“We wish to share with you all – that you are not alone, you have never been. We are in it together. And we shall lift each other up, higher and higher. We are indeed, as Ram Das said, and maybe more than ever – ‘walking each other home’.” – Canta com Amor 2020

Here we are, fragile, complicated, yet wonderful human beings, sharing this planet together. At times filled with challenges we think we’d never overcome, but worth every drop of sweat. When we struggle and “think” we lose the way, we can remember the only true way home is within. We can look in depth into the mirror, wake up and rise. We can breathe in, feel and know ourselves, breathe out and let go. Layer after layer, sinking inside the all-encompassing love that we are.

It can be painfully hard, but how else is the caterpillar supposed to turn into a butterfly?

Truth is, we don’t need to do this journey alone. We’re not supposed to. We can walk eachother home.

The Israelites did not survive the exodus from Egypt by backpacking alone for 40 years in the desert. They were in it together. Shoulder to shoulder. Heart to heart.
Redwood trees, also known as Sequoioideae, are the largest and tallest trees on this planet. You would think these ancient giants need deep roots to withstand strong winds, floods, earthquakes, fires and storms…, yet their roots only go about 2 meters into the earth. Instead, the redwoods’ roots intertwine. They fuse together. Redwoods actually build a strong foundation by bonding with eachother…
And have you ever seen the amazing and complex construction sites of ants? By cooperating, ants dig huge nests, use their bodies to form bridges, sew leaves together, etc… A colony of ants seems to act like the many cells of one organism.

Could it be that we human beings are more interconnected, interrelated, than we ever could imagine possible?

Kabbalah teacher Chaim Solomon said the following:
“The ultimate of every religion is: love your neighbour as yourself. Which really means, not just be good to other people. It means to truly reach the level where we have absolute certainty and clarity that you and I are the same. Just like me, my fingers are part of my body. I would never do anything to harm my fingers, because I know it harms me.“

I believe our connection with eachother is essential for us to thrive. Sharing this life is a privilege, expressing and listening from our heart and soul is a gift, helping eachother is helping us all. This who we are, this is is our human nature.

We don’t really know what is ahead of us. We never really know anything, do we? The only constant is change, as Heraclitus said already in 500 BC. What I do know is that we are the ones who choose our direction. Every single day. I also believe the covid-19 situation is not a social exile. On the contrary, this is a revolution in the most basic aspect of our human self: who we are, how do we relate to one another, and what do we want to weave together to shape our lives, our future and our planet for the better?

The choice is ours. The future is ours.

We can take this time of physical distance to get closer to our own heart. To get to know ourselves, and the ones we really care about. To share ourselves, more truly and openly than we ever did before. To make that phone call we keep postponing. To start a chat with our neighbour. To put seeds for social projects to emerge and create more goodness together.

Lonely-20, ladies and gentlemen, is as bad as a disease as Covid-19. And, although part of the medicine is having people around us physically, the true secret lies in the quality, the authenticity and depth of our relationships. In the first place, the one we have with ourselves, which directly nurtures our relationship with others.

Reach out. Unite. Together, apart. In the most creative ways. We are in this together. Let’s see what magic we can create out of this shared situation, out of our comfort zone, who knows what bright future may await us?
Because there is magic when we meet eachother truly. We remember we are all human, we are all one. We come home, together.

March, 2020. Covid hits Belgium. It is day 3 after the quarantine announcement in Antwerp City. As I walk out the door, I notice, for the first time in a few decades, so many children playing outside… People simply enjoying a walk in the sunny weather. An unusual sight for a speed-driven society. When did we stop doing that?
I continue my way and sit down in the park. Out of nowhere, I hear two people speaking Hebrew. Not a common thing in this area, so, reminiscing the social skills of the warm and open Israeli heart, I quickly say “shalom“. Before I know it, we talk and I share about my past in Israel. Ever since I was 22, I took trips to the Land of Milk and Honey. When I was 28, I went to live there for about 3 years…

Here’s the thing, and I’ll be straightforward. This land and people taught me mountains of lessons. Maybe most of all, they taught me about brother-and sisterhood. They seem to have a natural instinct to be of help to one another. It’s not all rosy, no, but, at the end of the day, they see and care after eachother, strangers and relatives alike. Whether it’s innate in their DNA, written in the seed of their soul or a quality learned through historic survival, they feel connected. They need eachother.

