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A vivid memory of my first visit to Findhorn 21 years ago was of feeling very emotional most of the week.

One of the exercises the group did in the Original Garden during our Experience Week was to look directly into the eyes of each person and say: I see you. I love you. I see the divinity within you.

It was simple and profound. For me a lasting memory. To deeply see another. To meet each other in our humanity and to realise we are all connected to each other and to all of life. That life itself is sacred.

But that first week I wasn’t sure about Findhorn. I wasn’t someone who fell instantly in love, but I remember sitting in the Sun Room at Cluny on the final morning of Experience Week, looking out over the garden and neighbouring golf course, seeing the beauty all around me and thinking: ‘I’ll be coming back.’

And that decision, and being part of the community, has been life changing.

I learnt to trust in an inner knowing. The practice of attunement (that has been described as creating a state of at-one- ment) taught me that a deeper level of consciousness is possible and is available to us at each moment. That we are all connected and interdependent. That we are a part of a whole and that we can raise our human consciousness for the benefit of all of life, for humanity and for our planet.

I like to think that anyone who seeks a deeper level of self awareness, a deeper connection to each other and to the whole of life and who cares about our world and wants to make it a better place would benefit from enrolling in a workshop or programme.

Perhaps my biggest challenge was surrendering to the pain and despair I sometimes felt and staying with it. Transformation happens when we open our hearts and surrender.

And Findhorn is about transformation. Not just change but transformation. Seeing the world differently with new eyes. Experiencing a new consciousness. Deeply connecting with life, with ourselves, with each other. Here nature inspires us, teaches us, heals us. We’re reminded of how we exist in relation to each other. How we live with each other, how we work with each other. How we are a part of nature.

We come here because we are drawn. And what do we find when we get here? It’s so difficult to put your finger on it, but you feel it. Magic manifests in different ways.

There is a feeling of coming home. Coming home to ourselves. Living here you experience it all. Wonder, joy, love, togetherness, pain, frustration, despair and hopelessness. If I were to describe it in a sentence it is heart opening, joyous and filled with love and connection. A place to wake up.

The community has grown as people responded to a vision of planetary change and my sense of the change Findhorn could help bring in now is a heart-based humanity. Living from a place of love not fear. Love, care and compassion as drivers for a better world and for the survival of the planet.

Recently, with the impact of the Coronavirus and the cancellation and re- envisioning of our onsite residential programmes, there has been an emphasis on online programming and an exploration of its potential to create and nourish heart-to-heart connections.

Can it be effective with people who have never physically been to Findhorn? Absolutely. The spirit of Findhorn is not confined to the place. Findhorn is a feeling of coming home.

Where does it lead us? To believe that the world can be a better place. To want to make the world a better place and to go out and do something about it together with others.

The title of a book by American speaker and author Charles Eisenstein, who has visited and played a role here, speaks of it: The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible.

I love to sing Taizé, a regular spiritual practice at Findhorn. And a line from a song comes to mind: ‘When two or more are gathered together in my name, then there I am, forever amongst you.’

Findhorn, the place, is in the north of Scotland. When it’s possible, come and visit us here.

Findhorn is also in my heart and we can meet each other wherever you are on our beautiful planet and feel the spirit of Findhorn.

It is a privilege to live here. It is a privilege to serve in this role as Lead Steward. I am entrusted to lead at this time. This is how I can best serve at this time. Those of us who are here now are the custodians. For those who came before and those who will come after.

We seek to live our founding principles in our daily lives. Deep inner listening, co- creation with the intelligence of nature and ensuring that work is love in action. Being present in every moment, in every interaction.

We express our purpose as ‘transforming human consciousness in everyday life to bring new possibilities to the world’.

The light of Findhorn shines brightly in our hearts. At the heart of it, it is about love. Love itself. Our love for ourselves, for each other, for our world. We can catch a glimpse of something greater than we have ever known.

Caroline Matters
Findhorn Foundation Lead Steward + CEO (2018-2022)
from England
First Findhorn visit » 1999

Caroline Matters

I’m just completing a 4 year term as lead steward of the Foundation. I live in the Findhorn village and I am passionate and committed to this community and personal, spiritual and collective growth.