Bahr's first two weeks in Aridani
Published on September 5, 2025 by Lisa-Maria Goertz
It's been a long ride already. So much has happened since I arrived here, and so much is happening in this very moment. There is something so fulfilling about going through a transformation, this understanding that I'm in this very moment in time and in space, going through something big. Something that will influence my life, that will leave a mark and influence the way I view the world.
I arrived from a different world, from the other side of the continent: NORWAY. I landed here, coming from a cold country, where every person leads an individual life, where people are victims of wild and unpredictable weather. I landed after a great adventure on this warm tropical island. And in a smaller context: to a bunch of weirdos that live on 25,000 square meters of land and forest.
On my first night—opposite to everything I knew about building relationships—I found myself sitting in front of 8 strangers that had the oddest language I had heard in a while. Every sentence started with the same few words: “I feel happy/sad/angry/scared because…” I was immediately skeptical. In those first moments I had so much judgment. What the fuck are they even saying?! And after a few minutes of a very vulnerable and intense exercise in which every person started to share very openly how he or she is afraid of someone at the table and why—I just found myself stunned. So much anger was going through me. All the voices in my head wanted to shout back and say: "Leave me alone! I just arrived! Can you please just tell me where you're coming from?!"
Well, this is what I did. Pretty much exactly. I immediately put up a wall. I didn't have the tiniest bit of patience to try and adapt myself to this communication culture.
The next day I woke up in my tent, and right beside me someone screamed. Not in an argument or a fight. He just screamed for no reason at all. I was looking for other judgmental looks from the people around, but it seemed that for everyone this was the norm.
I had to learn fast. After that I started to understand that I had arrived at a place that is like no other I had been to before. That on this little part of this little island there is a different culture. It's a culture that celebrates feelings, that allows people to let out whatever they have on their mind. It's a culture of love, of deep support. Here, no one has to face life alone. I see something really special that is created here. I had never experienced a life like this.
Every day here feels to me like a celebration of life.
This sentence alone has such a different meaning here than from the culture I know. At home, a celebration has to be joyful; we have to have fun, to be happy, to laugh and smile. Here, we celebrate all of that, but with that we celebrate the sadness, the anger, and the fear that co-exist with joy in the world.
Think for yourself: What if seeing someone crying is an opportunity for self-discovery? What if rage and anger are opportunities for action and change? What if fear is only the way we understand our wishes and desires?
Here, every feeling is a gate to a better understanding of oneself.
A few moments of magic:
- I'm only two days in. We're on our way to the beach, the water is crystal clear, and Maciej (one of the people here) had just gone through a fear; he jumped from a 10-meter cliff into the water. Oran is playing the guitar. Two people beside me are having a heart-to-heart conversation. I'm looking around and seeing the whole world glow.
-It's my birthday. Like almost every year since I was born, I'm somewhere far away from everyone I know. I'm in this forest land. My first view when I open my eyes is of a forest filled with sounds of birds and life. Tonight, while the sun is coming down, I'm surrounded by 10 other amazing beings, music, and some sweets. It's a party. We are barefoot, under the sky. We are dancing until we can't anymore. All I need on a day like this is to be surrounded by love. Well, here I have a whole tribe.
- Like kids we stand in front of the kitchen desk. With markers, paints, and brushes. Like the way I used to dream when I was young, I drew a little cabin in the woods. One that is only the fruit of my great imagination. This is the way we create here. We start with a vision and continue from there. We are 7 people around the kitchen desk. Each of us has a different dream, and every single one of us has the opportunity to create it. Only after we all have our individual visions, we collect the group wisdom and make a dream cabin that takes the best from every drawing. From there we create together something real.
A lot of my anger, I realize now, came from not understanding what is really going on here. I would often face the question: “What do you even do there?” and I wouldn’t know how to answer. I found it hard to describe the point or even the value of this project.
Then Lisa-Maria gave me an experiment: look around every few minutes and ask yourself, “What value does this very moment have in the world?” In the last few days, ever since I started asking this question, I’ve had a huge smile on my face. Every time I look around, I see how we create a better world. I see it in the way people allow themselves to communicate, in the loving hugs given so generously. I see it in how people understand themselves on a deeper level, how everyone is on everyone’s team. I see that no one is truly alone. The culture here supports every dream, big or small, to come true.
From this little corner of the world, I see more good being done than almost anywhere else I’ve had the chance to visit.
Ways to be updated and support me on my path: