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Finding
peace at Damanhur
During
my time at Damanhur in northern Italy I grew to feel rested, peaceful
and glowing with health.
I attributed
the way I felt to the beauty of its rural setting bathed in gentle
sunshine, and to the peace and stillness of the quiet country nights.
But
apparently my feeling of well-being was induced by the fact that
this 800 strong spiritual community is situated at a meeting of
four "synchronic" lines, lines of energy.
These
lines connect the earth to the other planets, similar to the ley
lines at Glastonbury.
This
and several other somewhat bizarre ideas were communicated to me
by my Italian guide, such as:
- the benefits of astral travel;
- the use of "selfic" structures, which were rather
like metal bracelets designed to focus energy for the purpose
of self-healing;
- the use of a kind of archetypal sacred language as a way
of contacting the divine "inside and outside of yourself,"
- the certainty of time travel.
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| Damanhur
mosaic |
All
of these ideas had come from Damanhur’s spiritual leader, Oberto
Airaudi.
He
founded the community in 1977 with the intention of grounding a
centre for spiritual research.
The
main thrust of his philosophy is that every human being is an active
part of a spiritual ecosystem and shares an original divine nature.
Secret
temple
The
highlight of my stay was undoubtedly the visit to the underground
temple, the "Temple of Humanity".
The
temple was built in secret over 16 years by members of the community.
It was incredibly elaborate; simply mind-blowing in terms of the
sheer audacity of its conception.
Every
corner had been lovingly and intricately painted, decorated or embellished
in some way by hand.
The
temple visit was designed to be a kind of initiation journey, the
"ritualised reproduction of the inner rooms of every human
being."
Well
run community
I was
extremely impressed by the way that Damanhur was run. They certainly
knew their stuff and were able and willing communicators.
As
a guest, I felt that I was in confident and capable hands and was
made to feel welcome and wanted.
All
the people I met seemed very confident regarding the tenets of Damanhur’s
philosophy.
Damanhur’s
aim as a community is to be 100% self-sufficient by the end of 2003,
a goal which they hope to achieve through their business activities
in agriculture, clothing and in the manufacture of jewellery and
candles.
At
the end of my stay I felt torn.
Even
though I was impressed by seeing how organised and well-run the
place seemed to be, I personally found it difficult to just accept
as "true" some of the concepts that had been presented
to me.
Then
again, who knows? Maybe I am just a hopeless cynic. For now though,
I will keep on looking….
Next
stop is Twin Oaks in Virginia, U.S., an eco-village which earns
its living by making hammocks.
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