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THE FINDHORN GARDEN

Pioneering a New Vision
of Man and Nature in
Cooperation
by
The Findhorn Community

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www.findhorn.org

by Wonderflight

"One radiant energy pervades and gives rise to all life. While it may speak to us through plants, nature spirits or the human beings with whom we share life on this planet, all are reflections of the deeper reality behind and within them. Myth has become reality in the Findhorn garden, not to present us with a new form of spiritualism, but to offer us a new vision of life, a vision of unity. Essentially, the devas and nature spirits are aspects of our own selves, guiding us toward our true identity, the divine reality within. The story of the garden is the celebration of this divine life in its myriad forms. May the joy we experience in participating in this celebration deepen our commitment to revealing the total beauty of ourselves arid all life around us."

The Findhorn Garden

Your way is true and simple, the way it was in the beginning when man and I walked hand in hand, talking to one another.

EILEEN

THE KINGDOM OF LIGHT.

Excerpts from, The Findhorn Garden.

3-1-06pt2

I do not claim to understand many of the things that happened to us during the growth of the garden and of the Findhorn community. Nor do I have any particular advice to give, except that the most important thing is for each individual to look within for his or her own answers. Perhaps if I share with you some of our experiences, you will see how every aspect of our lives was guided by this turning within.

Living in such close quarters for seven years, we certainly learned a great deal. Our three boys, born one year apart, were just beginning primary school, and you know what boys are like. When they came home from school they used to bring all their friends and play in the living room, so there really was nowhere to sit.

Peter spent most of his time in the garden, Dorothy had the annex, and my special place was the kitchen. This was built along the passageway between the boys' tiny room and the sitting room which also served as a bedroom for Peter and myself, and at mealtimes, as a dining room.

In the evening, after the boys had gone to bed, Dorothy, Peter and I could move into the living room to read or watch television. We also meditated there together each night. The children had grown up with this and knew we needed quiet. To them, our meditation was natural. In fact, I remember the way Christopher used to tell me to turn to God when I was in doubt about something. "God will know the answer. Mum," he would say with such confidence. And I would think. Out of the mouths of babes....

It was a good situation in which to learn self discipline. Peter, Dorothy and I were such strong individuals, yet we had to learn how to work together as a group. "You have to learn to work together perfectly like fingers on a hand, my guidance had told us. You are all individuals very specially chosen and trained by Me to do a specific work which only you can do". Yet no matter how different our tasks and approaches were, the one thing we were all learning was to see everything with new eyes.

This is how we could create the new, all around us. "As you go about your everyday tasks today, try to see each one in a new light. Do them as if you have never done them before, as if each action is new and wonderful and exciting. Let life be like that to you and you will find your whole outlook will change. You will indeed love what you are doing because you are doing it for Me and with Me."

Always it was our attitude that was most important. What we were thinking was reflected in our everyday lives. If we looked at a situation negatively, it became negative. But if we made that extra effort, which was often very hard to do, we could truly make a situation new.

3-2-06pt2

The little things provided the real tests. For instance, I preferred cooking or gardening to doing the housework. So for me the real challenge was to enjoy cleaning the caravan, wholeheartedly and therefore perfectly. I was told that in something like polishing the floor. You can do it positively so you really enjoy seeing a lovely shine come up as you rub, or you can do it negatively and just feel it is another job that must be done. When you start on a job, whatever it may be, see that your attitude towards it is right, and how very different it will be. Your attitude makes it one thing or another.

Everything we were doing in our daily living... working in the garden, eating the food from it, absorbing the sunshine and fresh air... was teaching us to live in a new way, with joy in every moment and deep sensitivity to all things around us. We could see that each of us by our thoughts and actions could lift our spirits and surroundings. We couldn't create a new world without being new ourselves, and we had to work constantly at keeping our spirits high.

"Whenever you feel you need a break, take a walk and enjoy the wonders of nature all around you. If you open your eyes you cannot fail to see them. All of that helps to keep your vibrations raised."

When I look back I see that, despite all the challenges of our situation, it was actually a very happy time... perhaps the happiest time of all... because our lives were so simple. My guidance at that time told us.

"Life is not really complicated. In act, it is very simple. It is simplicity itself, but you make it complicated. When you find life is getting to be too much for you and you feel weighed down, stop and look at a child. A child lives fully in the moment, enjoying what he is doing. He does not worry about tomorrow and what it might bring. That is how you should live. Be ever conscious of the wonder of life."

