I wonder if I'm the only one who never heard of Damanhur. (Click on the Temples) Just a few days ago I came across a reference to a group known as Damanhurians and thought it must have been some imaginary literary utopia but, being curious, I did a search and found there really is such a community in northern Italy about 30 miles from Turin.
Oberto Airaudi was a young boy with an amazing gift for remote viewing who saw temples and a highly evolved community of people living in harmony. In 1977, having become successful in business, he went looking for a place that would suit his vision and found a remote hillside that felt right. He and a group of friends moved into the house on the property and started digging. This went on in 4 hour shifts for 16 years until the Italian police decided to raid the place and threatened to blow up the mountain if they weren't shown what was going on. You can read here about how it happened and what they found. At last count there were nearly a quarter of a million people actively involved.
Or perhaps you might enjoy seeing the only video (in English) I was able to find. It might look a little strange or even corny but there's something like a hint of the beginning of a better way of being and living in this world. I like to think that ultimately we'll get beyond the roadblocks. We're dreamers, after all, aren't we?
Wow. You're not alone. I had never heard of Damanhur either. Apparently it was named after an Ancient Egyptian city built around a temple to Horus.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very neat vision. I don't know that we'll all ever be living like this, but I'd like to think that more and more people will have the option.
What a place, thank you for sending me there today, even it was via the internet........
ReplyDeleteno, i never heard of it. but its existence doesn't surprise me. looking at the temple images, it's almost like i have been there. it's not deja vu, it's like walking into a home you hadn't seen since a child. it has an air of familiarity to it.
ReplyDeleteand wonder. and art.
awesome. it's filled with crazy people, right? the ones who evolved from sanity?
I'd never heard of it either. Very interesting story.
ReplyDeleteSilly humans and your "dreaming."
ReplyDeleteGroovy stuff, but every time I read "Falco" in that article, I couldn't help but hear alles klar, herr Kommissar. ;-)
Wow, what a place! What a dream!
ReplyDeleteHow crappy that the state had to stick its nose into everything.
But...Wow!
ben - It is pretty damn neat - unbelievable at first glance too. Nobody knows how long the journey will be but if you see this greedy bombastic culture for the kabuki theater it is the trip won't be quite so painful and the destination attainable.. eventually.
ReplyDeletegemel - So glad you arrived in time to see it.
sera - I found myself internally repeating 'evolved from sanity' for hours after I read your comment. It really is extraordinary to recognize home in the here and now. I'm still amazed.
cdp - I wonder how many more strange and wonderful places there are?
randal - Uh oh.. Your zest for life will kill you :-)
the crow - Yes, the love and effort that went into realizing the dream is staggering. The good news is the Italians gave it back. I'm not confident that would happen here.
the phrase that stuck out for me was the gift for remote viewing.
ReplyDeletei'm still stuck on causality.
such beautiful images... you always create such beautiful and original posts, in image, in thought. your blog is its own damanhur. maybe that's what we can each do as best we can.
ReplyDeleteand the temples are incredible! I love the hall of blue.
ReplyDeletethe hall of blue was amazing but it all was amazing...I had never heard of this group although it was clearly a take off from ancient eyptian philosophy, at least it's art....how sad the state got involved...what was so amazing was how much they had managed to do w/o anyone knowing....and the sheer size of it, I hope they can finish it up some day....so this is where you and your dh are heading next? ;)
ReplyDeletexoxo
This was fascinating! Thanks for the peek. I'm hearing from younger people that their vision for the future is very different than the vision that is here now. Very exciting, I think.
ReplyDeletesera - Causality denotes quasi-permanence where we see ourselves as permanent objects moving through linear time. That's a very common sense pov but possibly only relevant in the short term - yet we do have to get by day to day :-)
ReplyDeleterene - What a nice thing to say. Long ago I came to the conclusion we don't often guess who we might be for other people - never mind sentient beings at large. We can only try to stay alert.
linda - It really is a stunning achievement when you realize what they did; the talent, work and sheer artistry are amazing. If we have to speak Italian to go there I'm not sure we'll ever be ready ;-)
lol - Of course, we're still evolving. To paraphrase Leonard Cohen (rene has the real quote inscribed in her side bar): There are cracks everywhere, that's how the light gets in.
ok... this is my kinda info... thx susan, will dig more into it asap :)
ReplyDelete:D wolf - I'm learning Italian. How about you?
ReplyDeletequeasy permanance. yes, for all of mankind, that's true.
ReplyDeleteThat's amazing! I had trouble reading some of the captions, but the images more than made up for it! what a great video. :o)
ReplyDeletesera - On the money as usual :-)
ReplyDeletedr. zaius - Yeah, it was a crappy video but the link to the temples at their site was very cool.