Findhorn Community Ch. 4

The Findhorn Community

Chapter 4 A Spiritual Symbol for Western Humanity


Behind all words there is silence —
Behind all action there is stillness —
Behind all creativity there is peace —
In these things we find the Beloved
And know His creative presence.
In the rhythm of this day
Let us find silence in the midst of speech.
Stillness in the midst of action
And peace in the midst of creativity.
— David Spangler

The Findhorn Community: An Accessible Model for Change
To express divinity fully in daily life is no easy task but, as we begin to try, we can make dramatic changes in the quality of our lives, in our happiness and in our comprehension of individual and world events. We become involved in a reorientation of our lives which has immediate, concrete results. This is important because many spiritual books imply that such changes cannot take place without enormous self-sacrifice, harsh discipline and total renunciation. Perhaps the efforts of earlier spiritual seekers have opened a door for us, through which, with grace, we can now pass much more easily.
In the last 42 years, the Findhorn community has developed an approach to spirituality which requires no more effort than needed to learn any complex skill. Yet it is effective in developing a level of human consciousness that might bring us through humanity's present crises to a higher stage of human interaction. It could enable us to live in relative harmony with one another and in a much more positive connection with the physical world around us. Such a transformation is available to all, now. It can give people a feeling of purpose and direction in their lives which, on a world scale, would do away with racial, social, religious and nationalist intolerance and with gross economic exploitation. It creates awareness of common humanity, and leads to more fulfilled and happier lives for everyone. A big return for a relatively modest investment!
The sceptic may be resistant. Is this not just hype, idealistic theorising, self-delusion born of naiveté? How do we know that such things are possible? At one moment we proclaim dramatic changes in human identity and at the next, talk of easy transitions!
The Findhorn community is not an ideal, a vision, a high-sounding theory, or even a blueprint for transformation. There is no pretence to have a recipe for instant perfection; nor are we a community of recluses, living in retreat from the day-to-day world. The community is an ongoing, practical, working example of how a degree of transformation can occur in relatively ordinary individuals within a short period of time. Such a transformation involves a lifestyle whose positive results can be assessed and measured by any social scientist or, more importantly, by any interested inhabitant of the planet. Furthermore, our origins and background are a clear and convincing demonstration of divine intent — something is being created here for a special purpose. One of the most widely read books about the Findhorn Community was called The Magic of Findhorn. Its journalistic style tended to emphasize the more extraordinary aspects of early community life, and some of the special characters who were initially drawn here, but there is a 'magic' in the community, a divine magic. It's function is to stimulate us to perform the tasks for which we have been attracted here.
The Findhorn community was not founded as the result of a rational discussion among rational people about creating a new group of rational human beings. Our civilisation exalts rationality as the answer to world problems, but it is the 'age of reason' that has brought us to today's state of crisis. As bread needs the leaven of yeast, so, for positive change, rationality needs the leaven of intuitional inspiration. Perhaps there is a plan in place, of which our rational selves have no knowledge, a plan that is not, in a normal sense, human in origin and which has its own sense of timing.
Eileen Caddy heard an inner voice. Over a period of years, she became used to the voice. Nothing happened in a hurry. Her autobiography, Flight into Freedom, gives the distinct impression that a plan slowly unfolded. Guidance was given to prepare for events that later came to pass. The Caddy family found themselves, as predicted by the guidance, apparently rejected, in a tiny caravan facing a rubbish dump in an uninspiring sandy caravan park in north-east Scotland. The voice began to provide instruction after instruction as to how to proceed. Because Peter Caddy followed the instructions and those heard by Dorothy Maclean, who learned to communicate with the energies controlling plant growth, their new garden started to produce enormous vegetables, attracting international attention to the emerging community.
Even then things were not hurried. Only after David Spangler's arrival in 1970, and partly through his channelled writing, did the worldwide significance of the Findhorn Community become apparent to those outside esoteric circles. Spangler's inner teachers related the meaning of the developing community to the solution of world problems, and his impetus supported expansion. The main focus began to be redirected, emphasizing more spiritual education of people, the transformation of human beings. Often, at the beginning, the humans involved in these changes were uncertain of their direction. Eileen's guidance gave them the direction and understanding to help them to go forward. The story of the early days of the community is exciting and inspiring. We remain convinced that inner attunement through meditation, in conjunction with the signs the world is giving us, is a better means of making decisions than the application of reason alone.
