When enough people come together in love

Love flows from person to person if their hearts are open.
They carry it with them and pass it on to others, so it never ends.
So love flows throughout the world and never dies.
When enough people come together in love it has the power to change the world.

I love you all.

For a variety of reasons my heart was very open when I came to Findhorn. That’s why I could feel the love flowing into me so strongly while I was there. I could feel it like I had never felt it before; physically. It shook me, filled me and took me to another place. A place of such glorious joy I wept in thankfulness and in a strange way it felt like home. A place where I had no inhibitions, where I could relax totally; be myself. There were no pretences, no formalities, and no rules to abide by. I bared my soul to you, dear friends and it felt right. I have never been so happy.

The love I felt was so powerful, physically and emotionally, that it seemed to me that it must increase exponentially when it is given by more than one person. As I mentioned before, I wondered whether this much love energy could be generated by our group or whether it had been supplemented from somewhere else. It does not matter either way; what is more important was the power of it. It was as though I needed that physical manifestation of love energy to understand. To physically shock me into realisation.

Looking back over my life I can say that I have never been in a group of people where all of the members, without exception, were focused on the giving of love to one another. Have you? We may all have come to Findhorn for different purposes but what the whole ethos of Findhorn was beginning to tell us, in subtle and powerful ways, was that all of our questions can be answered by using love as the most fundamental underlying principal. How do you set up a community? With love for other Human beings; for nature, fairness, honesty, co-operation, peace and compassion; any number or, most likely, all of these factors. How do you keep such a community going through difficulties and strife? With lashings of love for one another [and for those who may be causing the strife]. I am not talking about “consideration” for others, which is necessary of course, but has limits; I’m talking about love, which has none. It is love which has enabled Findhorn to prosper. Love serves every good purpose.

All the activities we went through in experience week were channelling us in the direction of loving one another. Sharing, dancing, singing, eating together, hugging, touching, relaxing, playing games, becoming friends, working with love [love in action], loving ourselves [through the inner stillness of meditation]. Can you think of an activity that had nothing to do with love? [No flippant answers please.]
That is why, after only a couple of days, 24 complete strangers loved one another. And that is why I was overwhelmed by the love that flowed into me. Without previously knowing it I may be especially sensitive to the energy of love, but there is no doubt that it struck me and filled me like a physical force. To really understand love you have to experience it. You can talk about it and know that it is right in an intellectual way; religions teach it, as do wise men, Gurus, Shamans, Prophets and Messiahs. You can read all about it for your whole life, but you will never have any understanding until you have deeply experienced it; recognised it and taken it into your heart. With that comes realisation.

Now I understand how love, when given by one person is a wonderful thing but when it is given by a group of people in unison is something else again. It is magnificent, immensely powerful and physically tangible and I am absolutely certain that it can transform people. I have been at that fulcrum of transformation and it continues. There are many, many people who have experienced such physical love manifestations, whether at an immense Human rights demonstration with Martin Luther King, in the wilderness, on a pilgrimage or more intimately in prayer or meditation. You may have felt such a thing yourself. The question remains what do you do with it? How can you use this experience for the good?

Some people go home, pour themselves a drink and say “Wow; that was exciting, most gratifying,” and then settle back into their old routine. Some people do not make the time to absorb what has happened or their lives are so busy that they do not have the time to slow down and listen to themselves. Others start to plan their next spiritual “fix”; perhaps another retreat, dabble in a different religion or occult practice. The trouble is that most people treat their experience like something that passes. The “spiritual experience” is filed away amongst other amazing things that have happened in their lives; the Bunji jump, the Solar Eclipse, hitting the jackpot on a One Arm Bandit... Perhaps it is symptomatic of the society we live in; one of instant gratification, rapid changes in fashion, searching for happiness through the accumulation of wealth, collecting stuff... experiences included.
In contrast, a powerful spiritual experience such as the one I had has the potential to change your life and lead you forward on a path towards fundamental happiness. It is not something to be collected, filed away or forgotten. I choose to keep this experience open; in this way it can guide my life in any direction, which will inevitably be the right one as it is the path of love we’re talking about. It is already determining my actions and leading me towards my goals [which are essentially still the same but which, as is gradually being revealed to me, will be achieved in a different way than I had planned previously]. My Findhorn experience is page one of a book, the rest of which has yet to be written.

I could speak about how society has become fragmented, emphasis is placed on individual achievement and competitiveness, families have split into generation gaps or neighbours have become strangers... but I won’t. In our materialistic world society has broken down to the smallest unit, the individual. Essentially I believe that the majority of people in our “civilised” society are really only looking out for themselves... but I won’t speak of that either.
I don’t need to speak of those things to you, dear friends, because you know already and you don’t like what is happening, just like me. You too are searching for a way of finding peace and happiness and understand that it lies in spirituality, connection with other Humans, community, compassion and love; that is why you came to Findhorn. But we are in the minority; the majority of people still do not understand how the pursuit of material wealth and status for themselves has little to do with being happy. The relentless, resource hungry cycle of economic growth and individual gain has given them a temporary fix of a “great lifestyle”. They cannot see beyond that. A few generations have benefited from this but it is inevitably coming to an end due to climate change and resource depletion. What then?

You already know that the giving and receiving of love between people; between individuals, within and between families, within and between social groups, within and between whole societies, ethnic and religious groups is the foundation for peace and happiness to prevail. What I’m saying in my Findhorn realisations is nothing new. As far as I know it has been the foundation of just about all religious and spiritual teachings.
Findhorn is a prime example of how love can achieve great things; ever growing, spreading and evolving in new directions. It is proof that through ever changing circumstances and great difficulties, love will prevail. That is why I am convinced that the love that flows throughout the world will prevail also. That when enough people are united together in love, transformation will take place for the greater good; let’s call it a tipping point [a phrase used too often, but very succinct]. I am optimistic; at first it was no more than a feeling...my intuition, but more recently I have seen some practical progress. It is up to each one of us to keep this momentum going, keep the love flowing in whatever way we can.

All over the world, people are discontented with the way things are going. They can see that this materialistic system is not providing them with peace and happiness; their discontent runs through every aspect of materialism from factory farming to politics based on economic growth at the expense of democracy, from environmental destruction to social injustice, from inequity to discrimination. These issues are constantly being highlighted on the media, of which the internet is fast becoming the prominent one [it is used by the people, for the people and will be a major factor for world change]. This fast growing movement is a movement of love, searching for the same ideals of fairness, honesty, co-operation, compassion and peace. We are a global community now. Yes folks, love has gone global! I believe that this movement will continue to grow.

My Findhorn experience has changed my life; my transformation continues. I am taking the time to listen to my deeper self and want to concentrate more on nurturing love between myself and anyone who is willing to receive it. More than this, I want to concentrate on nurturing love; period. I have been inward looking [also necessary at times] and spare with my love for others. By travelling for the last few years I have put myself in a situation where the giving and receiving of love has been difficult to pursue. I am always moving on, leaving behind a thin trail of budding friendships. Most of the time my travel has been a solitary occupation, when the only communication is by telephone or internet. My Findhorn experience has given me the urge to be part of a loving community working towards a better world.
How about you?