Sky writes: I am exploring moving to Fairfield. And I am interested in Ideal Life Assembly as cited in recent post.
Sky, I asked someone who lives out at the ILA campus about how it works out there. In the Fairfield area a way a lot of the business of the meditating community happens now is at the coffee shops in the morning and during the lunch hour downtown. I ran into someone downtown this morning who lives out there at the ILcampus and is making a life here with housing out there. This is an old movement person who retired from a career out in the world otherwise and moved in to a unit out there on the ILA campus a couple of years ago. It works great for this person. There are about 70 people living out there now. The word is that attendance in the group meditations in the facilities out there is not mandatory or followed. And yes, ™ meditators can live out there too. The campus out there is part of the educational non-profits the movement so technically folks who do come to live there are on a month to month ‘course’ as the Invincible America Assembly. It was back in 2015 they began converting the dormitory accommodations that were for the pundit program in to nice modern accomodation to live in. There originally was campus infrastructure to house upwards of 1,500 or 2,000 pundits. There are over a hundred structures out there complete with streets, sewers, utilities and such. Back in the summer of 2006 when the IAAssembly was conceived as a reaction to the outbreak of civil war in Lebanon to what looked like it was going in to a world war and also Vlodrop realizing then that the Dome numbers and the meditation movement in America had attrited so badly they were essentially disappeared, the IAA was conceived to regenerate the Dome group meditation and the American ™ movement was re-initiated by putting Dr. Hagelin in charge of figuring out the teaching of ™ in north America.. The first couple of years of the IAAssembly with a call out to old meditators of the worldwide movement people from around the globe came to Fairfield to populate the Dome meditation. After some short few years a number of those people had to return home to their lives and the Dome numbers sagged back down. Then in a sequence a hiring in of pundits from India (outsourcing) was initiated then as a way to bolster numbers meditating in Fairfield. Providing stipends to westerners also was conceived as a way to support meditators who could to stay meditating in the Domes. It all took a lot of altruistic capital to do. Now within the last down turn of the economy and with those earlier heady times of largess dried up the pundit and also the grant ($) program paying people to meditate in the Domes of the IAA have shrank to the shells of what they were. The practical need now is for good low overhead accommodation for people to be meditating in Fairfield. They have this infrastructure so in larger thinking in that direction of facilitating numbers meditating in Fairfield they have been taking the dorm-like accommodations of the pundit campus and investing in re-making the physical plant there in to nice housing. In beginning this with what was experiment in conversion of the units the project has accelerated this last year. It is a large capital project. At the Jan 12 Dome meeting the vision of a sankalpa was laid out to have nice housing to meet needs of housing for the IAA, retirement of the old full time movement organizations, retreat facility for new meditators, expansion for university housing. The Fairfield area with its meditating communities can make a great place to live. The ILCampus is a small part of it. At this point there are still about 20 pundits (15 to arrive shortly) in a part of the campus out there, people are living up there otherwise privately and then there is a use of the campus for meditator retreats. You will just have to come and try it. You’ll need a car because of its location. Webpage: https://sites.google.com/view/idealifeassembly/home https://sites.google.com/view/idealifeassembly/home Also to get a ballpark view, on google maps find the Fairfield Municipal airport a couple miles north of Fairfield, just to the west of Highway One. From the Northwest end of the airport property scroll west on the hardtop road a few miles. Along the north side of that road you will find the campus to zoom in on. The campus there looks stark but works as home and community to some folks here. A number of people come to live in Fairfield for periods of time during the year and that works for them too. Fairfield makes a nice place to live in spiritual community. Kind Regards from Fairfield, .D ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <skymtsea> wrote : Hello, In browsing posts on FFL, I came across a link to ILA. I have some questions and hope to engage in a conversation about ILA. The ILA site shows artist rendition of future campus. The "future campus" makes it sound like something planned. However, other material on the site make it sound like an active program. So my first question, what is the current status and size of the ILA program? Anyone on FFL participating? If so, how do you like it? What is the program? -- hours, general schedule / practices, etc. Site says acceptance in IAA and current Dome Badge is required for governors and sidhas -- though not meditators. What are the current requirements for Dome Badge? (and is IAA acceptance the same as having Dome Badge). I understand, at least in the past, (relatively strict) good standing in TMO is required, including not seeing other teachers. Is review of Dome Badge qualification dealt with on a case-by-case basis, a total situation appraisal, or is it a rigid checklist? (See background below.) Do original Governor courses still qualify one as a Governor? If not, what additional courses are needed? And it appears meditators can participate in ILA. If I don't still qualify for governor programs, can I participate simply as a meditator. What is the daily program for meditators? Are all the direct fees for ILA included in the housing fee (I understand food and transportation are participant's responsibility) Some background to help put my questions in context. I am a meditator, teacher (not recertified), governor (from original courses) but have not been active with TMO for a long time. The last TM center I visited was probably 1995 to see some visiting pundits and a week at (former) AV clinic in Pacific Palisades in late 90's before it was sold. I lived in FF for a few months when it first opened. I taught full time for several years in mid 70's and part-time for several years prior. I have done long programs. I participated in three TM courses lasting six months and various shorter ones. I lived with a group of Sidhas in first few years of the program doing group program regularly. I attended various large assemblies in the early years. I had good standing in TMO when I was active for over 10 years. I am not active with any other self-development / spiritual groups, though over the years I took a few courses here and there. My participation was quite limited and I am not currently active with any group or other practice. And I have read a number of posts on FLL. And participated in FFL somewhat in its early years. Thanks. Sky
