Findhorn
The Findhorn Foundation is a dynamic experiment where everyday life is guided by the inner voice of spirit, where we work in co-creation with the intelligence of nature and take inspired action towards our vision of a better world. We share our learning and way of life in experiential workshops, conferences and events that take place within a thriving community and ecovillage.
Community life provides the spiritual and social framework in which to experiment with new ways of being. Living together and practising spiritual values creates the transformative environment where learning takes place naturally through the ordinary activities of daily life. We work through conflicts, celebrate seasonal rhythms, eat, work and play together, acknowledge life’s milestones and explore new forms of leadership, economics and governance.
The Foundation has two main sites. The Park, nestled amidst dunes and forest, bay and beach, is an ecovillage that is home to many of our staff and a larger community of people living with shared values. Cluny Hill is a stately Victorian former hotel, five miles away from The Park, which houses staff and welcomes participants in our workshops and events. Our retreat house on the island of Iona, and the satellite community on the neighbouring island of Erraid, also welcome participants for life-changing experiences on the wild, wind-swept west coast of Scotland.
The Findhorn Foundation is an NGO associated with the United Nations Department of Public Information, holder of UN Habitat Best Practice designation and is co-founder of the Global Ecovillage Network and Holistic Centres Network. The Foundation is at the heart of a community of more than 500 people who every day support and live the vision of creating a better world by starting with themselves.
Ecovillage
The Findhorn Ecovillage is a constantly evolving model used as a teaching resource by a number of universities and school groups. The Findhorn Foundation College was established to provide a vehicle for academic programmes and to host students and study groups from the local area and around the world.
In 1997 the UN recognised the Findhorn Foundation as a Non-Governmental Organisation associated with the Department of Public Information. The Findhorn Foundation is an active participant in a variety of UN activities and events.
At the end of the 1980s, the Ecovillage Project at Findhorn began, contributing significantly to the development of the ecovillage movement worldwide. An ecovillage, defined as being ecologically, economically, culturally and spiritually sustainable, was a logical development of the community’s work with spirit and nature. There are now 90 ecological buildings, three wind generators and a biological sewage treatment plant, The Living Machine.
In 1995 the Findhorn community and the evolving informal ecovillage network organised a conference at Findhorn: Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities for the 21st Century. From this initiative the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) was established, with the Foundation becoming one of its founding members.
Founding Principles
Through more than 50 years of living and exploring together, three key themes have emerged as guiding principles for our work in the world
Inner Listening
When we become still and go within, either through meditation or activities such as being in nature, we can find a deep inner knowing that reaches far beyond the sense of a small and separate self. At Findhorn we describe this process as inner listening, and the knowledge received as guidance. We also use attunement, the practice of consciously tapping into the interconnectedness of life. These are at the heart of the Foundation’s ethos.
Eileen Caddy began her practice of inner listening in a Glastonbury sanctuary in the late 1950s. Later, through training and regular meditation, she developed the ability to attune to the deep knowing within her at any time. Committed obedience to this guidance led her, the community’s co-founders and the group that gathered around them, to step into a living relationship with this inner wisdom which continues to this day.
Finding the stillness and listening within, attuning, and then trusting and acting on this attunement, is the central process by which the Findhorn community lives and evolves. We believe it is a way of living that can support humanity to evolve. The Findhorn Foundation and community is a gateway to this new world and a living demonstration of it.
Work Is Love In Action
Work is an opportunity to bring our whole selves and our highest love into the practical business of daily life. By bringing full, loving engagement into 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.’ This is founder Peter Caddy’s succinct explanation of our practice of Work is Love in Action. A former military officer who led by example, he insisted that community members bring this attitude into every daily activity, whether raking up the leaves, harvesting organic vegetables or making key decisions.
With this attitude, people discovered that each day can become an opportunity for growth and discovery when we bring our highest spiritual aspiration and love to it. Also, when we act with love and clear intention, life meets us with the right resources, people and realisations. An example of this is in the community’s early days: Peter, acting on guidance, bought several bungalows with borrowed money, although there were no people yet who needed housing. Within weeks the bungalows were full with people who wanted to live the exciting experiment that was happening at Findhorn. Manifesting the right thing at the right time became so common that the community adopted the motto ‘expect a miracle’.
Today, we continue to bring love and mindfulness to every moment, no matter how seemingly ordinary. Before each shift we share whatever is needed to bring ourselves present and then hold an attunement: a brief meditation to align people with each other and with 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 our love into action. And we know that this story is just a beginning – our vision is nothing less than a world where each human being manifests their highest love and, in doing so, becomes a unique blessing for all life.
Co-Creation With The Intelligence Of Nature
Our planet is alive and aware. By communicating and working with the rest 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 she and others 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. Building on this early work, the Findhorn Foundation continues to be a pioneer in partnering with the intelligence of nature, a practice we call co-creation. Everyone, either through innate gifts or through training in inner listening, has the potential to partner with these more subtle aspects of our world.
We bring the practice of collaborating with other forms of life into our daily activities in our kitchens, gardens and living spaces. Before each shift, we invite non-human partners, such as the plants we’re tending, animals we’re with and 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.
Learn More About Findhorn
Findhorn supports a variety of socially conscious spiritual research, workshops, retreats and initiatives with like minded associates all around the globe. Learn more online or or plan a visit yourself!