A two-folded path out

An exodus in its original meaning is a way out. And we believe that everybody has the mental capacity to understand that we as humanity need a departure. We need a holistic way out of our historically grown cultures because we can all see that these cultures lead us into a dead-end. While it is not our responsibility to change the world or other people it is our responsibility to contribute to the changes we wish to see in the world.

For us it was clear that we didn’t want to go on as usual. But, for a long time we were not able to consciously change ourselves. We believed to be products of our environments because that’s what we were told in school. This belief shattered when we found Humberto Maturana and his works. Then we realized that we are autopoietic, self-creating organisms with the natural capacity to choose differently than the environment suggests. This new knowledge flicked a switch, and a fundamental change took place.

This realization had an extraordinary impact. From believing that self-organized change is impossible to believing that self-organized change is possible. A great switch.

This was when we came to the conclusion that an exodus, a way out of this dead-end culture, does not just require physically moving to a new place but first changing the way we perceive, feel, think, communicate, and act.

This is why we believe a way out of our current situation requires two exoduses, an internal exodus in which one becomes aware of its old mindset and replaces it by a new one, and an external exodus leading towards an environment designed to provide conditions which reflect the internal exodus and support further development and growth.

When we started our internal exodus we recognized how hard it is to change our mindsets in our normal, all-day environment. We realized that our all-day environments normally do not provide the necessary conditions for the inner exodus to proceed. For both of us it was a very hard challenge to change our mindsets surrounded by people who don’t strive to consciously change theirs. And it is still a difficult challenge.

That’s why we took on this big challenge to create a space, gave away most of our belongings, packed our backpacks, walked from Hamburg to Spain to find a piece of land, buy it, design it with the help of permaculture and provide a space specifically designed to invite, inspire and empower the inner exodus.

The next page is about atonement which is the central concept applied to offload what one carries in its invisible backpack.