I wrote this introduction with Randi Johnson

Inspired by Paul Hawken’s article in the New Age Journal, “The Magic of Findhorn”, we set out – with a 7 person film crew – to discover and experience for ourselves the magic he described.

We landed at Findhorn in August, 1974.   Our approach was to explore the Community individually and share our experiences collectively every evening. We came with no preconceptions, no judgements, and strove to remain open to the ever-astonishing depth and breadth of the whole Community.

We spent our first month becoming Community members – working in the kitchen, the gardens, the darkroom, the office, cleaning the shared spaces, and building the Universal Hall. We didn’t shoot a frame. Every day we worked on our attunement and addressed our own challenges (before coming to Findhorn, we called them ‘problems’ or ‘difficulties’) as a group.

Shooting on 16mm film (a nearly vanished technology now!), we settled on whose stories we wanted to tell and moments we wanted to capture. After 6 weeks, we had nearly 80,000 feet of film. Back in Los Angeles the editing process took 9 months. We likened the editing to how Inuit sculptors approach their work, i.e. they take a piece of stone and chip away until they reveal the creature living within it. We had to find and reveal as best we could the “spirit of Findhorn” amidst so much footage.

At the same time we had to raise another $30,000 to cover all the remaining finishing costs. But during our stay in the Community we had learned about manifestation and how it worked!

It’s gratifying to see how the film holds up today and how it tells an important part of the story of the Community.   For us personally, our time at Findhorn undeniably altered our lives; we were forever changed by our experiences amidst this remarkable Community.

To view this film with subtitles you can click on Settings to switch them on or alternatively click on YouTube to watch it on the COIF channel where you can also find more videos.