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" Yes, we were like children then, and God was still somewhat like the Father, separate and above us, reaching down to help. But gradually I have come to understand what it means to find that same God within myself. I have come to see that our lives are being carefully and lovingly guided by his voice speaking within me. Listening for every whisper of it was my main role in creating the garden and the community at Findhorn."

The first time I heard this voice was in 1953, when Peter and I were visiting Glastonbury, a center of spiritual power in England. I was sitting in the stillness of a small private sanctuary there, when I heard a voice—a very clear voice—within me. I had never experienced anything like that before. It simply said. "Be still and know that I am God." What is this? I thought. Am I going mad? I had been brought up in the Church of England and learned in Sunday school about the "still small voice within"—but when you actually hear a voice, it's a different matter. I was really quite shocked, because it was so clear.

I don't want to give the idea that this just happened, without any preparation. There had been a great deal of spiritual training leading up to that point. Yet hearing this voice was totally unexpected. Following the experience, I went through a painful period of conflict and tension when I kept hearing many different voices, all battling to be first. I just kept listening and listening until I heard one clear voice again, and then all the others disappeared.

"What greater or more wonderful relationship could man ask for than the knowledge that he is truly one with Me, that I am in you and you are in Me." Accepting the reality of this oneness came slowly. In fact, at first I felt it was audacious even to speak of such a thing. Yet I couldn't deny my experience. I know that God is within each one of us, within everything. I feel that the Church teaches about the God outside of us, but that's the same God as the one within. You can call him by different names if you like, but there's only one God.

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Eventually receiving guidance from the voice of God became the most natural thing in the world. "Listening to My voice has become as natural to you as breathing. There is no strain about it whatsoever. It should never be necessary for you to come into a special state before you can hear My voice. You should be able to hear it at all times, in all places, no matter what is happening around you, no matter what state you may be in. Your need for Me is constant. As it was in the beginning when man walked and talked with Me, so it is now happening again. This is the relationship I long to have with all My children."

I would never say that hearing this voice within, as I hear it, is the only way of experiencing God. It isn't, because everybody has a different way. That's just my way of doing it. God is within everyone, "Do you not realize that you have within you all wisdom, all knowledge, all understanding? You do not have to seek it without, but you have to take time to be still and to go deep within to find It. Many souls are too lazy or feel that there is so much to be done that they have no time to be still and go into the silence. They prefer to live on someone else's wisdom and knowledge instead of receiving it direct from the source themselves."

I certainly had to learn to put my communion with the God within before anything else. I had to learn to be still. I find that when my mind is wandering all over the place, nothing happens. But when I am still, in communion with the "withinness," then things really begin to happen.

When the six of us were packed into that tiny caravan, the only place I could go for complete quiet was down to the public toilets of the caravan park. I'd bundle up against the cold and sit there for two or three hours every night. It was a place where I could shut the door and have no interruptions. Ridiculous as it may seem, it was actually quite lovely. But it wasn't always easy, of course. During the day I was cooking, taking care of the children and sometimes helping in the garden.

Some nights I was so tired it was an effort even to hold the pen and write down the guidance I was receiving. But I knew I had to put first things first. "The choice is not something that you do once and it becomes permanent, but all day and every day this choice lies in your hands. Every decision you make, you choose whether you make it for the small self or whether you seek My divine guidance and follow that."

I still have a lot to learn. It's easy to get into a lovely comfortable rut, having special times for quiet and meditation, and special times for writing the guidance down and reading it out to others. But to live what I have received is far more difficult. I have recorded over thirty thousand pages of guidance since we came to Findhorn, and now to put it into practice, to recognize it as a true part of myself, is the challenge.

Back in 1964 I was told. "The time will come in the future when you will no longer have to sit down and record everything that I have to say to you. You will learn to have your antennae out all the time, listening for every minute instruction as I send it forth. As Peter now has to be guided in action, so will all of you have to do the same. My word will mean action."

3-5-06pt2

Actually, it was Peter who helped me to accept my guidance as truth. All along he had faith that I was hearing God's voice, and whenever I had doubts or fears, he would encourage me. Without his help, I feel neither Dorothy nor I would have developed our contacts with other realms. Peter was constantly after us, encouraging us to make these contacts, then acting on what we received.

At the time we felt he was pushing us, and we didn't, in fact, feel very grateful. We used to get quite annoyed. But the point eventually came when I felt that this deep inner contact with the God within was the one thing I wanted more than anything else. Besides, following guidance proved to be the most practical way to live.

