Born on 28 February 1968, the adventure finds its roots in two texts: the Charter of Auroville and the “Dream”. Its essence resides in the expression of aspirations, without any indication of the path to be followed, an evolutionary path, an adherence to an ideal, an aspiration towards a path for the soul.
Each human element, with its own qualities is requested to bring these qualities at the service of the realization of Auroville. Naturally each ”element” comes with its” luggage” of things to accomplish in order to transcend his limits. But the regard remains fixed on the horizon, towards the dawn to come in spite of the difficulties on the road.
After some years, in the context of a semi desert land, where everything had to be done, we, ordinary humans, started to mark “territories” with our own conceptions of property, without property. For this was the challenge, to believe in utopia.
When one speaks of the individual, one must include the collective. This collective aspires to be ideal, including everybody and letting everyone to give its opinion. Elections came and the politics followed. Soon one did not see the “other” as oneself. Then came opinions. And then came freedom of expression, personal choices, and preferences. Even the freedom of one bulldozing the liberty of another.
All this drowned, in fact, the original quest, and the individual not anymore the instrument but the dictator. We arrive at the fraternity of a clan, which is superficial. And that is where Auroville is at the present, forgetting that our only liberty is to adhere to the values enshrined in the Charter and the Dream.
One says that Auroville is in turmoil, it is true and it is a sign of the good health of this project. In fact, Auroville was day dreaming for the last 50 years, paralyzing itself with stagnation. Evolution cannot stop. One can see the environing landscape progressively overtaking the territory of the city itself. This is the consequence of the lack of choice or the division of the collective. It is also fashionable to be against the city. Then endless suppositions come in, born from the fears of everyone: fear to lose one’s privileges, insecurities of all kinds, fright which have no reality but are posturing as truth…It is the fear of Change, well known from all of us, in spite of our aspiration for change.
To say today that the French are threatened!!! Why the French??? This is a gratuitous segregation. The uncertainties of some cannot be interpreted as the truth of the whole collective. What is the use of such communication? Is it to arm weaponize with importance only one’s point of view? Transformation does not take place by imposing views but by an understanding at the individual level. Else it is just the creation of fear. To create a dialogue is to be able to include the ‘other’.
To answer word for word to accusations or denunciations is a useless process. It is like justifying oneness with mediocrity.
Why should the French be in danger, specifically French?
We have an evolutionary crisis, perfectly understandable. Great changes in the world have never come from compromise. See Nelson Mandela, Lincoln, Churchill, Bolivar, Napoleon, and many others. It requires courage? Yes. And conviction in an ideal. I have not noticed personally any risk or threat against the French or anyone else. If it is about Mael, he, as an individual was asked to leave India, not threatened, due to his sudden ordinary attitude to say the least. It is India that has invited men and women of goodwill to this fabulous project. That is to be simply respected. Mael’s ‘Leave India’ notice may be interpreted as a threat if one wishes to. I have not noticed anything apart the sadness, from friends, not a fear of a similar action.
It is important to recognize the aims and objectives of Auroville and not deny Auroville it’s identity its realization as a city. The world is big enough for those who want to follow other dreams.
Today, we are confronted with a choice: to remain the little individual with its frustrations, its lived or pretended failures, its endless accusations of the other, its denunciations. It is a pigmy world without any evolutionary future… Or, can one look boldly into the essential to call the future to be discovered, the beauty to be manifest, the human unity where the other is oneself. To destroy or to build, it is the Divine who does.