For instance, one of the great contributions a group of people can make to our society at the present time is to divorce the idea of happiness from that of material wealth. This is not done by pious theorising about the 'sanctity of poverty', but by demonstrating a way of living which, while not renouncing material things, is not dependent on them. Even though objects may not be new and expensive, if they are loved and cared for, they shine out those qualities for others to enjoy. We have no enthusiasm to retain things which are too old to be effective, but it is surprising how much more service a loved and cared-for machine will give than one that is not. The material achievements of the community, while modest, give an impression that is quite out of proportion to their scale and cost.
Turning within, as we see it, demands some kind of spiritual practice. To find it is the first hurdle to overcome as one seeks to change the 'frequency' of life. A few people who become members have maintained a strict discipline of meditation over preceding years, and it is surprising how such people tend to give up these habits once they live in the Findhorn Foundation — at least for a time. The emphasis is on inner discipline, not one imposed from outside, even when one's own conscience is the imposer. Conscience may merely be the internalised voice of external authority. A sense of duty may help a person through a difficult patch in their transformation, but if it remains the basis of their spirituality, the identity is still outer-directed. Truth even transcends conscience.
Others come seeking to turn inwards; but someone who has been prepared to spend hours mending a car or absently watching a television screen may find it a challenge to learn to spend even half an hour a day being still. Relatively, however, attaining inward quiet requires such a small effort. Initially, a personal spiritual practice might not even involve much quiet meditation. It could centre on a movement discipline, like T'ai Chi, or even regular conscious appreciation of nature. We do encourage everyone to develop some practice which helps them to be inwardly still.
The nurturing and expression of love is another, very important kind of spiritual practice. When this involves people to whom we are attracted, it seems easy, but such love is very conditional. At the Findhorn Foundation, people are constantly coming and going. A loving feeling no sooner develops than the person towards whom it is directed leaves. Gradually, one learns to love in a less conditional way. Ultimately, everything centres around learning to love, for unconditional love expresses our Divine nature.
At the same time as encouraging individual spiritual practice, the community has developed its own small rituals of silence and inner connection. These, though imposing no heavy burden on the participants, both remind and enable us to change focus from 'normal' — outward directed — life. Attendance at daily collective meditations is encouraged but not obligatory. The members of each work department meditate together weekly, and community meetings always include a meditation. Work periods begin with a moment of silent awareness, in which hands are held in a circle. Many members bless the commencement and completion of special tasks with a meditation. These small rituals provide the basis of a life in the initial process of turning inwards, and require very small amounts of determination and perseverance. The immediate results of calmness and increased group harmony they bring give a stimulus to go further. They support — but do not force — inner development.
As we experience the divine in ourselves, we become aware that it exists in everyone else, too. God is omnipresent. We realise that in order to express love, we must remove the barriers to doing so. We begin to see that those who do not express love are merely stuck behind barriers they themselves have erected for 'protection'. We can regard them with more understanding and support them in finding the confidence they need to take the barriers down. Each person has to work at his or her own pace, for people who are under pressure usually feel threatened and tend to close up.
In this great spiritual adventure, judgement is slowly replaced by comprehension. Judgement breeds punitiveness and gossip, as destructive of self-development as it is of the development of others. Comprehension, on the other hand, stimulates mutual support in change and transformation. Further, we gradually come to recognise that Divinity is as much the essence of the material world as of the human one. In the Findhorn community this is symbolised by giving names to the tools and machines with which we work.
All these practices are aspects of 'positive thinking'. Our positive thinking includes seeking to be aware of a reality underlying the apparent. It does not mean trying to run away from or deny that which is difficult, tedious or challenging. To try to pretend that things are good when they are difficult is merely a symptom of being controlled by fear.
Findhorn community lifestyle is not retreatist. We aim to present the 'good news' of our Self-discovery and to maintain it in the daily practice of a working community. We are exploring a new, positive meaning in work — not only in what is done, but in how it is done and the way it is shared with others. This is expressed by the phrase 'Work is love in action!' To begin to experience work in this way is often very revealing for guests, who may discover that they can find satisfaction in tasks they previously regarded as menial and mundane. As the currently dominant social desires to maximise material gain and output are superseded, people become used to working in an economy of sufficiency. Our perspective on work, which includes discussion and mutual sharing, decentralisation and democratisation of authority, could gradually transform working life. Changed attitudes to work are not a means by which greedy employers can extract more output from individuals. The approach fostered in daily life at the Findhorn community is part of a transformation of working situations and values. We seek to move in the direction of a world characterised by caring and mutual respect.