We were told, " Put My messages to the test and see for yourself whether they are of the truth, until you know without a shadow of a doubt that they are and that they work when you live them. As I saw that what I received within was actually materializing around us, my faith grew."

However, I didn't understand many of the things I received in guidance at the time. For example, in early 1964 we were told, "Peter is in the garden to plant and produce high vibrational foodstuffs to be eaten by all of you to help raise your vibrations and create a light body." Now, what on earth was a light body? I hadn't a clue, and we were in such isolation that we had no idea whether other spiritual groups were going through the same thing.

Our only reference was within us, as guidance said. "What I have told you about the diet I want you to follow has nothing to do with any known or written diet. This is something new. Therefore, if at any time you have a query about it, ask Me for the answer; you will not find it in a book. You are pioneering for Me, therefore follow out My instructions step-by-step."

We were told to refine our eating gradually, doing nothing drastic, but to follow the diet I was given from within. It had nothing to do with any known diet, so we could not turn to books for direction. We learned to live on vegetables from the garden, honey and fruit, phasing out first red meat, then white meat and poultry, then fish and finally cutting down on eggs. We found our sensitivity grew and we became more in touch with the spiritual realms and the nature forces in the gardens.

3-6-06pt2

Since our hotel days we had been gradually reducing the amount of meat we were eating. First we had cut out red meat, then white, then poultry. This took about a year altogether, and we had a lot of other habits to break, as well. Peter had, in fact, been trained in catering and so had gourmet tastes. Besides, he was working so hard in the garden that it seemed he would need meat protein, but I received.

"Tell Peter to eat more honey. It will give him plenty of energy. You will find that then he doesn't need so much protein. Tell him to try this even if it means he will have to come and get a spoonful every now and again."

We began to realize that everything our bodies were absorbing during this time was of vital importance. That is why we had to eat the produce from our own garden. No artificial fertilizers or insecticides were being used, devas and nature spirits were tending the garden, and all of us were contributing our positive thoughts and vibrations to the plants.

"I want you to realize that the produce out of this garden will do you more good than anything bought. It has tremendous life force in it, which is the main thing that you need. This food is blessed by Me."

We developed an entirely new understanding of the purpose of eating. We were told that we were purifying the atomic structure of our bodies, transforming the dense physical substance into light and lightness which would be more receptive to absorbing energies from the sun, sea and air, and would require less solid food. But this was not a process that could be rushed into.

"You have to gradually refine your body. As it becomes finer and less dense, your skin will begin to be able to absorb substances which at present it is incapable of doing. It is as if layer after layer of old skin has to be peeled off, leaving only the fine thin layer which can absorb these purities from the ethers. I ask all of you to drink more water, just pure, pure water. It is very cleansing and will be a great help in speeding up this refining process."

3-7-06pt2

Previously we had thought of food in terms of calories or energy needed for building and maintaining solid physical bodies. Now we were told that what actually nourished us was a more subtle energy. Through our diet we were absorbing the light that made the vegetables and fruits grow... the light of the sun and the light of our consciousness. Our bodies were becoming light.

Pure clear water was vital to this process of transforming our bodies. Over and over we were told to drink little else. "You do not need tea for tea stimulates and is unnecessary and harmful for what you are doing at this time. It would be better to drink milk if you really feel you need it, otherwise water. Coffee should not be taken; your system does not need it. What we did need was the effect of water's special qualities."

"Water has untapped forces and energies in it which have not yet been discovered by mankind. Sunshine and water, sunshine and water. I want you to cut down gradually on solid food and drink more water. Do it for My sake, because I have asked you to and for no other reason. Water will give you the energy you need."

I didn't really understand all this, but I listened and wrote down what I heard. "There are tremendous forces being released on the planet at this time. Forces which are being energized by water. Like the genie in the bottle, they at last have been freed. Water is the medium which is to be used to energize these forces. Water on the body. Water in the body. Water all around you. That is one reason why you are living surrounded by water on three sides."

3-8-06pt2

I did become more deeply aware of water... the feeling of rain on my face, the tingling sensation, like electricity, as I put my hands in water. Still, we didn't understand exactly why we were being asked to transform our bodies. When I asked for clarity on this, I received. "My beloved child, when you really believe with your whole heart and at all times, that man was made in My image and likeness, you will have found the greatest secret of life. Try to understand this question of a light body and dense body, to understand about the physical and the spirit body."

