Bir: My belonging
Bir: My belonging. When you travel on the regular, you begin to see, recognise and appreciate the "heart" of a place. This heart, of a place, isn't visible to the naked eye, but is felt with a naked mind. Let me give you a sneak peek into the heart of Bir. You will see the heart of Bir when little monks run to you, stumbling due to their long robes, but excited still to tug at you and say "Julley!". You will see the heart of Bir when the village is asleep and shops sheltered by 8 PM, but how their hands are always awake and homes always open if you ask for a cup of chai. You will see the heart of Bir when this paragliding paradise allows each person's dreams and aspirations to fly just as high. You will see the heart of Bir when you witness how some people here are still able to barter, and greed ceases to exist. You will see the heart of Bir when the minds you are surrounded by, the air you breathe, and Mother nature grace you with their presence, for long enough to transform your life.
In October 2018, I decided to head to Bir for a course titled "Ecological Futures". I was fortunate enough to have known the two minds who created the course beforehand, and hence signed up immediately. Angelica and Anshul host this course every season- Winter, Spring, Autumn and Summer. The genius with which they managed to abide by the course structure while giving us an insight into our own existence is astounding and unimaginable until you are part of the course yourself. You can read more about the farm from the following links: 1) http://shunya.earth/shunyafarmbir/
2) https://www.facebook.com/pg/shunyabir/posts/ This blog is my heartfelt gratitude to Shunya Farms, Angelica, Anshul, Bir, and every other life I connected to through this journey. Below are a few moments I was able to capture in the form of photographs, how I associated those moments with one lesson and the story behind how I arrived to that lesson. While I list these lessons, I assure you I am with you on this journey too, where I am often unable to imbibe any single one of these into my daily life, but I never stop trying. This blog is hence, a reminder for myself, and for all who wish to be reminded of what our hearts strive to tell us in many moments through the day, but what we often choose to overlook.
When I first set foot in Bir, I noticed a common trait amongst every thing and every being that Bir encompasses. This trait was: simplicity. During one afternoon discourse, we were told "The Fisherman story" by Paulo Coelho. It read: There was once a businessman who was sitting by the beach in a small Brazilian village.As he sat, he saw a Brazilian fisherman rowing a small boat towards the shore having caught quite few big fish.The businessman was impressed and asked the fisherman, “How long does it take you to catch so many fish?” The fisherman replied, “Oh, just a short while.” “Then why don’t you stay longer at sea and catch even more?” The businessman was astonished.“This is enough to feed my whole family,” the fisherman said.The businessman then asked, “So, what do you do for the rest of the day?”The fisherman replied, “Well, I usually wake up early in the morning, go out to sea and catch a few fish, then go back and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I take a nap with my wife, and evening comes, I join my buddies in the village for a drink — we play guitar, sing and dance throughout the night.”The businessman offered a suggestion to the fisherman.“I am a PhD in business management. I could help you to become a more successful person. From now on, you should spend more time at sea and try to catch as many fish as possible. When you have saved enough money, you could buy a bigger boat and catch even more fish. Soon you will be able to afford to buy more boats, set up your own company, your own production plant for canned food and distribution network. By then, you will have moved out of this village and to Sao Paulo, where you can set up HQ to manage your other branches.” The fisherman continues, “And after that?”The businessman laughs heartily, “After that, you can live like a king in your own house, and when the time is right, you can go public and float your shares in the Stock Exchange, and you will be rich.” The fisherman asks, “And after that?”The businessman says, “After that, you can finally retire, you can move to a house by the fishing village, wake up early in the morning, catch a few fish, then return home to play with kids, have a nice afternoon nap with your wife, and when evening comes, you can join your buddies for a drink, play the guitar, sing and dance throughout the night!” The fisherman was puzzled, “Isn’t that what I am doing now?” (Story source: http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2015/09/04/the-fisherman-and-the-businessman/)
This does not ask of you to move out of your house, shift into a village and start fishing. Neither does the story ask you to give up what you currently possess or your desire for more. All it will ever mean is to re-consider the amount of "now" you are paying in order to secure your uncertain 'ten years later'. We sat down, all together, reassessed our wants and needs. If you ever have the time and the opportunity, do this exercise, recreate your list of wants and needs. I promise you, a lot of what we have been taught we 'need' is merely a passing desire.
