"We're not talking about the same thing," he said. "For you the world is weird because if you're not bored with it you're at odds with it. For me the world is weird because it is stupendous, awesome, mysterious, unfathomable; my interest has been to convince you that you must assume responsibility for being here, in this marvellous world, in this marvellous desert, in this marvellous time. I wanted to convince you that you must learn to make every act count, since you are going to be here for only a short while, in fact, too short for witnessing all the marvels of it."

                                          — Don Juan, from Carlos Castaneda's Journey to Ixtlan

 

Is the World of Our Senses Real?

Nowadays, most ordinary people learn that the world of our senses is the 'real' world. Growing up in this 'real' world gives rise to desires. The attempt to fulfil them seems to give meaning to human existence. Advertising stimulates this view and commercialism provides for it. Materialist philosophies which propose that the world of ordinary sensory perception is the only real one, give it legitimacy. However, the very scientific discoveries that underlie the technological civilisation of our time also indicate that the world of our senses is remarkably limited — best described as a framework allowing a measure of security in an incomprehensible universe, alternatively too vast or too tiny to understand at all.

For example, scientists operate with frequencies of electromagnetic radiation which our senses cannot directly perceive. From them they gain a vastly expanded image of the universe. They use such frequencies as radio waves, microwaves, infrared rays, ultraviolet waves and X-rays. We all know that they exist and that they are used in our technology, but we cannot 'see' them. Each frequency gives a very different picture of the physical world than that of our senses. Which picture is 'true'? If we saw with X-rays, people would appear as skeletons. If we saw with radio waves, they would not seem to exist at all. Our senses provide us with an 'arena for action' — they do not tell us the truth.

As you read this, you may feel still and relatively stable. Yet the Earth is spinning on its own axis at 1600 kph at the equator, and moving through space around the sun at 115,000 kph. The sun itself is whirling around the centre of our galaxy at some enormous speed, while the galaxy is moving away from other galaxies even faster. The scale of these movements, the enormous distances which they represent, make our human endeavours seem absolutely infinitesimal. Our senses eliminate almost everything, allowing us to exist comfortably and enabling us to give importance to the little things that surround us. In the great oceans of space we are never still, nor would our endeavours make any impact, even if we managed to destroy life on our planet. On a material level, human existence is actually insignificant. It is only our senses that enable us to build up a delusion to the contrary.

The small end of the spectrum investigated by scientists is equally demoralising for those of us reliant on our senses. Like everybody else, I have a sense of my own physical reality, of that of others and of the world I live in. It, too, appears to be a delusion provided by my sense perception. We descend into the microscopic level of cell, then molecule, then atom. Compressed, the nuclei of the atoms of the human body would cover something like the head of a pin. What remains might be described as energised space. We are nothing more than a pinhead plus energy — poor egos! But techniques have been devised to enable us to 'look at', or infer, the inside of the atomic nucleus itself. Here things become very curious indeed. There is a lot more energised space, and lots of even more infinitesimal 'particles', which, the scientists tell us, may be conceived of 'as if' they were matter or 'as if' they were energy'. Some of these particles or vibrations even appear to be travelling, for short moments, backwards in time, from the future to the past, while others are 'antimatter', perhaps indicating the possibility of a parallel universe, 'in reverse'. One has to use inverted commas to try to translate this reality so that the mind, activated by normal sense impressions, can comprehend it. Materialist philosophers base themselves on the 'real world'. But this 'real world' is merely an epiphenomenon of the vibratory frequencies ('wavelengths'), on which our senses operate. It is actually the result of an effective way our senses limit what appears to be an endless nothingness, orchestrated by constantly changing energy, so that we can exist (relatively) comfortably.

Modern physics and astronomy inform us that we are certainly not what we think we are, and that our efforts are minute in the scale of things. The length of our individual lives is equally minute in the time scale of the universe, although the whole of our physical body, at cellular level, is renewed every eight years. Actually, if one really accepts the discoveries of modern science, even up to the present, answers to questions such as 'Who am I?' and 'Why am I?' which are based on our everyday sense impressions seem totally superficial. But the scientists, with all their answers, give us none of the answers. They only make Homo Sapiens seem more and more insignificant, clinging to his little fantasy world. To understand modern scientific discovery itself demands a new level of consciousness, a new structure of intelligence. The world view of Homo Sapiens is no longer adequate to live with the awareness that our sense perceptions tell us but a tiny aspect of truth.