Cultural and Religious Integration
From its outset, the Findhorn community has been an international one. Dorothy Maclean, a Canadian, shared the earliest years with Peter and Eileen, who were English, and with Lena who was Scottish. At present the community contains people from many countries and cultures but, up to now, almost exclusively from wealthy 'Western' societies — the heartland of materialistic civilisation. Challenge and stimulation from other cultures helps to expand limited assumptions about reality. To guests we demonstrate in practice that cultural difference can be transcended in everyday living and that the world unification process created by communications technology can be experienced positively.
Our particular function in a worldwide movement of change is to work with people from the 'exporter' nations of materialism — those nations whose cultures emphasise material possession as the most desirable human value — rather than with people from the 'importer' nations — those whose spiritual heritage has been undermined by such values. This 'Westernness' has been a challenge for many of us. We are aware of the plight of the poor of the world, and of the dedicated and self-sacrificing efforts made by both religious and secular organisations to alleviate poverty and starvation. It is a challenge to conscience to justify working with relatively wealthy people in a task of personal spiritual transformation, when there is so much material deprivation to be found. But we have had to come to the conclusion not only that every human being is inherently divine and worthy of transformation, but also that the real root of the problem of poverty lies in the destruction of a spiritual core to life in the so-called 'advanced industrial societies' themselves.
Spiritual richness and material richness often represent alternative world value systems. While the 'advanced' societies may be the centre of material wealth, they are sometimes the backward nations of spiritual wealth. Many cultures are spiritually much richer than ours. From this perspective, the Findhorn community's work could be described as missionary work. Without such efforts our societies will continue to export cultural destruction — and very possibly extinction itself — to the rest of humanity.
With the proper use of resources, the elimination of the grosser extremes of poverty in the world is no impossible task. In the end it is more crucial to transform the value systems of our societies, societies that have lost much of the vitality of their spiritual traditions. This is the social meaning and purpose of the Findhorn Community. It is a significant irony that spiritual teachers from the cultures that have been colonised, and sometimes almost extinguished, by our own — the Native Americans, the Aboriginal peoples of Australia and the gurus of India — have become sources of inspiration for an ever-increasing number of people in the 'rich' world, including many members of our community. The export of spiritual wealth is a healthier trade than that of material wealth!
Another tenet of the Findhorn community's existence is the acceptance of religious diversity. It must be abundantly clear that the practice of the great fundamental teaching of all religions —'God is Love', 'Love thy neighbour as thyself' — is not limited to believers in one religion alone, nor even to those who profess an organised religion at all. Feuding and rejection because of religious belief still remain prevalent all over the globe. Once the meaning of the divine as the indweller in all humanity has been discovered, it is inconceivable to believe that divine truth has been revealed in only one religion or creed. When Jesus says, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life," and, "Only through me shall you reach the Kingdom of Heaven," he is talking about the essence of his teaching, which we in the Findhorn community call the Christ Consciousness, rather than the particular form that the Christian church has made of it. We are sure that the 'Christ Consciousness' may be as present — or absent — in Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism or even Humanism, as in Christianity. A major spiritual teacher affirms: 'There is only one God — He is present everywhere! There is only one race — the race of mankind! There is only one religion — the religion of Love! There is only one language — the language of the heart!' A chosen religion is a personal way to direct one towards that Essence underlying all different forms: our own true nature.
At the Findhorn commmunity we welcome people of any religious faith — or none — who are searching for the love that is their inner truth. The community is open to insights from all religious practices which promote this inner discovery. There are members professing Buddhism, Hinduism, Sufism, those who find inspiration from Native American spirituality, or from esoteric teachings of the so-called 'Western mystery school', as well as Christians. All can get along together, learn from each other, and benefit from the spiritual diversity. This mutual recognition is not a weakening of faith, but a strengthening of it, for we are become citizens of one world. The wealth of each tradition becomes our own heritage as we learn that the essential truth of each religion is the same. Religious forms are like clothes, put on for an individual's personal comfort. Bigots may cavil at this, but the experience of our community shows that where love is, all religious beliefs flourish.

