Echo neohippy: Ananda World Brotherhood villages



One of the characters of the cult movie "Un sacco bello" (Carlo Verdone) is Ruggero, the hippy son of an unforgettable Mario Brega who, convinced he had a mystical vision, joined the community of "Sons of Eternal Love "Embodying all the cliches of the flower child.

Well, although unfortunately the hippy revolution has failed and its shards lie among the rubble of lost opportunities, that yearning for brotherhood and peace has not been extinguished, which has marked many sincere supporters.

At present, an example is the great community of the Ananda World Brother Village which has as many as 1200 permanent residents scattered all over the world: in Italy, the USA and Australia there are nine communities and there are 150 meditation groups between Africa and the New Zealand.

What are? A network of villages united by values ​​for many unpublished works such as mutual help, sharing and freedom . A place where people aspire to leave individualism, competition, the kind of movement that unfortunately characterizes many human relationships. A little Eden?

Let's find out together, knowing their history and their philosophy in detail!

A model of sustainable life

The communities of the Ananda World Brotherhood village are born in an extremely evocative year: 1968. The creator is Swami Kriyananda (1926-2013), a well-known name for all yoga lovers. He bought lands in California to found the World Brotherhood Colony.

There are two basic principles: "Change begins within us" and "Our environment greatly influences our search for happiness". Two profoundly meaningful philosophical nuclei that will guide all the work from there to come.

As anticipated in the introduction, in fact, from this first community others will arise around the world, even in Italy. In fact, a group of about 120 people plus twenty children live in Assisi.

Let the person in charge of communication, Paolo Tosetto, describe to us their way of living and the choice of the place itself: " It is no coincidence that that area was chosen. It was already a special place, full of spirituality. In Ananda anyone is free to come, stay, go away. If you come, it means that you need ".

No one is obliged to do anything, nor to give up life outside the community: one's work, one's possessions ... One is involved to the extent and in the manner one wishes and the village has every necessary resource, from biological fields to institutes of research, medical assistance, school.

Tosetto continues: " Living together then has many benefits. We know each other, we help each other and we feel protected. Quite simply, you save: just a single meter, 3 washing machines and not 15. The Community then takes care of the environment and the territory. And when you live well, you get sick less. In this way life becomes a masterpiece ".

Moreover, everyday life is marked by activities such as meditation, yoga, group consolidation in the belief that improving and improving is possible; in the belief that evolution is not only technological, but must also necessarily be human; in the belief that, in the unbridled race towards the future, it is dramatically losing its humanity on the street.

Advice against purchases, interview with Cinzia Picchioni

Rethinking social life

These communities are neither sectarian nor religious. You can come and go as and when you believe and are open to everyone. The only two rules are no alcohol and no drugs, otherwise there are guidelines that everyone is free to follow.

This type of human aggregation is based on the principle that small communities are the only real social model possible for the near future, not only in merely urban terms (cities cannot continue to expand indefinitely), but also social ones. Indeed, we are witnessing the growing emergence of structures based on mutual help and sharing.

Placed (and imposed) as a brake on excessive consumerism, one returns to reuse, to recycle, to lend by implementing a silent revolution in the ways of managing one's assets and in considering the small community with which one comes into contact on a daily basis. Neighborhoods, condominiums, groups of friends share the shopping, lend tools, exchange services: this great experiment in social engineering is already underway (especially overseas) and the communities of the Ananda World Brotherland Village represent an exquisitely vintage example.

"I disagree" ("Society", Eddie Vedder)

The communities like Ananda villages have inspired two recent films: "'' Finding Happiness " and " The Answer ", the latter coming out in 2015. Regarding instead an alternative conception of the economy and social dynamics in terms of sharing and mutual help, I recommend the text "La degrescita felice" (M.Pallante) not always fully acceptable (in my opinion), but certainly full of food for thought.

Both the philosophy of the communities and the text of Pallante converge on the need to rethink the march towards the future in social, human and ecological terms.

The current system of values ​​is collapsing on us demonstrating (in the micro and in the macro) that something must be absolutely rethought. The Ananda villages want to be a path to start thinking that a different way of living is possible that if we feel we don't adhere to the dominant model imposed on us by fashion or the media, it is permissible and sacrosanct to disagree or, to use the words of the great Eddie Vedder: "I am sorry, I am sorry, I am not angry if I disagree / Society, crazy and deep / I hope you're not lonely without me ".

How to live in an ecological way without too many sacrifices

To know more

> Ananda village website

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