Science actually increases a mystery. It contributes to the anxieties of living if, on top of everything else, we are aware of our utter minuteness in the scale of things, or of the non-material nature of the material. But there has always been another way of looking. It is time for those experiences which have been the property of the mystics and the 'rishis', the inward-turned wise people of the East, to become the property of us all. For the mystics understood the awesome vastness and minuteness of creation. They knew that everything that seems to be so real is not reality. They found the key that unlocks these secrets — and it is time for all of us to put it on our key ring.

By quietening outer activity, including that of the mind, they learned to 'listen' to what is to be 'heard' behind the ordinary sense experience which seems to define our world. They discovered that all the incredible multiplicity of form is an emanation of Oneness. There is an ultimate vibration that underlies all others. It is present everywhere. This vibration consists of what we call LOVE — a love, however, that is unconditional and unattached. No one can prove this to another person; there isn't a machine that can measure it. It has to be experienced. That happens as a result of trying to find what is real, as opposed to what is phenomenal, by seeking it in ourselves. The techniques for doing this are: all the various forms of silent meditation and contemplation; of training in various kinds of movement and sound; of prayer and devotion; and of the cultivation of unconditional love in everyday life.

Some physicists have taken note of the writings of the mystics and the oriental sages, because they partly describe the sort of things the scientists investigate. However, the mystics go further. The method of internal enquiry leads to the ultimate truth that Oneness, the Divine Essence, is present everywhere — omnipresent. A conscious attempt to unify with that reality gives life its meaning. Instead of allowing the outer world that we experience to define who we are, we may rather turn inward and discover who we really are. Then we can learn how to experience the outer world properly and to relate to it blissfully. We can describe this as understanding the outer from the inner — instead of trying to understand the outer from the outer. A spiritual path requires that we learn to make the transition from a world we define by the outer experience of our senses, to one defined by the inner experience of reality. We can then express our discovery in the limited sensory world. It gives that world a different significance, changing the motivation of our actions and ways of relating. Jesus expressed it by calling on us to love our neighbour as ourselves.

In the Findhorn community, we are all, to some degree, encouraged to commit ourselves to this path. Occasionally on the way may come powerful experiences of the truth that Love is the Essence behind form. In modern psychological jargon they are called peak experiences. However, it takes time and spiritual development to 'capture' them; to live consistently from the reality that they express. Time spent in inner space prepares one for the test: what rules in the 'outer' world of our perception — our limited, confusing sense impressions or the inner truth? Our challenges lie in the restricted world of the so-called physical; for to embody truth in this arena we have to be able to see through the delusion of reality that the sense-experienced world presents. Indian teachers have called this delusion 'Maya', the belief that the limiting experience of sense perception is the truth, instead of a mask over the reality hidden in it.

 

Finding Reality Inside and Expressing It in the Outer World

In the search for spirit, the meaning of life is twofold. Firstly, we are trying to discover who we really are — to experience the Divine within. Secondly, we are trying to express what we discover, through our actions in the perceived world. Such expanded consciousness will enable us to resolve the problems of our current civilisation.

It is not necessary to accept this without question. In order to see whether it is true that the ultimate knowledge of Love lies within you, try adopting the same methods as those who have already discovered it. You will find that you get the same results. The Findhorn Community is an ongoing workshop in which this 'experiment' is being practised. On a spiritual level, that is why it came into existence.

In what way do these views differ from the arguments of established religion? All major religions have two aspects. The first propagates belief in the existence of God, and provides a basic moral code for right conduct — righteousness or dharma. This code operates, more or less modified, through social customs and laws. One response to the crises of our times has been to emphasise these outward functions, leading to the growth of fundamentalist movements in both Christianity and Islam. The second aspect is the mystical current, also present in all religions. The experience of the nature of the Divine is sought through contemplation, or through practices which turn one inward. What is discovered becomes the source of the morality of action. The more you know who you really are, the more your actions will be righteous, for you are expressing Love in the outer world of sense perception.

The world religions have not, up to now, succeeded in preventing any of the world's major crises This is not because they are essentially wrong, but because they have become 'secularised'. They have emphasised the first aspect of their activity at the expense of the second. As a result, they have accommodated themselves to materialism and its philosophy, rather than providing an alternative, rich way of life. Through this accommodation they have, at least in the West, been reduced in significance in comparison with previous centuries. The present, potentially terminal, crisis of our civilisation requires that the churches emphasise the discovery of God's presence within each of us as the basis of the good life; rather than the pursuit of the material — with a belief in religion added as an ameliorative influence. More and more people from the established churches are visiting the Findhorn Foundation to experience the effects that even merely a week of working from 'the inside out' has on them.

