October 07 - Damanhur

Returned from Damanhur where I spent a week. God, is that a funny commune. Lots of "reklame", very few deliveries. Imagine Sponge Bob on a guru trip saving planet earth by timetravel and you get the picture. The funniest thing was the lady running the alchemical + magnetically driven energy rejuvination machine. She looked somehat mid-40-ish and was 46. Not very convincing. Nor is the art - many colors, little art - unless you like Spong-Bob, that is.

By popular request:  A bit of background as I perceived it: The "Caves of Humankind" are not really caves, imagine someone digging sideways into a medium size hill with a shovel - it was done without machinery and took some effort, I'll have to give them that, but mainly because of sectarian paranoia someone would insist they stop - which migh have been indeed a threat from well meaning offcials considering the very real danger of cave-ins. So the caves are not too impressive and connected by narrow pathways. The art they exhibit is mostly below that of average sci-fi or mystery novel cover-art. The "story" they weave around it is not very exciting but very unlikely (mind you, I have been exposed to well told stories about reptilian extraterrestrials that inhabited earth half a million years ago so the Damanhur story only elicits a yawn from me). Its not very convincing too and lacks any substancial proof whatsoever, the biblical myth has more proof to it. Their top honcho did NOT pass my bullshit-detector (aka intuition). I think he is either delusional himself or out to make a save and easy living as top dog of that small community. The people living there lack the liveliness and excitement I have watched elsewhere (e.g. in the now defunct OSHO commune in India) and are just like the average Jack & Joe with their daily concerns if you get to talk to them individually. Their grand cafeteria serves the excact same carbon-hydrate saturated junk you get everywhere else in Italy including meat. They call it freedom of choice, I call it disgusting. All in all not much worth staying for a week - we left a day early ....

regarding holiday storno: your milage may vary - I am known to be a harsh judge and my BS detector is very finely tuned. E.G. I have visited about 10 newly enlightened Satsang-masters (after Osho died). Only 2 passed my BSD and one of them is E. Tolle.

In the early days of Zaadz I have made quite a few "friends" because of too much special insights into their abilities e.g. to "activate" my DNA (and charge a couple of hundret bucks for it). One kicked me and another closed his blog because of  "too much negativity" in my utterances. So I suggest you rely on your own judgement.