It’s interesting if you can make your money in another way — like in the arts or something — which is probably more pleasant than working in a shoe or cookie factory, or in an office, I think.
Yet, the thing is this: I actually want even more out of life than an alternative way of making money and sustain the financial costs of life.
When I say I make my money with a website, people sometimes think: well, that’s a lot better than a shoe factory or cookie factory, or commuting for hours in traffic to reach the office. Nonetheless, they often don’t realize that, like them, I would want more out of life. And that such “freedom” I have is not a real freedom, but a stepping stone to the last freedom I’m looking for.
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That last freedom is not only the freedom from slavery of money, but the freedom to enjoy life, Nature, and understand life through Nature, of which we are not separated but deeply part of.
Just look into the eyes of the opossum, or any bird, or frog. Really look, and then you see — or rather feel — that what connects us. It’s so funny, I see that even in the behavior of a venomous snake … in all that’s there in Nature like the trees, the wind, animals, all these different plants in the forests … something very close to us … very intimate … it’s not to be really explained; the eye cannot see itself, the ear not hear itself, just through reflections and mirrors.
Nature is our mirror. And I think it’s that what I need in my life; this constant reflection, this connection, to see and understand myself in what surrounds me, to understand what and who I am. And it’s a miracle. It’s a communal affair.
When we go into the forest and try to identify, label, find stuff, well … that’s one thing. That’s in a way separating us from it. But when we go with no objective, but just be there and commune, that’s what I feel is what I like about Nature … mountains, forests, plants, animals. No need to classify.
The terrain we bought, two hectares (20,000 square meters) of protected forest, of which 2,000 square meters of open space to build a cabin, plant some fruit trees, vegetables, and design the environment … that’s one thing. It’s actually the means to do the other thing … to commune, immerse, understand, to feel embraced, to be together.
You cannot live peacefully in Nature, but you can communicate peacefully with it and feel that it’s part of you and that you are part of it. It’s what I discovered when I lived in the Amazon jungle. It’s always a fight.
But then, still … in that fight you can find harmony and belonging. Love. What plant or animal in Nature has peace? It’s always vigilance. As it is for us.
It’s rather about being together and understanding each other … animals, plants understand each other. They know who are friends and who are enemies. And if you live there with them, they will start to understand you and you them. Isn’t that what we’re looking for in friends and family … that they understand us and we them?
As such, I feel that Nature can bring us this ultimate joy and fulfillment … animals, plants, the land … we can learn to really understand and appreciate each other. That gives joy. Happiness. The mirror I’m looking for.