As we change our orientation to life, so we experience a change in character and in the way we perceive the world. The older mystical philosophies strongly emphasised renunciation, often speaking of the extreme difficulty of the task of discovering inner truth The state of 'enlightenment' — the experience of full embodiment of Divinity — has been confused with the process of spiritual transformation — how one goes about the change. To arrive at a place involves the journey there. Without the journey you cannot arrive. Consciously setting out upon the journey already changes things. Going in the inner direction gives meaning and purpose to life; the more one does it, the more meaning and purpose one finds!

At the beginning of the process of self-discovery, the world of the senses seems to be objective and separate — something to be defended against, or to be overcome. As the experience of inner oneness begins to take hold, this 'objective' world seems to become more flexible, as if it, too, is adjusting itself to the change of emphasis. Strange coincidences begin to occur; the so-called real world starts to relate itself to your new awareness like a sleeping being, slowly awakening. As you go inwards the 'energy frequencies' from which you view things change. The outer world is no longer solid, but begins to dance with you, stimulating you, testing you, assisting you in your transformation. As the inner connection develops further, and awareness deepens, you begin to take the lead in your dance with the world — you gradually become the creator of what happens. A Self oriented towards the Divinity within becomes increasingly able to reshape outer reality. But this Self no longer has the same identity as when it began the transformation — it no longer wants the same things.

The process of reorientation towards inner awareness involves excitement, joy in living, growth in creativity, a relative release of material needs, increased ability to accept people as they are and a determination to resolve problems. The Findhorn community does, to some degree, demonstrate all of these things, which is why so many people want to come to be here. These changes develop the type of identity which humanity needs if we are to survive the present global crisis. This new lifestyle and the requirements for a new civilisation are in harmony.

 

The Teachings Received by Eileen Caddy

Eileen Caddy, who in 1962, with Peter Caddy and Dorothy Maclean, founded the community that later became the Findhorn Foundation, has long received messages from an Inner Source, or heard a Voice, as she sometimes says. Some of the messages have appeared in her various books, listed at the end of the chapter. They consistently emphasise that the source of wisdom is to be found within the seeker:

I was shown the earth infilled with great light. I saw that the light was coming up through the earth, infilling every thing and everyone. I felt a tremendous joy and upliftment at what I was being shown. I heard the words, I AM THAT I AM. I AM the alpha and omega and all life. Rejoice, My beloveds, for you are all part of the glorious wholeness, all part of that glorious oneness. (Dawn of Change, p.1)

Seek and find your direct link with Me. Retain that link no matter what is going on around you. For it is through that link that all things are possible. (Foundations of Findhorn, p. 112)

Relax! Give yourself over completely to Me. There is much to be done but it can be done better in a less desperate hurry. Enjoy everything you do. Savour every action like a connoisseur. Be satisfied only with perfection.

Start this day with 'summit thinking'. Let your thoughts dwell on Me; feel yourself in My presence, walking with Me, talking with Me. Let the wonder of our Oneness sink into your consciousness. Stay in this raised state of consciousness. You can do this when you live fully in the moment, not giving a thought to past moments or future moments but just to this one moment in the Now....

Your close relationship with Me is more important than anything else, for all stems from that relationship. The more time you spend with Me, the smoother will be the running of your everyday living. From that centre, where you will always find Me when you seek, the ripples go out in ever increasing power. (God Spoke to Me, pp. 16,18,19)

Expand your consciousness and know that I am all there is. Then go on and on expanding it and see the all-inclusiveness of the I AM, and see clearly that you are the I AM of the I AM, that them is no place where I am not. Keep stretching, feel every atom in you ache with stretching, feel yourselves growing, breaking all bonds which have held you in bondage and have stifled your growth and expansion. (Footprints on the Path, p. 96)

Similar guidance fills Eileen's work. When read as a whole, it is clear that through her is being presented not a new theology but a theology which emphasises the 'mystic' connection with Oneness as something available to each of us. This connection is the source of the qualities of a joy-filled life. There is also a strong sense of the inexorability of the process — it is an energy transformation whose time has come:

Step by step My plan is unfolding, and nothing and no one can hold it up. All your needs are being wonderfully met now; all your problems are being solved now; all My wonders are unfolding now. Now is the time. Live fully and gloriously in the ever-present glorious now, and behold Me in everything. (Dawn of Change, p. 13)

This is an historic and momentous time in the progress of man. At this time the veil is being rent in two and that which has been hidden through the ages is now to be revealed. The secrets of the sages will no longer be secrets, for all shall know about them. (God Spoke to Me, p. 81)

