Before going into the details I want to provide a summary of some of the underlying "driving forces" of how this project came into being.

After many years of talking about doing what I have a deep passion for, a long chain of events (see "2002-2005 Searching for Passion" in the career review section) led me to finally take a daring step - quitting my well paying job. Unexpectedly, instead of fully engaging in developing and manifesting my dream of living in balance with nature, I explored new paths of personal growth and empowerment. Among them are:

	The Inka Medicine Wheel - a path of personal empowerment based on Peruvian shamanism and taught by Alberto Villolldo through the Four Winds organization.
	John of God - a healer working in Brazil and around the world in quite striking, successful and unconventionally ways.
	James Twyman - he travels to spread his music and message of peace.
	Reconnection - a healing method taught by Eric Pearl.
	Damanhur - an ecovillage in Northern Italy with its own constitution, currency and esoteric philosophy.
	The Krameterhof - one of the most developed permaculture sites in Europe, located in the Austrian Alps.

In some ways this is not a surprise. After 25 years of an inner practice offered by Prem Rawat, also known as Maharaji, I decided to take distance from it, as it did not fit any longer. I let go of many old beliefs and moved carefully in a new direction to not hurt myself or others. Once this process was concluded, I was excited to explore new options in my life.

Within about a year after leaving my stressful, unrewarding (except financially) and meaningless work, I was ready to start manifesting my dreams. After working hard, finally, the "Inland Northwest Eco-Center" opened its doors in 2005 with a splash. Everything worked fine except the social component. The community did not support it the way I had hoped. This was mostly due to the way it was set up. I had planned, executed and ran everything by myself with little public outreach. At one point I was wondering: Now, after I had made one of the things I always wanted to do reality, why did I still felt as if I was waiting for something. Then a sudden event, a bike accident, which left me with a broken femur, announced a period of many profound and rapid changes. All this eventually brought clear direction, continuation of my personal journey and the connection to Gaia University. Now I was ready to do and live what I really want and aspire, now and right here where I am.

The vision for this project is embedded within a greater vision of life and living. I believe in the essential spiritual nature of life and existence of which we are all part. We all are, in our core, valuable, incredible talented and powerful beings. I choose to live in a way that respects all of creation and life, that is in integrity with myself and others, that gives and receives, that continues to grow and transform, that uncovers our magnificent nature and that brings into this world the love and light we carry inside to create a world we all really want.
An important role in realizing this vision plays our lifestyles, how we deal with our daily lives. There are and have been so many examples how we as humans can live with a deep connection to the natural environment and develop our human uniqueness, and create vitality and abundance.
This project is seen as one small contribution to the facet of possibilities how to take an existing human environment and by many steps and iterations bring it into harmony with the natural world and while at the same time it provides for our human needs.

It seems to me that, until recently largely unnoticed by many, researchers, scientists ("The Divine Matrix" by Gregg Braden, "The Intention Experiment" and "The Field" by Lynne McTaggart) and others, have been finding more and more evidence for a new understanding of the universe that does not fit into many existing models of our human condition. Some new and not so new terms are often connected to this arising view, like "Zero Point Energy", "The Field", "Morphogenetic Field" and "Noosphere" among them. This newly forming paradigm indicates that the intention of any act, thought or feeling has an impact and influences the fabric of the universe and any part in it. Therefore I find it important to start with clear, specific, consciously stated intentions. I am including Berta, my partner, wife and friend, whenever I use "we", "our", etc.

"This project's purpose is to demonstrate the gradual development of an existing urban residential environment into a resilient human inhabited bio-system within a network of interdependent eco-systems.
We want to foster a clear understanding that our inner, personal state of being is and will be manifest in the outcomes. We believe intention is necessary and needs to be combined with personal choice. The light and the darkness that we carry, both, will be reflected in the results of our actions. We want to inspire ourselves and others to be and manifest the best, brightest, most beautiful, heartwarming, enlightened, loving and joyful human culture with great respect to all creation and for the highest good of all."

The project definition is an important part of our intention. It adds guiding functions when making decisions and provides a framework for design and implementation.