Our guiding practices

Wisdom within

When we become still and go within, we can find a deep inner knowing that reaches far beyond the sense of a small and separate self. We describe this as inner listening. We also use ‘attunement’, the practice of consciously tapping into the interconnectedness of life.

Co-founder Eileen Caddy developed the ability to attune to the deep knowing within her at any time. Following the guidance she received allowed the community to step into a living relationship with this inner wisdom, which continues to this day.

Finding stillness, attuning or listening to what’s within, and then trusting and acting on this guidance, is how our community lives and evolves – and we believe this way of living can support humanity to evolve. The Findhorn Foundation and community is a gateway to this new world and a living demonstration of it.

Together we are stronger

Our planet is alive and aware. By communicating and working with all of nature, humans can find and bring new and creative solutions to life.

In the early days of the community, while trying to grow a garden, community co-founder Dorothy Maclean found she could communicate consciously with the intelligence that gave form to the plants in the garden. As they followed the suggestions of these intelligences, a seemingly impossible abundance grew in the poor soil, including the giant cabbages that brought fame to the community.

We continue to try to partner – or co-create – with the intelligence of nature in all we do. Before each shift, we invite the non-physical members of our subtle ecologies to work alongside us. This cooperation brings practical results, as well as a more connected and creative relationship to life. Everyone has the potential to partner with these more subtle aspects of our world.

Living from the heart

When we see work as an expression of love – whether it’s raking up leaves, harvesting organic vegetables or making key decisions – we bring our highest spiritual aspiration to it. With full, loving engagement in each task, moment by moment, we can shape a new consciousness for ourselves and the world.

‘Love where you are. Love what you’re doing. Love who you’re doing it with,’ is how co-founder Peter Caddy explained this practice. When we act with love and clear intention, life meets us with the right resources, people and realisations. Here’s an example from the early days: Peter, acting on guidance, bought several bungalows with borrowed money, although there were no people needing housing. Yet within weeks they were full with people wanting to live the exciting experiment unfolding at Findhorn. Manifesting the right thing at the right time has become so common you’ll often hear the motto ‘expect a miracle’.

We try to bring love and mindfulness to every moment, no matter how seemingly ordinary. Before each work shift or meeting we share whatever is needed to bring ourselves present and then hold an attunement: a brief meditation to align with each other and the task at hand, and to invite the cooperation of our partners, seen and unseen.

This practice is a recognition that everything we do, no matter how small, is an opportunity to move beyond previously limiting beliefs and to shape a new future. Our own story of a tiny band of spiritual seekers growing into a flourishing, internationally respected spiritual learning centre and community is a demonstration of the power of putting love in action.