Human life lies in the collective. Human life has been presented to us as an individual pursuit, and very successfully so. When we studied plant life, soil and nature around us at Shunya, we noticed how nature is an open system, one with open, semipermeable boundaries, one which encourages free flow, and one within which all systems are interconnected. There is a reason why a decline in the population of bees would invariably result into a threat to global agriculture. Similarly, as humans, we impact the collective. The impact is not always visible instantly, but from the moment we step into a space, we make a difference. There is a reason why I, with the weakest memory possibly known to mankind, still remember the names of people I met in all my travels, and how they contributed to my growth in the smallest ways possible. How a little girl saying "I look up to you" on one of my rough days encouraged me to continue working on a project instead of giving it up. I am thus, a result of every being I have interacted with, even if for a millisecond. Say your good mornings, say your I love yous, your ego may not appreciate it, but the Universe will. Know that you are an ecosystem, appreciate the collective, and create as many nodes and relationships as possible.
One of my first lessons in Bir was how nature is a regenerative system; i.e. it gives us abundantly in exchange for very little. Following this, we were brought to a harsh reminder of how a lot of us humans are a degenerative system. We take too much and give less in return. Not only to nature, but more often to others of our own kind. Be a producer, in all its essence, not merely a consumer.
Knowledge of current events? Important. Letting that knowledge interfere with your daily interactions with people? Not always important. Have you heard and watched stories where infants are naturally playful and approach animals without any sense of fear? As we grow, we learn behavior, we learn fear, we learn to "protect ourselves". As you travel, you will notice how we approach another dictates their reaction towards us. In a relationship, of any kind, always start with complete trust. You can create barriers later when its necessary, but try to start with complete trust. Your heart is much larger, much stronger and much wiser than you entrust it to be.
Dynamic balance: "The ability of an object to balance while in motion or while switching between positions." I believe my travels come to me as and when I need them most. Bir was a trip made just a couple months post my graduation. I had not yet learnt how to live without my closest friends living a block apart, without the flawed sense of independence, and without the certainty of my weeks being planned for me. The empty days, lost thoughts and angst were all I experienced. In Bir, we learnt something which is now an integral part of me: maintaining dynamic balance. Change is inevitable, transience is the only permanent, and learning how to be calm while in that transience is a powerful tool we must all learn. Often times, it will manifest in forms of you being miles above the ground, with all awareness of the possibility of dying, but how you choose to enjoy the flight.
Angelica's primary instruction to us when we entered the farm was "Watch where you place your foot." With an act as nonchalant as walking, when you focus on where and how you are stepping, is when you are one with your surroundings, is when you are completely in the now. When you travel, squeeze in some time to learn the customs, the ethics, the behavior, the celebrations, the language, the beliefs, the collective vision, the sounds of a place. And if this place is Bir, and you are fortunate, it will result in you sitting down with a group of local taxi drivers, staring into a screen, betting on a game of candy crush. Become one with wherever you set foot.
Nature's pace? Slow. Our "Progress"? Hazardously fast. Patience is a lost virtue with our generation, and it only gets worse. The constant nudges not only from society, but what is now our inner voice to "be productive", "figure out your life", and "you need to get a job" are threatening to the idea of living. There is a fine line between living, and existing and our need to pace up, blurs that boundary. One evening, on a walk back from the farm, I was explaining to Anshul how I wasn't yet earning, how I wasn't quite sure of where I wanted to be. When you listen to the simplest words at a time when you need to listen to them most, they become "golden advice". Anshul's golden advice: It is okay to slow down. We now keep moving so much, physically, in relationships, in work in the pursuit of more, that we are never really able to get a fine sense of a particular place, and its complete potential.
