Written by Britta Schmitz

As a global community we weave a rich and colourful tapestry of different world views, cultures and beliefs, but we have one thing that unites us all: a connection to Spirit and a desire for spiritual practice. One of our core practices is Inner Listening. Many of us like to do this in meditation.

Meditation as a practice of Inner Listening

For many of us, meditation involves finding a safe space where we can be still, going within, and opening up to a deeper source of knowledge and understanding, which is available to all and comes from a source within us that is different from the mind. Some might call this source: Spirit, The Divine, God, Higher Self, Life Force, The Universe, Great Mystery, our Essence …

*Our* *Foundations of Light Meditation* *online every month*

Of course this space can also be accessed in other ways, such as dancing, gardening, painting, cycling, swimming, or even doing dishes, doing your job, etc, yet one of our community practices since the early days has been coming together in meditation, where we collectively share this space of Inner Listening. For many decades our community members have been meditating in sanctuaries here at Findhorn and all over the world and – even before our community ever formed – our founders Eileen and Peter Caddy, Dorothy Maclean and Lena Lamont had regularly been meditating, together and individually.

Online Meditations

One of the blessings of the past years has been that we started to meditate online, which allowed us to invite people from all over the world to join our meditations and come together in our virtual sanctuary on Zoom. Since the pandemic we have been holding many meditations and other offerings online.

From October 2023 – when the transition process of the Findhorn Foundation from the legal entity of a Trust to the SCIO started – we have been working on creating more online meditations for you to join, so that we can come together regularly and share our spiritual practice wherever we are around the globe.

At the moment we offer our monthly Foundations of Light Meditation on the fourth Wednesday of the month and a couple of live streamed meditations on Facebook (Monday 9am, Thursday 5pm).

*Dominique holds live meditations on our Facebook page each week*

We also meet with our team every weekday morning at 9am to meditate together on Zoom. The focal point of our meditation is the guidance Eileen Caddy received and which is published in her book Opening Doors Within. Before we go into a time of shared silence, we read out the guidance for the day, which is as apt today as it was when she first received it.

You will be invited soon to join us daily!

Soon we will invite you to join us for these daily meditations on Zoom and in this blog we would like to give you some background information about Eileen Caddy and the guidance she received.

Eileen Caddy’s still, small voice within

‘In 1953 Eileen Caddy first began to receive personal guidance from what she calls “the still, small voice within”, a source she also calls the God within. The simple teachings she has received over the years offer spiritual truth and vision, and insight into how to live a more happy, more meaningful, more fulfilling life. It has been her guidance which has served as the source of inspiration for the creation and development of what has become the Findhorn Foundation.’ (David Earl Pratts, Opening Doors Within, 1996, Foreword)

Eileen’s first experience with her inner voice was when she sat in silence in a sanctuary in Glastonbury in 1953. Suddenly she heard a voice saying: ‘Be still and know that I am God’. At first Eileen thought she was going crazy and felt fearful about hearing such a clear voice, when obviously ‘nobody’ had spoken to her. Encouraged by her husband Peter, she soon accepted it as a source of divine wisdom and started to follow its guidance.

All through her life she kept receiving very clear guidance and even instructions from her still, small voice within, which she followed on every step of her personal journey and in establishing the Findhorn Foundation and Community in the North East of Scotland.

Eileen’s relationship with her still, small voice within deepened over the years. Long before she left this human plane in 2006 – at age 89 in 2006 – she felt at one with the divine and radiated this deep connection out to everyone she met through her loving kindness. To this day she is known for her special connection to the divine and many see her as a mystic or spiritual teacher. She also was a skillful workshop facilitator and the author of several books that contained the simple yet deep and meaningful guidance she received, the most famous of them being Opening Doors Within, a small blue book with 365 daily meditations.