No human being is an island. We all need eachother. Being in Israel reminded me of the meaning of community, of being part of a whole. Everytime I went there, different places, different people, different time, I experienced what it’s like to be a part of one larger body. I remembered that acts of kindness, generosity, hospitality and love are for free.

Disasters, tragedies, wars and viruses confront us deeply. But I believe they also give us a chance to change our ways and come closer to our purpose as human beings, as a human race. To “Love thy neighbour as thyself”, in our home, in our building, in our community. Nationwide. Worldwide… The wisdom of this sentence is a continuous journey for me and I feel I am only at the beginning. I touch the surface of this theme a little deeper in “We are all one – and we’re in it together“.

The video below by Rabi Manis Friedman reached me recently. I wish to share this with you and, whether you are atheistic, spiritual, religious, believer in aliens or anything else, it doesn’t really matter.
The ‘good way’ is the one that brings more light and love to you and the people (or aliens) around you. What matters is today, what we can learn, moment to moment, how this situation can bring us closer to ourselves and eachother. Can we see and take the opportunity to live our lives more deeply and meaningfully?

Every moment and every day is a chance for a new start.

Sometimes I feel like life is a magical experience.

The wind blowing in the trees. The stars shining bright.

I look at life through a lens of magic. As if I’m living my own Disney movie. With my senses so sharp, colors are lively, smells fill my curiosity and sounds pervade my whole being in an experience of totality…
I see animals and I feel love and awe. And want to cuddle them all.

I believe life is fully what we make of it. 100%. It is a mirror of our present state of thoughts, hearts and being.

This belief means that: life is limitless.

Anything is possible.
Sab kuch milega (Hindu)
Hakol efshari (Hebrew)

With a limitless, dreamy, highly sensitive and alternative point of view on this life and world, there is no way I can settle for less then what my heart and soul desire. There is no way I can give into conformity. Even if I’d be stubborn and wanted to, I couldn’t. Physically, emotionally, mentally and energetically, it would be unbearable for me. Trust me, I tried.

Born and raised in a city, these days I feel I cannot stay here. I believe there are much greater, qualitatively better ways of building a life together with others based on higher values and consciousness.

Don’t get me wrong. Cities are great. Full of energy, spices, options and diversity. But to a sensitive soul like me, cities are mostly full of buildings. Too many buildings, blocking my view of natural surroundings. Too much noise, polluting my senses. Too many people, running around unaware of how they affect each other.

Too much of everything.

So here’s what I’ll do next: discover other environments that resonate with what I dream of. Visit places that are wonderful examples of communities of the present and the future.

Auroville in India is one of them. I stayed there from March until June 2019 and was inspired by this international community of 3000 people. (See some of my first posts: “A peek into Auroville” and “On the power of oneness, community and belonging”). Much more to say about Auroville’s ideals, and I merely had a glimpse myself of the founders’ core intentions. But Sri Aurobindo and the Mother still inspire and intrigue me. And I’m pretty sure I’ll go back someday.

Next is Damanhur. A community and ecovillage nestled in the alpine foothills of Italy with its own constitution, art, currency, schools,…

Damanhur seems like a magical place. A place where fairies can exist…

Auroville, an international community for the world. I’m here because I’m looking for a real sense of community. I’m a tribes’ person. And maybe we all are somewhere deep within.
“Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realize human Unity”

My dream, my highest thrill. I live for the purpose of unity. A shared experience of belonging, moments of oneness. As empowering as they are, they catch us unexpectedly. When we are sitting around a fire, when heart-felt speech is opening a space of connection. When each one, as unique as he is, dares to be vulnerable and feels safe to be truly who he is. Silence is the backbone. Musical expression is fine-tuning us. That’s when another dimension opens up: we come together, we melt as one. That’s when we are just like a melody built up of different notes. And thanks to our particular uniqueness, together we sound like harmony.