This is an exacting time for each of you, a time of deep changes within and without, a time of seeking and sorting, of moving into new realms and new dimensions. This period of transition is not easy. You can help by accepting change without resistance . . . . You will see the seemingly impossible become possible, black turned to purest white, evil intent changed in midstream, man at last beginning to see the error of his ways .... He will become awakened at last to the things that really matter in life, the things of the Spirit. (God Spoke to Me, p. 110)

Another major theme in Eileen's guidance is that God is Love, and that Love is the essential identity of each individual. It exists as reality behind all the moods we put on. Knowing that you are Love enables you to see the other as essentially Love, too:

My love is limitless. Nothing stops the flow of My love except the little self which is free to choose its own way. It turns its back on My love and demands its independence and so cuts itself off. When man chooses to go My way, to walk in My foot steps, the floodgates are released. Once again he can become aware of the wonder of My love. (God Spoke to Me, p. 63)

Banish forever all these false teachings and false concepts of Me. I AM love. I AM within each one of you. I AM THAT I AM. (Dawn of Change, p. 145)

Many other contemporary spiritual teachings present the same propositions. It is clear that something important is happening. Humanity is being given a spiritual reorientation course, to enable us to rise to a new level of human interaction. The emphasis in all these teachings is not on the difficulty and unattainability of the goal, but on the immediate benefit of setting out on the path.  

 

All Religions are Ways of Approaching One Truth

In today's world, the parochial belief that there is only one 'true' religion, whose job is to take over all the others, finally has to be abandoned. If God is the Indweller, the reality in us all, then how we seek to discover Him is a matter of cultural background, of personal choice. Our job is to find that means of Self-discovery that best leads us forward from our present starting point. That may lie in Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, or some other path. It may be found outside the established practices of the major religions, which often place more emphasis on the promotion of a code of outer social morality than on discovering the basis of morality within. Equally, one may talk of the Indweller as 'God', 'Jehovah', 'Allah', the 'Atman', the 'Essence', the 'Oneness behind all diversity', or the 'Christ Consciousness'. What we find does not differ; the various names and forms in worship are labels and practices to help us.

We are being asked to adjust to a world situation in which, for survival's sake, we need to learn that culturally and spiritually we are like flowers in a garden, each with its own particular shape, colour and fragrance, each equally valid. We can no longer judge other cultures or religions as either better or worse than our own. The Findhorn Foundation has consciously chosen to be an international community. The validity of each person's method of finding their path to the inner truth is accepted. Our success demonstrates that it can be done.

Ignorance is the Basis of Evil

The idea of God as the Essence, the Reality of all that is, omnipresent and omniscient, is a monistic one. There is only God, only the 'Atma' or Essence. Everything that seems otherwise is the result of the way it is viewed, not its reality. The notions of evil and sin and their accompanying feelings of guilt have led to a widespread sense of inadequacy and worthlessness, especially among some Christians. But ultimate Good is not a quality that can be defined by its relationship to that which is perceived as not good, its negation. It is, simply, the truth, that which is. The opposite of that which is, is that which is not, i.e. non-existent. There is therefore only Good, and its discovery is the discovery of the truth. That which is not good, which is evil, is not something different from God — an alternative, inherently evil universal force — but behaviour without a knowledge of the truth. The devil does not lie outside us, hoofed and horned; he represents that in us which has not discovered the truth, and therefore does not act from truth, but from ignorance. The temptation of Christ, for instance, does not involve some nasty being approaching Him and offering Him the things of the world in place of those of the spirit. It lies in His own inner temptations to lose God-consciousness and take the material world for reality — desires which substitute the ephemeral for the real. Jesus did not succumb to these temptations, and today we also have to learn to resist them.

By arriving at this understanding, 'wrong action' may be defined in three ways:

Action in contradiction to the laws of society may, in the short term, seem to bring material benefits.

Action in contradiction to divinely revealed laws, such as the Ten Commandments, is usually accompanied by guilt and inner conflict, but may also seem to bring material benefits.

However, action in which the Real is confused with the unreal stems from loss of identity with God, the Indweller. For example, in the half dark (ignorance or confusion) you may mistake a piece of rope for a snake. Then you act inappropriately (evil or fear). If you take a light (seek truth), you will see that it is not a snake but a rope, and be able to act appropriately (know who you really are). Loss of identity with God leads to a sense of meaninglessness, of inner despair.

Many lost people turn to drugs to try to find a moment of truth amidst the meaninglessness they experience, and they destroy their lives in their desperation to recapture bliss. We need to help one another to regain consciousness of the truth we may have momentarily perceived but then turned away from.

