How do we get there?

First of all, we must take into account what Humberto Maturana wrote about an objective reality. Culture by Design is not a culture for the whole world. It is not THE Culture by Design. It is a culture that begins with the individual and then, with a few individuals, becomes a group culture that expresses its way of relating to the environment and, if necessary, spreads.

So how do we get from historically grown cultures to a culture by design? We need a place; a (play) space where we can come together with others; designed in such a way that it inspires and encourages reflection, evaluation and the replacement of old, familiar patterns of perception, feeling, thinking and action.

If we want to love unconditionally, then ultimately we want harmony within ourselves. If we want harmony within ourselves, then harmony in our environments is of great importance.

In everyday life in our familiar environment, this inner transformation seems to be rather difficult. So far, we have met a lot of people who are unable to break away from what they have long been used to in their familiar environment. So we first create a place in a harmonious environment.

In southern Spain, this means dealing with water first. More specifically, with water storage. This includes, for example, ponds, ditches, cisterns, soils with high absorption capacity, holistic pasture management and shade-providing plants that counteract the drying out of the soil. Permaculture offers a variety of options and methods that are useful for creating a living and resilient biotope as an environment for the inner transformation processes.

We are looking for a plot of land where there is no noise from cars or other civilisation in order to create the greatest possible distance from the familiar environment. We will design the plot using permaculture with the aim of creating a biologically diverse environment with which we are able to achieve the greatest possible water and food autonomy. When building the accommodation, we will place great emphasis on traditional building methods and materials that have been able to cope with the local climatic conditions for centuries. We will also experiment with sizes and shapes to find out whether they have different effects on our minds. In addition, the entire property will be designed in such a way that there are many different retreats for people and also for animals. Ultimately, it is about removing as much as possible from this specially designed environment that expresses disharmony and at the same time integrating as much as possible that invites, inspires and empowers us to find inner harmony. A small environment where nature is in harmony with us humans and we live in symbiosis with one another.

Until we get to the point where the property has been designed, the first accommodations created and our own drinking water and food production are sufficient, it will most likely be sometimes chaotic, sometimes overwhelming and sometimes uncomfortable. But that is how every process that begins and has not yet reached balance is. Until then, it will be an adventure.

In this phase, we will also work together to develop a way of dealing with ourselves, each other and nature out of unconditional love. We will find ways to make decisions and resolve conflicts as a group and we will develop creative ideas and measures together to share with others what we are creating and discovering.

And we don’t yet know the way forward. That’s why we want to create a place to bring people, ideas and creativity together.