The Lindisfarne Association
<p>The Lindisfarne Association is a group of intellectuals of diverse interests organized by cultural historian William Irwin Thompson for the "study and realization of a new planetary culture". It is inspired by Jean Gebser's idea of the integral structure of consciousness, and by Teilhard de Chardin's idea of the noosphere.[1][2] In his book Reimagination of the World, Thompson described his reasons for naming his group after Lindisfarne, an island with a famous monastery (once inhabited by Saint Cuthbert) just off the coast of Northumberland in the North East of England:
 
"Although I used the word as a symbol of a small group of people effecting a transformation from one system to another, the word also brought with it the archetypical associations of a small group of monks holding onto ancient knowledge in a fallen world, a world that would soon overrun them during the Viking terror."[3]Contents  [hide]
1 History
2 Goals
3 Members
4 Current status
5 References
6 External links
 
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History
 
In 1972, with funding from Sydney and Jean Lanier, and later from Laurance Rockefeller, Thompson founded the Lindisfarne Association, which functioned variously as a sponsor of new age events and lectures, and as a think tank and retreat, similar to the Esalen Institute in California. Lindisfarne functioned through the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York for a number of years. Today Lindisfarne functions as a virtual association of the Fellows and meets once a year at varying locations.
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Goals
 
According to the Lindisfarne Association website, Lindisfarne's fourfold goals are:
The Planetization of the Esoteric
The realization of the inner harmony of all the great universal religions and the spiritual traditions of the tribal peoples of the world.
The fostering of a new and healthier balance between nature and culture through the research and development of appropriate technologies, architectural settlements and compassionate economies for meta-industrial villages and convivial cities.
The illumination of the spiritual foundations of political governance through scholarship and artistic communications that foster a global ecology of consciousness beyond the present ideological systems of warring industrial nation-states, outraged traditional societies, and ravaged lands and seas.
 
 
 
 
mathematician Ralph Abraham
philosopher David Abram
anthropologist Gregory Bateson
anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson
poet Wendell Berry
Zen Buddhist Joan Halifax-Roshi
economist Hazel Henderson
ecologist Wes Jackson
poet Jane Hirshfield
anthropologist Robert Lawlor
political scientist Merle Lefkoff
scientist James Lovelock 
biologist Stuart Kauffman
biologist Lynn Margulis
author Michael Murphy
philosopher/author John Michell
dancer/anthropologist Natasha Myers
spiritual teacher David Spangler
religious scholar Elaine Pagels
poet Kathleen Raine
writer Dorion Sagan
economist E. F. Schumacher
astronaut Rusty Schweickart
poet Gary Snyder 
architect Paolo Soleri
monk David Steindl-Rast
publisher/editor Joy Stocke
physician/scientist/contemplative Neil Theise
philosopher Evan Thompson
architect Sim Van der Ryn
philosopher Francisco Varela
Michaela Walsh
composer Paul Winter
physicist/contemplative Arthur Zajonc
composer Evan Chambers
Sufi Pir Zia Inayat-Khan</p>