Luisne is a Centre for Spirituality.

"Luisne" is Irish and means "the first blush of light before dawn breaks." For ten years Luisne has served a growing community in County Wicklow in Ireland. Its beautiful undisturbed environment could justifiably be called a "spiritual landscape." Rooted in history its heritage value combines with a refreshing openness and servant leadership.

Spirituality is the basis of creativity.

Human creativity is the foundation for innovation -- technologically and socially. Our human spirit allows and urges us to transcend ourselves and create something new, something "better". Empowering individuals and organisations to use and grow this ability means accumulating "spiritual capital".

The potential of Luisne is to make the world a better place.

We live in a complex, fast paced world where everything seems to be connected to everything else. And we cannot turn the clock back. Nor do we want to. The traditional approach to deal with BIG problems -- in science, business and politics alike -- is the same approach that you would use to eat an elephant: one small slice at a time. Unfortunately, our world is not only BIG, it is also COMPLEX. There is no way to "slice" this complexity in traditional ways. As an example, think of the conflict many businesses experience between their "profit purpose" and sustainability, say conservation of resources. Conservation increases cost, therefore the business first has to create more profit, so that it can afford to conserve. Right? More profit, however, needs more resources to be consumed. Catch-22.

We need to leave the linear, mechanistic thinking behind.

We need to free the notion of "profit" from its ties to financial capital. We can accumulate and invest Spiritual Capital, and as with financial capital, this will return a profit, as more spiritual capital -- e.g. ability to innovate. The complexity cannot be reduced, nor can it be controlled, but we gain insights and that would normally be hidden. Think of trying to describe, let alone control, activity in 3d with one eye only. With "spiritual capital" we are adding more than a second eye.

Through its courses Luisne already helps individuals to increase spiritual capital in their personal balance sheet. The servant leadership attitude in delivery of courses, worshops etc. is actually more important than the theory. Respect, humility and openness transfer to the individual, their social groupings, businesses, politics -- gradually leading to an "Open Society" as described by Karl Popper and George Soros.

Investing in Spiritual Capital will help build an Open Society.

The vision and the potential of Luisne are far beyond its current reality. We are a team of volunteers who campaign to establish Luisne as a public charity with sufficient funding to make the potential come true. We are only beginning, but we believe we will be successful. How can you help?

We need Capital -- financial, human, social, spiritual.

Luisne's personal leadership and spiritual capital management approach will extend to organizations and beyond as direct and indirect market segments. Geograpical outreach will need access and travel arangements to include Dublin. Beyond this will be achieved through collaboration and virtualization. 

The building needs modernization - without affecting heritage or character. Land needs to be acquired to protect the "spiritual landscape." Workshop and other event facilities need to be extended, artisan-style accommodation can replace the ruins of an old school. A capable ICT infrastructure is needed. Each of the modifications has to add to Luisne as whole.

We are looking for donations, for financial capital. But the tasks ahead require also human effort and expertise. Legal and organizational expertise will help us design Luisne as an organization that qualifies for charitable status, whilst being self-organized and governed by principles of sharing communities according to Elinor Ostrom and the practices learnt from successful open source projects.

You can help us by:

• donating financial capital -- or helping us to reach potential donors
• committing human capital -- expertise and effort
• volunteering social capital -- spreading the word, increasing our reach, recruiting more people