Summer 2018. I am volunteering in the kitchen at EJ Festival, a festival themed spirituality and connection, a gathering of 250 people in nature.
The vibe is sky-high, as it's supposed to be at events like this ;) After a few days the amount of wasps present on the terrain rises significantly. Without a few days hundreds of wasps are flying in and around the kitchen and shared eating-spaces. Our ability to relax into the moment is being tested. Some people get stung. Wasp-traps are proposed and implemented. For two days this continues. It doesn't sit right with me. It feel anger and sadness around it. I decide to share my vision on the matter. To me it feels like, when we as humans have a problem we search for the solution outside ourselves. "It hurts me, so it has to go." Which in this case means: death. Instead of looking for a compromise, or try to find the solution within ourselves. Not a lot of attention is given to my considerations. I share with others. Someone shares with me that for them it provokes anger too. Tears come into my eyes. This is not about just wasps. This is about all animals and plants who suffer and have suffered by the influence of humans' want for comfort. This is about our relationship to everything that is alive around us. One of the goals of this festival is to inject humanity with good vibrations. By coming together and living in a way that nourishes us, our connection to ourselves and others, and our surroundings. Can we find a better way of living with these wasps? And with that find a better way of living for the future of mankind? By practicing living in harmony. By practicing in a small place, so from there it spread to the entirety of mankind. We talk about it again in the kitchen. This time more people voice their desire for a better solution. And this solution comes.. someone proposes to place a wasp-restaurant instead of a wasp-trap. We collect the sweetest items and put this about 4 meters away from the kitchen in the grass. This works. The wasps go to the wasp-restaurant, most of them leave the kitchen. We also take care of putting less food items in the open air. Many people at the festival feel that they are being invited not to panic at the sight of wasps, to learn to ease into the situation. People become significantly more relaxed about the wasps. And all this without killing them! Huray!
It's so special to see what nature has to offer and teach us.
The vibe is sky-high, as it's supposed to be at events like this ;) After a few days the amount of wasps present on the terrain rises significantly. Without a few days hundreds of wasps are flying in and around the kitchen and shared eating-spaces. Our ability to relax into the moment is being tested. Some people get stung. Wasp-traps are proposed and implemented. For two days this continues. It doesn't sit right with me. It feel anger and sadness around it. I decide to share my vision on the matter. To me it feels like, when we as humans have a problem we search for the solution outside ourselves. "It hurts me, so it has to go." Which in this case means: death. Instead of looking for a compromise, or try to find the solution within ourselves. Not a lot of attention is given to my considerations. I share with others. Someone shares with me that for them it provokes anger too. Tears come into my eyes. This is not about just wasps. This is about all animals and plants who suffer and have suffered by the influence of humans' want for comfort. This is about our relationship to everything that is alive around us. One of the goals of this festival is to inject humanity with good vibrations. By coming together and living in a way that nourishes us, our connection to ourselves and others, and our surroundings. Can we find a better way of living with these wasps? And with that find a better way of living for the future of mankind? By practicing living in harmony. By practicing in a small place, so from there it spread to the entirety of mankind. We talk about it again in the kitchen. This time more people voice their desire for a better solution. And this solution comes.. someone proposes to place a wasp-restaurant instead of a wasp-trap. We collect the sweetest items and put this about 4 meters away from the kitchen in the grass. This works. The wasps go to the wasp-restaurant, most of them leave the kitchen. We also take care of putting less food items in the open air. Many people at the festival feel that they are being invited not to panic at the sight of wasps, to learn to ease into the situation. People become significantly more relaxed about the wasps. And all this without killing them! Huray!
It's so special to see what nature has to offer and teach us.
Reacties
Een reactie posten