck to it pretty much ever since, fifty years now. She came with her then boyfriend, and they accepted him but rejected her!
There she was, thousands of miles from anyone else she knew, and they broke up the relationship. She's quite amazing, even today. I can't imagine what they were thinking.
They accepted her boyfriend, but not her: what the heck!
She does sound amazing. Their loss.
We need more progressive eco-communities but not when they revert to the same old small-mindedness that plagues society now.