I certainly knew that God wasn't saying he had a physical body like ours. Because of my upbringing, I had thought that the body was like a shell to be worn for a short time and cast off, and that the spirit alone was like God. But it seemed that this was saying something different. "Man was made in My image and likeness, then he abused his body so much by eating the wrong food, by drinking the wrong drinks, by thinking the wrong thoughts."

What did food and drink have to do with the image and likeness of God? I can't say I understood any of this then, and I'm only beginning to come to terms with it now. Perhaps the body is to be seen not just as a temple to contain God, but every cell is light, is spirit, which reflects God. That's why caring properly for the body is so important.

As part of this process of refinement, we were reminded of the power and importance of our thoughts. Through them we could transform our bodies. "Always remember, you are what you think you are. Again I say to you, you must be ever conscious of these things. Never allow yourself to imagine that your body will become a light body without your doing anything about it. All the time think about building a light body, and let your thoughts help to create it."

Before eating we always gave thanks for our food. We had been told. "Your attitude when you eat anything should be one of joy and pleasure and thanksgiving. You are to be constantly aware that all these gifts are Mine." But it seems we have to learn to say thank you because we so often forget. Yet everything is a gift. I try to begin in the morning when I first wake up by saying thank you for the night's sleep. My guidance also told us that we should show our appreciation to the devas for their work, not only by enjoying our food but also by walking around the garden and being grateful for what we see there.

3-9-06pt2

We did truly appreciate this delicious and special food from the garden, and we knew how good it was for us. But, quite honestly, 1 sometimes got awfully tired of salads and vegetables. For about eight years, we were living almost completely on our own produce. At one point, just when we really needed it, I received:

"It is so important that you really enjoy what you are eating and not do it out of a sense of duty. You get tired of eating salads day after day and instead of doing something about it, you just struggle on. It is so important that you learn to go with whatever you are doing and give of yourself a hundred percent.

It would do you far more good to sit down and eat a handful of raisins and nuts or whatever you really fancy instead of sitting there, pushing down salad because everyone else is doing it and you have been told that it is good for you. Next time you feel this way about the food you are eating, stop and have something different. It will change your whole attitude. I say this to all of you. Don't be like a lot of sheep."

Strain and resistance could not possibly lift our bodies or spirits. That was one of the reasons why Peter had been guided to grow that enormous range of fruits and vegetables—so that we could have variety and joy in our diet. Every day for our midday meal we had huge salads, sometimes using up to twenty different vegetables and herbs.

It seemed like mountains of salad, and I used to wonder how Peter could get through it all. Eventually though, we did find that the life-filled food from our garden was so nourishing that we needed to eat far less than we had been used to.

The children had their lunch at school, so it was only their evening meal that was vegetarian. Children find it difficult to eat salads all the time, so I used to stew garden vegetables with dumplings or make a dish like cauliflower-cheese. They liked their mum's cooking anyway, so that was fine!

Preparing food from our own garden held such a deep and simple pleasure. When I was aware in the moment of what I was doing, just going out into the garden to pick the vegetables for a meal became a joyful task. 1 had received in guidance, It is good to prepare vegetables with real appreciation for what you are doing, thus enabling the radiations of light to enter the food.

A potato is no longer just a potato in your hands, but a thing of real beauty. You can feel it is something living, vibrating. Just stop and think what a difference this makes to the vegetables. Sometimes you feel your heart will burst with joy and appreciation.

As I took each pea pod or bean from the plant, I could see how alive everything was. I could feel each one of those vegetables as a living being in my hands. Of course, I would never have got the meals made if I had been constantly stopping to consider each vegetable. But every now and again, I got guidance about it, or I was suddenly struck by he wonder of nature and of what I was doing, and I would think, How amazing life is!

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Living right in the midst of the garden made us see how much our lives and the lives of the vegetables were connected. They were our main diet, and returned all our waste to them through the compost. Thus the oneness of life was an everyday experience as we watched the cycle complete itself, from the plants to us and back again.

After gathering the vegetables, I would wash and cut them outdoors on the patio when the weather was fine. It was lovely to sit there, absorbing the sun, breathing fresh air and preparing something like carrots or radishes that only a few minutes before had been growing in the earth.

"What a wonder that they had come from tiny seeds and now were so large and vibrant. When you make a salad, as you handle each vegetable or herb, let your mind dwell on how each was made. You can feel the struggle that some of them have had to pull through, whereas with others, you can feel the ease and freedom in which they have been brought to fruition. All these thoughts and feelings are important. They bring the very life force into your body."