I developed a conscious will to help another a lot more after I was made to look at trees as an inspiration, and not just "trees are important because they give us oxygen". A single tree is one whole ecosystem in itself. Apart from its ability to support living beings, microorganisms, nesting birds, shelter and food for animals, I was told about their ability to nurture other trees in their vicinity. Referred to as "mycorrhizal networks", trees are able to share essential nutrients, sugars, minerals and water with other trees via these complex underground root system networks. What is visible to the human eye is the above the ground 10%, merely the tip of the iceberg. While most of the signals, warnings, sharing of food goes on beneath our feet. Help another grow.
At Shunya, we learnt how to observe a system as a whole, we learnt non-discriminating knowledge, we learnt the importance of observing and imbibing the larger patterns that exist within and around us. To recognize the World in broad patterns, and to be able to celebrate the interconnections, travel is your most efficient mentor. The next time your mind is caught up with complaints regarding "a terrible grade", "a job rejection" or anything within, turn without. Pick out a larger pattern, either within your own self, or outside of you, see how it has come to be because of its consistency over the past. On the upside, you may be able to locate the root cause of one of your particular behaviors/reactions. Understand that there is a bigger picture, always.
One of the principles of permaculture we learnt, was how moments of crisis are an opportunity to change. If it is broken, it means you can fix it or change it. (Don't blame me, the minds I was surrounded by were pouring knowledge left, right and center.) When does a person grow? When does a flower bloom? "On the edge" they said. A flower blooms at the edge of a plant, where two systems meet and it is able to inherit properties of both systems, the past which nurtured and grew it, and the future, which fueled and inspired the growth. We grow in transience. We grow on the edges, when we move out of a place which was our comfort, when we part from our loved ones. Look at these moments of crisis as an opportunity to change.
Flow: Movement of energy. While studying the plants at Shunya, when we needed to understand its form, we needed to indirectly understand its flows. What all has flown by, what flows currently. How much heat, wind, water, temperature, time, air, matter has gone in it and how much more of it is required. I wonder, if we started to understand the flows of another human being, how different would all our relationships be? Understand the flow, and go with it.
One of the most unreasonable pedestals we need to step down from is our need to "save our planet". We are nobody to have the audacity to claim that we can save our planet. It existed before us, and will do so without us. We are on paper thin ice, one more mischief, maybe a couple (because she still is a "mother") and there will be no mercy. If we are to sustain our own kind, our future generations, we will have to change our attitude from "Save the Tiger" to Let the Tiger be. We are not being asked for a lot, we are only being asked to cause less or no harm to the source of our very existence.
I feared writing about, and engaging in dialogues about Bir for the longest time. I feared that word of mouth, and recommendations would mean more humans, and thus more damage. I feared that the wild bushes of Bir would be covered with plastic wrappers instead of blooming flowers if too many of us visited. I feared the free-spirited paragliding pilots would now have to breathe polluted air. I feared that the quaint whispers of the locals would be overpowered by outsiders who blow obnoxiously loud car horns. I feared that the self-sustaining farms and barter systems would soon be replaced with price tags. I feared that community living would crumble into concrete houses with barriers. This is a humbling request, to each traveler who has now read this blog, if you ever happen to stop by in Bir, strive to give more to the place than you take from it. Simple Tips: Collect your litter in a bag and take it back home with you. Carry reusable cups and bottles. Avoid buying any plastic. And if you are unable to give back to the land, you only have to let it remain as is.
For more generic travel-blog kind information about food, costs, and things to do in Bir, you can email me on bolemanal97@gmail.com and I will send you a personalized itinerary.
Love and abundance, from one of the many hearts of Bir, Manal Bole
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