The Chisholme Institute is a registered Scottish Charity. Since 1975 it has run residential courses and retreats at Chisholme House. In addition to these, there have always been people at Chisholme who live, work and practise together in the spirit of service to the aims of the Institute.
Although job functions at Chisholme may be advertised, the pre-requisite is not the ability to do a particular job, so much as the applicant's wish to explore the understanding that the whole of existence is a single Unity and to discover their own place within that. The communal expression of this is through the understanding and practice that work is service to one’s fellow human beings, which is also applied through the aspects of meditation, study and spiritual practice.
All meals are shared and as much as possible the necessary work to support the aims of the Institute is also undertaken in common. A specific area of responsibility may be assigned to members of the community, but any work undertaken is of a non-contractual nature. Members may receive subsistence allowances to help them financially but this is not payment for work done in the normal understanding of ‘wages’.