The Generation of Hope
Thinking of the long catalogue of dangers that threaten humanity, it is easy to become despondent, even despairing. Many people share such feelings but suppress them with escapist and nihilistic lifestyles. By living superficially, they try to bypass an increasingly pessimistic underlying awareness which feeds their insecurity and anxieties. Sometimes even to bring these feelings to the surface generates great emotional distress, as the community has discovered in hosting workshops on 'deep' ecology.
The experience of living in the Findhorn community transforms this anxiety into hope and anticipation for the future. The discovery that the divine meaning of life is personally available to the seeker is empowering. An awareness grows that all is not moving in a negative direction — the tide can be turned — and is being turned. Anyone may be part of this force for change, a 'force' of love that conquers without exercising any violence. By living and learning in this community, we generate hope and excitement, without ignoring the disasters our civilisation creates. Even if we wanted to avoid awareness of the problems that beset our planet, the noise from the military air base nearby constantly reminds us. It is no accident that the Findhorn Foundation is in such close proximity to the base.
Through the guest programmes this hope for change spreads to those who visit. It is not an energy of protest or negation. Though we do not condemn people who take the path of protest, it often tends to entrench reaction, as two energies oppose each other. Usually, little changes, except perhaps in situations which are anyway exceptionally volatile. There is a difference between demonstrating the existence of a problem to those who are not already aware of it — perhaps choosing dramatic means — and actually solving that problem. Often protest groups have confused the two and after a while their members become disillusioned and cynical, always in opposition to forces which appear overwhelmingly powerful. Ultimately, it is not what we strive against that counts, but what we strive for. The method of the Findhorn Community is a practical and meaningful one that can be incorporated into the life of any individual — inner transformation. Our hopefulness expresses over 40 years' experience in the practice of personal spiritual development.
As people become integrated as members into the Findhorn Foundation, they tend to take for granted what we do and achieve. Members often emphasise the long way each of us has to go towards perfection. The impact that our lifestyle has on our guests is a corrective to such a feeling. Guests' excitement at what has been created here is a reminder of our purpose and of our success. In turn, we provide our visitors with a situation which supports and stimulates their own path of inner discovery.