Together, we are more than the sum of our parts.

Some places are more supportive to facilitate this shared journey of growth called life. Auroville is a wonderful example of an intentional community. A great foundation, a common mission of unity and integer values planted within sustainable goals, for each and everyone to be a contributing part of the whole.

Surely, any place is a good place to start. We created societies, originally, to join hands and create together, didn’t we? To grow towards higher goals and care for one another. Sometimes I think that, somewhere along the road, we kind of forgot. We just forgot our purpose. And we lack good quality governance to lead the way. While we stay in automatic mode, politicians and media distract us with fear-based input, and we blindly tag along.

But we are all individually responsible for where we are. Luckily, people are waking up everywhere. New places are sprouting like mushrooms all over the world. Intentional communities aiming for peaceful and conscious co-existence in harmony with nature. Re-awakening our ancestors’ simple way of life and all old native intelligence.

I believe somewhere within, we are all tribes’ people. We want to live together. We want to belong and feel unity. To create and share our essence and contribute to the bigger whole. We just need to remember. 

What makes your “tribal” feeling arise? How do you wish to share yourself for a bigger or common purpose?

If you want to taste more on this theme of unity, I hope you’ll enjoy “We are all one – why being authentic matters” and “We are all one – and we’re in it together“.

We were both walking alone at the festival in Solitude Farm, and then our eyes met. Sagar, you and me knew eachother even before we exchanged words. We stared for quite a while, surprised, I think, to recognize such a familiar gaze.
I become calm in your presence, as if your spirit brings a gentle wind of Native American wisdom with you.

Natalia, you may not have known, but when I first talked to you at the Time Travellers’ Hostel (it definitely earned its name), I knew I wanted to be close to you. I’m so grateful we are. Warm and soft with big beautiful eyes, something about you makes me feel like I’m in a field of roses.

Meeting both of you changed everything. I think our connection was so strong we had a magnetic field around us attracting similar minded to meet us instantly. And so it went.
In the course of a few days, Shlomo, Bhavinie, Shiri, Amir,… all came on our path. We started strolling around together to the beach, Dharma Swasti jamming nights, driving around with our mopeds making the streets of Auroville and Kulapalayam unsafe.

Then came Ayush. At the Adishakti Theatre festival “Remembering Veenapani”, a celebration of Veenapani’s life and work. A truly remarkable event. Every evening transcended the previous one with a delicious plate of Indian theatre, music, comedy and poetry. Sweet, smart and talented Ayush, short was our time, before you headed back to Mumbai, but you definitely made me fall in love with India.

India would not be the same without the occasional Israeli encounters. When you’re slightly bored and an old Ambassador car filled with adventurous Israeli’s headed to a Ritushuddhi (an Indian Hindu ceremony for a girls’ first menstrual cycle) passes you by, indeed, you get in and go with the flow. The car broke down though, on the way to the Indian bat mitsva (as they called it), but it did not in the least make the trip less spicy.

Last but not least. Late night tea sipping at an undisclosed location, too precious to reveal. The warm welcome, the good vibes, the best home-made food and heart-and soulfelt musical improvisation. Out of it all, this will be the most memorable.
By now, we all know those late night tea invitations end up becoming another never-ending legendary night. Somehow, the fun multiplies exponentially and each time I have no choice but to put down my weapons together with my “early-in-bed-intentions”.

Talking about intentions. It’s time for my ayurvedic massage. Stay tuned for more on Auroville, universal city for the future, and on my love for communities.
Over and out.