Opening Doors Within – 365 daily meditations

From 1968 the growing community gathered every morning in the sanctuary and Peter read out Eileen’s daily guidance. Often, this guidance was quite specific and informed the activities of the day. In 1971, Eileen’s inner voice told her to stop sharing the guidance she received with the community, encouraging each individual to attune more deeply to their own inner source of wisdom. From that time onwards, her life’s work was to support others to go within, receive their own guidance, and to act upon it.

In 1986, David Earl Platts compiled a small book called Opening Doors Within from the vast manuscripts of guidance Eileen had gathered over the years. He attuned to one piece of guidance for each day of the year, loosely in alignment with the seasons and the little book was published in 1987 by Findhorn Press. Eileen’s only requirement was that it had to fit into a lady’s handbag, so it could be available for anybody, anywhere, at any time.

The book has been translated into many languages and is still used as a well of daily inspiration within our global community.

As David Earl Platts says in his foreword to Opening Doors Within, 1996:

“This is a book of spiritual values – love, joy, peace, gratitude, unity. You will find these and other themes echoing over and over again throughout the book for, in the words of Eileen’s guidance,

“Very gently and very lovingly I go on and on reminding you of the things that do matter in life until eventually they become a part of you, and live and move and have their being in you.” [...] However you choose to use them, take these teachings into yourself, [...] until they have done their silent and gentle and loving work of “Opening Doors Within”.”

Daily guidance for daily meditations

Even though many of us have our own spiritual practice and find our individual ways of receiving inner guidance, when we come together for our meditations, we often read from the guidance Eileen received as an inspiration on our spiritual journey. Her words serve as a focal point for the day, reminding us to trust in the divine plan, connect with the beauty of creation, be of service to the whole, and remember that our unique gifts are needed in this world. Precious gems of wisdom of how we can bring more consciousness and love into everything we do, thus grounding spirituality in everyday life.

The languaging

As mentioned before Eileen called the source of the guidance she received 'the God within'. When she held workshops or gave talks she often said that this is the best way for herself to describe the voice she heard. She acknowledged that this might not necessarily feel right for others. So she encouraged each individual to find the appropriate terminology for themselves.

When Eileen first started to hear her inner voice it talked to her in a fatherly tone and a gently biblical language. Eileen says about her relationship to this voice:

“When I first heard the voice it was like a very loving father with a child [...]. As time went on I felt tremendous love for this voice, but with separation between this voice and myself [...]. I got closer and closer to this voice and eventually [...] a time came when I could say there was no separation, that God is within me; that God within me is the voice, the highest part of my being.”

– Mike Scott, quoting Eileen Caddy, Foreword, Opening Doors Within

The language in Opening Doors Within sometimes gives glimpses of the fatherly affection and the biblical tones. Eileen was addressed directly by her inner voice so we often read 'trust in ME', 'follow My plan' or similar. For some of us being talked to in this way doesn't feel comfortable so sometimes you will hear people replacing these parts of her guidance with what feels more appropriate to the individual e.g. 'trust in Spirit' or 'follow the Divine plan', etc.

*Eileen Caddy travelled the world encouraging everyone to listen for inner wisdom and to find their own words for it*

In a conversation Rosie Turnbull – a close friend of Eileen’s who worked with her all over the world – said that Eileen would be happy for us to rephrase language which no longer serves. So, with the blessing of Eileen, sometimes you might find the wording gently and respectfully altered (e.g. changing ‘My’ to ‘Spirit’).

No matter which wording we use, the invitation is to open the doors of our hearts to sense the deep spiritual meaning far beyond words, the ancient wisdom which language will only ever be able to point at.

Where to find Eileen’s Daily Guidance

You can find daily guidance received by Eileen Caddy here on our website.
We also share a shorter inspirational quote from the daily guidance every day on our social media channels: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X and Pinterest.
Once a week we send out a Weekly Inspiration email in which you will receive a piece of guidance received by Eileen as a spiritual focus for your week ahead. You can join our mailing list here.
Opening Doors Within is published by Findhorn Press and you can buy a hard copy in many languages.
We will soon invite you to our daily online meditations.

Meditation as a way to open doors within