Embodied Self, Soul Self and Real Self

A view very widely held in the Findhorn Community is that of the separation of the identity of body and soul. When we talk of life we are referring to three aspects, as if they were on different 'frequencies':

Individual life in the body;

The 'life' of the soul, using individual incarnations as a means of training in self -discovery;

'Eternal life' that the soul is in the process of discovering — the universal, unchanging, timeless Essence, Divinity itself

Understanding that what we think of as matter results from the way that our sense organs limit our experience, the concept of a non-material soul, entering and re-entering the physical world, becomes much easier to understand. Indeed, the medieval Christian view of a soul existing in a body only once, and then being sent to heaven, hell or purgatory for eternity on the basis of that one life seems naive. The idea of reincarnation has been a keynote of the Hindu religion, and was current in very early Christianity. Paths to sell-discovery provide too much evidence of previous existence in human form to be denied out of hand.

Each individual personality is largely unaware of its earlier existences but, on the inward path, there are opportunities for enhanced memory of such incarnations, which may be applied to releasing blockages in present life. Such recall has even been used as the basis of historical novels, and can be available under deep hypnosis. As these 'memories' are experienced, it appears that we are not merely our current identity but a soul in development, operating through many incarnations in the material frequencies of the sense organs and learning from the law of cause and effect (karma). The consequences of wrong actions that we perform from ignorance return to us as lessons, giving us a chance to seek another way. At some time everyone has experienced lives lost in the illusion of immediate gratification or dominated by the energy of base passions. People who have had a problem and resolved it are often much more understanding of someone who is currently going through a similar difficulty. When we learn that we, as souls, are not merely 'saints' but have also been 'sinners', it helps with a higher level of compassion to assist those still living in confusion.

In the Findhorn community, no one is asked to believe in reincarnation in order to become a member or to visit us; we have few dogmas! But people are asked to search for the God within. As their awareness expands, they usually begin to experience something of their 'soul self' and its previous incarnations. There is no point, however, in dwelling overmuch on the past when the present is so exciting, or on the partial when the whole is available.

With the realisation that divinity is indweller, 'true self', omnipresent; its nature unconditional love; that the purpose of life is the soul's conscious reunion with its truth; that the physical reality of this world is the stage on which the ongoing drama of life (as well as death and suffering) is set, the meaning of our lives comes to be perceived as something very different than it is if we mistake the material world of our senses for reality. Death becomes the conclusion of a particular scene in the drama; birth the opening of one. Suffering results from taking the phenomenal world as real, and compassion gives others assistance on their path to truth. Seen in this way, life is a wonderful, ever-changing adventure, and one can gradually become filled with inner happiness and peace. On the way, life is more interesting and enjoyable, there is less worry, and more care about others.

Materialism encourages people who seek fulfilment in the external world, either through what they do, or through what or whom they possess. They experience themselves as limited and needy people, whose requirements have to be met in order for them to be happy. They are subject to unhappiness if they do not have what they think they need, or if something is taken away, or if their performance is criticised. Strength for them involves qualities of aggression or dominance. Their endeavours are directed towards controlling, or defending themselves from, the environment. If they are religious, they tend to believe in an external God who regulates their conduct through a revealed moral code. Many do not find the satisfaction they seek in the external world, and may be frustrated and sometimes bitter. These are outer-directed people, individuals characteristic of the civilisation we are leaving behind.

People who centre their lives on the discovery of inner truth tend to see their needs as transient and the things they have as secondary; the experienced world reflects to them what they need to transform in themselves to find who they really are. As they discover new aspects of themselves, they are excited to share them. They find life fulfilling and exciting, but sometimes suffer from impatience, very conscious of the gap between their present state and where they hope to go. They find strength in calmness and clarity of vision. The things of the material world are a means, not an end, to them. Their religion is inward-directed and contemplative; they tend to seek transcendental states, and in their behaviour they attempt to communicate the experience of these states to others.

These inner-directed people are developing the characteristics necessary for a human civilisation which will, one hopes, replace our present one. The Findhorn Community is about the development of such individuals.  

 

Books by Eileen Caddy: Guidance

God Spoke to Me (1971), Footprints on the Path (1976), Foundations of Findhorn (1976), The Spirit of Findhorn (1977), The Dawn of Change (1979), Opening Doors Within (1987), The Living Word (new edition 1988). The Spirit of Findhorn, published by Fowler, is out of print. Others are published by Findhorn Press.

Autobiography

Flight into Freedom. Element Books (1988)

LINK to chapter 3

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