Founded in East Alstead, New Hampshire, the MorningSun intentional community is surrounded by wildlife. Located on 240 acres of land, there are currently three households containing seven adults and five children members as well as members in other housing. The community has land to expand up to eighteen residences, each on 1 acre of land. MorningSun is in a quiet area surrounded by forests, streams, and ponds. People have been living in this community since 2009.
In the Fellowship for Intentional Community website, the listed spiritual practices are Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Native American, and other. The community is known for its meditation and spiritual practices, but it is open to all kinds of religions. This organization is based largely in religion, deriving from the Plum Village tradition. MorningSun founders Michael Ciborski and Fern Dorresteyn lived at Plum Village in France, training in meditation under Thich Nhat Hanh, before coming to New Hampshire to start a community.
The mission of MorningSun community, as identified on their Facebook page is to “practice living mindfully, developing and sharing our capacity to live in peaceful and harmonious relationship ourselves, other people, organizations, and with the Earth”. These actions may be difficult to live by, however, joining a community of people who follow the same values make it easier to abide by.
Citation:
“Resident Community.” MorningSun, morningsuncommunity.org/residential-community/.
“MorningSun.” Fellowship for Intentional Community, www.ic.org/directory/morningsun/.