An Ongoing Workshop in Spiritual Education.
The Findhorn Foundation has often been compared to an ongoing workshop, a laboratory for spiritual change. This is partly because people constantly come and go. Guests stay here from a week to several months. Student members stay for a couple of years (depending on the training ideas current at the Foundation) and staff members may stay for several years. There are always new faces, always people starting out as guests or as members. Each newcomer experiences an equivalent process of self-transformation, finds similar blockages and difficulties, and overcomes them. The process of personal change never stops, no matter how long one stays. In the 1989 brochure Eileen Caddy wrote:
Changes are not always comfortable, but they are very necessary if we want to grow and expand. If we stopped going through changes, I would really become concerned because it would mean we were becoming static. That means stagnation, and stagnation means death. Sometimes the first period within the community is spent with quite a lot of personal drama. Old habits and ideas are exposed and the situation invites their release. Those who stay longer usually become more accepting and graceful about the process, but no one in the community is released from the challenge of personal transformation. Since life at the Findhorn Foundation is not monastic, it differs from that in the surrounding world only in quality and orientation. Work, relationship and interaction with others occur as in everyday life. But here they are considered an arena for transformation. Situations have a habit of presenting themselves in ways that are exquisitely appropriate to this end. It is useful to have a sense of humour to live here; it helps us to appreciate the delightful irony with which events seem to be 'set up'. It is pleasant, when one knows the community well, to stand back and observe the 'Angel of Findhorn' at work. It lovingly provides the circumstances in which ego is deflated, lifelong attachments are questioned, suppressed emotions are brought to the surface, evasions are countered, and escape from situations is thwarted. As you observe it all, you must smile wryly at the human capacity for self-deception and its transparency Then you are drawn back once more to be subjected to the same process yourself. Gradually, the idea of the 'one right way' is released; one learns that what has been invaluable in assisting personal transformation may be anathema to someone else. It is as if we were in a market place with many stalls offering goods. Some people go to one stall to buy, others go to another. We support each other constantly, but the path of inner transformation is ultimately a personal one. However much we may share with others, each of us has a unique path to the Self. The appreciation of this fosters a sense of awe, reverence and humility at the specificity of the Love that is available when we seek to discover it.

In Harmony With the Divine Plan
This small community in northern Scotland, with its special inspiration and apparent divine purpose, does not exist alone. There is a transformation going on all over the planet that is fuelled from many sources. With some of those sources we are directly connected, with others we are not. They have varying emphases and practices, but all are concerned with giving new primacy to inner exploration. We call them a 'network of light', a transformational matrix through which the energy developing the new human identity operates.
There are communities like Esalen and Sirius in the United States, or Auroville in South India. We have exchange relationships with some of them. There is a river of spiritual renewal flowing out of India, with its tradition of the spiritual master — the guru — and devotees. We have, or have had, members following Rajneesh, Babaji, Gurumay, Yogananda, and Sathya Sai Baba, among others. We respect the spiritual energy expressing itself through Native American teachers, several of whom have visited us. It inspires many young people with a renewed awareness of the sacredness of our relationship with the earth. The Buddhist tradition, in its various forms, is widespread. Members sometimes visit Samye Ling, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the south of Scotland. Hatha Yoga and Ta'i Chi are found almost everywhere, and the best of the martial arts advocate a form of inner discipline and awakening. Sufism, Transcendental Meditation, and the entire Christian ecumenical movement exemplified by Taizé singing, are our brothers and sisters in the 'network of light', as are, in another way, the organic food movement and schools of massage and transpersonal psychology.
In every city small groups have developed, seeking inner change as a means of a new relationship with the world of the senses. If we take them all together and imagine the energy they generate, it is not so difficult to visualise a network of light covering the planet, spreading a new level of human awareness.
Taken together, all this makes up what has been described as the 'new age' movement. Many people are now a little wary of this description, which was once eagerly embraced by the Findhorn community, because in popular thought it has become connected with the sensation seekers satirised in Doonesbury cartoons, whose interest lies less in seeking spiritual transformation than in dabbling in the occult, or in practising classical capitalist entrepreneurship on the naive.
Humanity cannot go back to a religion of custom and tradition, where obedience to the law was simply 'what is done'. Attempts to provide human satisfaction by an appeal to the external senses and the accumulation of possessions have led to a crisis in human history. The Divine will, the energy of creation Itself, is steering us in a new direction, towards the discovery of Itself within. Before long, human beings with a new consciousness may become dominant across the globe. The quicker it happens, the less damage will be done, and the less suffering will there be.

To go to the History Chapter, click HERE
LINK back to home page