Eating this way certainly did make us more sensitive. In our isolated circumstances, that was fine. But as more and more people came to visit us or to join the community, our diet had to be modified so as not to separate ourselves. Anyway, the guidance we had received related to our own needs at a specific time, so I certainly couldn't expect others to follow it.

I feel it is far more important for each individual to go within and find out what is best for his or her own self. That is why I prefer not to call myself an authority on anything. When you are an "authority," you place yourself above others. When you know you are not, then you are on the same level and you can talk, person to person. You can communicate. So it's just practical. To me, the only true authority is the voice of God within each individual, in whatever way that may express itself.

3-11-06pt2

During those early years, our lives and the life of the garden were inseparable. Peter, of course, was spending most of his time either reading about gardening or actually doing it. Each of us contributed in some way. Dorothy and I used to drive down to Findhorn Bay, while the boys were in school, and collect seaweed off the rocks. Our hands used to get absolutely blue with the cold, but it was necessary to get this seaweed for the compost.

Sometimes there happened to be a dead salmon or swan lying on the beach and we would add that to our collection and, holding our noses, bring it along with us. We collected anything organic along the shore that seemed good for compost. We were very compost-minded!

I really enjoyed working in the garden. I have always loved flowers and other plants. As a child I spent a good deal of time on my grandmother's farm in Ireland, and I have a love for the soil itself. So I could really understand what it meant when guidance told me. "It is necessary to work with the soil, to love the soil and feel it alive in your hands. When it is not alive, bring it to life with love and tenderness, with care and feeling. All this brings you closer to the things that really matter in life."

We were told that each of us had a particular kind of radiation to give to the soil and the garden. Quite honestly, I hadn't a clue what radiations were. It didn't mean a thing to me, but this is what kept on coming in guidance. We were told that it was frightfully important, not only for now in what you are doing for this garden, but it is for the reconstruction of this earth.

So I would go out into the garden to work, trying to keep in mind that I was putting radiations into the soil and plants. Then one day while I was spreading compost I became totally concentrated on what I was doing and I could actually feel the life force flowing through me. I knew that I was doing more than helping the plants and soil just physically. As the months went by, my heart overflowed with gratitude to see the area around our caravan coming alive through all the work Peter and the rest of us were doing with the assistance of the nature forces.

Peter was the one who had the vision for the garden, and he would tell us what needed to be done. Sometimes I rather resented that, because I would get out into the garden and see a certain path that needed weeding, for instance, and think, Oh, I would like to work right along there today. Then Peter would come along and say, "There is compost that needs to be put out," or "That area needs to be watered." At times like that, I had to start loving what I was doing, no matter what it was.

Sometimes all of us, including the children, worked in the garden together. When Peter began leveling the slope at the back of the caravan and found it was just stones and gravel, we got our children and their friends from round about the caravan site and collected these stones in buckets to be hauled away. Of course, we had to inspire them and make it like a game, but it was working together, and that was fun.

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Sometimes we took sacks into the woods to collect leaves and grass for the compost. And then in the autumn there was always blackberry picking. We would pile into the car and drive around the countryside looking for a good place to pick berries for jam and jelly. The children loved that. They'd come back with their hands and faces absolutely black. They always ate as much as they wanted... usually more than they managed to gather.

We never forced them to do any work in the garden if they didn't want to, however. In fact we never forced anything on them. We just let them know they had a part to play and encouraged a sense of responsibility. We were gardeners for the children as well, helping their spirits to grow and blossom. Tend My special flowers with very special care, my guidance had told us.

"Flowers unfold slowly and gently, bit by bit in the sunshine, and a soul, too, must never be pushed or driven but unfolds in its own perfect timing to reveal its true wonder and beauty."

By keeping a positive attitude toward them we could bring out the best in each. When we saw in them, for example, the desire to "get" give way to the desire to "give," without any direct suggestion from us, my heart was filled with gratitude. We knew that it came from within them and therefore was true. "It comes from Me, the spirit of all good which is in the center of every soul."

It is the role of Findhorn now to nurture this spirit in all those who come in contact with us. Our work is to be gardeners of souls, wherever we are. "The seeds are beginning to germinate. Tend them with the greatest care. Never trample on them and ignore them. They are very tender and very delicate. Water them with love. Let the light of My truth shine upon them gently to begin with, gradually becoming stronger as they become stronger. Be good gardeners and bring forth good and perfect fruit."