16 - 22.09.2011

Jean-Jacques picks me up from Tblisi, together with Christoph, who came over from Switzerland six days ago. Jean-Jacques is starting a biodynamic farm in Arghokhi, a small village near Telavi in eastern Georgia. Jean-Jacques has started small, is growing his own vegetables and his own wheat, making bread himself. Jean-Jacques and Christoph are propelled by grand ideals of using the earth around the village to its fullest potential, to be far more than self-sufficient, to produce organic food from animal and plant species which have long been neglected in the economic rush towards high yields. Christoph studied Agrosciences, is a farm manager in the Swiss alps and is now most potently infusing know-how, ideas and funds into the budding project. The two reach out far and wide, connect to other local farmers, funding bodies, teachers and the government. Both are most strongly tied to the Anthroposophical movement, and speak of the fabulously energetic meetings at the Anthroposophical center in Dornach. I meet the two at a point of explosion where visions start to manifest physically and ideals start to become tangible. The ideals, which have been crystallizing in my own awareness suddenly encounter their own manifestation.

Christl and Rheiner from Germany come to join the work at the farm. They are in Georgia for vacation and back at home they work with mentally handicapped people, helping them in their daily life. I have never experienced people so dedicated to make the life of the handicapped as fair and close to "social reality" as possible. Among other things they have, as does Christoph, let the handicapped carry out farm work as a type of therapeutics.

Timothee from France comes to the farm to join the work. He is traveling by foot and has just finished his degree in journalism. He is planning to report on the life in the Nagorno-Karabakh region between Armenia and Azerbejan. We share travel experiences and he tells me of the tribe of the Mentawai, which live in almost complete isolation in the way their ancestors did on an island near Sumatra. He had spent months living with them with his sister and describes his experience:

"The people there are free, there are no rules, everybody can do what they want. There is only the need to obtain food. They live off the fruits of the jungle. If it rains excessively one day they may decide to stay at home and not work. The work can be done the next day after all. All decisions are reached by all-inclusive discussions. The smallest children are included up to the eldest. The opinion of everybody is taken into account and respected."

"And what Jean-Jacques is doing here is a model for the 'modern world' to return to such a state" I add.

"The notion of Utopia cannot be applied to such modern emerging communities. I don't like the word community. 'Community' implies exclusiveness." Timothee rightly states in one of our evening discussions.

I build upon it: "Only out of the spiritual understanding of Oneness among the people flows the appropriate manifestation of society, a physical Utopia. Of a necessity this Utopia is ultimately all-inclusive, because the Awareness which gives birth to it is all-embracing. Therefore we cannot speak of single model communities, when we talk of Utopia, but must talk of every single being on this planet."

Jean-Jacque, overhearing our discussion at night, takes out a book from his library for us to look at at our leisure: "The Sekem Vision" by Ibrahim Abouleish. It describes a model society in Egypt, completely autonomous in terms of healthcare and pension system, all infrastructure and food resources. Even a University is established there. The founder was himself an anthroposophist and the life is dictated by the spiritual ideals of Love, Peace and Unity. He started from a 100 hectare patch of desert land on which he had to drill 30 meter wells for water. Biodynamic farming has now completely transformed the land to an oasis, the community provides education and numerous working places and various businesses, functioning internationally, have emerged from it.

We visit the first international wine symposium in Goergia, where Jean-Jacque refreshes contacts with local and international farmers, some of them practicing biodynamic farming, and where I learn about the ancient traditional way of making wine in clay amphores. On the farm I cut firewood, crack hazelnuts for selling and together with Reihner and Christl prepare a large wild plot of earth in the vegetable garden for sowing out garlic, ridding it of its plants and hoeing it. Timothee and I mix clay for varnishing the walls of the future bread bakery. Jean-Jacque's bread is for gourmets: I am at first convinced he adds cinnamon to it, so intense is the smell and taste; Isabelle Legeron 'That Crazy French Woman', on visiting the farm one day, is convinced that hazelnuts have been added to the dough; none of this is the case; it is superficially always the same dough: Wheat flower, yeast culture and water, that is all that there is to it physically. As to the energetic constituents, the work of consciousness, which flows into the baking process, Jean-Jacque reserves a fleeting smile.

A creative and tranquil atmosphere is established on the farm. On Thursday evening Max, Mika, Gela and Monika suddenly arrive, surprising everybody. They camp out in the garden for one night and the following day Monika, Max and I decide to hitchike to the remote mountain region of Khevsureti. I have met Max earlier on in Tblisi. He has joined George Cunningham (see book: "Journey to Become a Diplomat") in 1979 on an expedition for peace from North to South Africa, but has left George mid-way, remaining at Tom Mboya Memorial Health Centre in Kenya. He is now traveling with the aim to return to Kenya and contribute with his professional nursing experience.