My Dinner with André<br /><br />One of the themes which André pursues with enthusiasm is<br /><br />alternative conceptions of reality. He exemplifies this with the<br /><br />Findhorn Foundation - a spiritual/environmental community<br /><br />founded in northeast Scotland in 1962.<br /><br />Having lived at that community for eight years and taken<br /><br />considerable interest in the myths surrounding it and the care with<br /><br />with which they are sustained, I feel like I can write with some<br /><br />authority on the subject. Sorry if this spoils your favourite belief<br /><br />system, but it is all complete nonsense. There *is* a Universal<br /><br />Hall - I worked in it for several years. However, the roof stays put,<br /><br />even in the fierce gales which are common in that part of the<br /><br />world. It does not mystically rise, turn or anything similar. The only<br /><br />things that are mystical about the Universal Hall are that it was<br /><br />ever completed at all, given the permanent financial problems of<br /><br />the Foundation, and the electrics, which are held together by good<br /><br />intentions.<br /><br />Equally, there were never any giant cabbages produced by<br /><br />miraculous devic powers - that is myth started by one of the<br /><br />founders, Peter Caddy (a nice guy, but possessing the marketing<br /><br />ethics of Microsoft). Nor are there angels in the dustbins, or<br /><br />anywhere else except the fond imaginings of the makers of The<br /><br />Transformation Game (TM).<br /><br />Finally, Eileen Caddy, another of the founders (who is still there at<br /><br />the time of writing) may well be everyone's second favourite<br /><br />granny (behind HRH The Queen Mother), but she does not talk to<br /><br />God or even to god. The `still, small voice within' is Eileen, talking<br /><br />to herself and others, saying the things she is unable to put her<br /><br />own name to. I find it hard to believe that God (or god) is quite so<br /><br />fond of vague, dull platitudes, which change over the years as<br /><br />Eileen's views change. I am sorry to say this, because I really like<br /><br />Eileen, but she is quite batty. And it doesn't take a PhD in<br /><br />psychology to know where all that channelled stuff is coming from.<br /><br />The only real miracle of Findhorn is how so many people can be<br /><br />so gullible for so long. It is a great testament to the power of pretty<br /><br />fantasies over less attractive but truly miraculous realities. Which<br /><br />brings us nicely back to André and the film...