«Do you see the small buildings that are spread through the area? They are dwellings», she explains. «And if you look closely you will see that there are also some houses up on that slope and some among the trees over there. They are also dwellings and have been designed to more or less blend with nature and are not necessarily round.»
«Actually, I had not noticed them» I said in surprise.
«Everything we have built here have been built on nature’s own terms, absolutely everything. There is nothing here that in any way causes pollution. Also, the round houses are far better able to withstand the elements of nature, for example strong wind, and they feel far better to live in. This has to do with energies. You live mainly in square boxes and lead square lives, at present I myself live in one of these round houses. I prefer to be down here where there are more people. Behind that hill are even more dwellings as well as larger buildings that are used by the community. That is where the center of Lighthaven is located.»
«So then it is larger than what I imagined».
«Much larger than what you actually see here, because this is more than just a village, as you supposed from your first impression. It is a small town, but with a village feeling. It has been quite intentionally planned and designed that way. Lighthaven is also a suburb of an even larger town which you will get to visit. On the other side of the hill, in the center, there is a connection to the greater city. By means of maglev trains that are operated by magnetic energy it only takes a few minutes to reach the city, although the distance is tens of miles. Of course, in your time you have that type of trains in simpler versions, and you are experimenting with developing them further, and also with what you call Hyperloop. By the way, we also have what you would call flying cars!»
«Fantastic! I would love to see and experience this! How far into the future – seen from my own time – are we actually? I ask, profoundly impressed by what I see and what she tells me.
«Not as far as you perhaps might think. It is not a matter of centuries, not even of one. Some of the young people of your time are still alive. Exactly how far into the future we are is not so very important. And as for flying cars and maglev trains, of course you will get to try them. It should not come as a great surprise for you that we have these things. In your own time there is a lot of experimentation with flying cars and passenger-carrying drones going on, and you are even testing hoverboards and flying motorbikes.»
«Yes, but these futuristic houses, this place, and not least the people here seem to be far more relaxed, balanced and content than what I am used to where I come from. And not least, they smile a lot more.»
«That is quite correctly observed, but I don’t know how well you have been paying attention.
Already in your time towns based on sustainability and renewable energy are on the way to becoming a reality. In addition there are quite a few so-called ecovillages and other smaller areas where people are experimenting with new modes of living such as Damanhur, Auroville, Findhorn, Tamera and others. The people there try their best to live according to the principles of Nature and to create a more humane society. And the results show that they are more content with life and therefore happier.»
«I have paid some attention and have heard about some, but not that there are as many as
you describe’ I answered. ‘By the way, how is that now, in this future where I find myself at present?»
«First I’ll have to explain a bit about the reason that this place and similar ones came into
existence. In your time and your reality the ruling mentality is materialism and consumption. Yes, you even had a national measure for it, Gross Domestic Product, which was always based on growth. But that is not possible in a world with limited resources. It has resulted in a superficial, cold and not very humane society, something that has made you yourself feel terribly frustrated without you really understanding why it is so. It was literally a «every man for himself» mentality which led to unfair distribution at the expense of others and the community. This greed and inequality felt extremely unfair, which in turn created discontent and a fertile ground for populists with easy answers that appealed to the baser instincts in man. This mentality also led to an unparalleled pollution, the consequences of which were enormous environmental problems. In addition, such a superficial society created a lot of ennui, feelings of meaninglessness, loneliness and depression. At the same time there were other challenges for the society as a whole, such as thirst for power, xenophobia, conflicts of religions and cultures, and much more. You might say these were the collective flows that permeated the society at that time, in your time, that is.»
«I think I understand where you are heading. A shift in the mentality has occurred,» I said.
«That is right. And this shift actually happened quite rapidly once it had got underway. This has now led to things having been turned more or less upside down, at least here in our society. For it is not the same everywhere on Earth in my time either, and even we have our problems. But in general things have become much better. We are far more oriented towards community in our society, and we are collectively working at restoring the environment and repairing the damage that has been done to Earth. In fact, this is now one of the most significant collective flows and tasks that our society is going through globally. In short, we are cleansing and rewilding the planet. We are tidying up after our own ravages. This will be going on for many years to come, until we have restored the balance.»
«It sounds like an almost impossible task!»
«It is definitely not impossible! Don’t forget that when a sufficient number of people work together, enormous creative powers are set in motion. Since your time we have had ideas and invented methods that have solved the majority of the problems humanity struggled with at that time. I’ll try to draw a parallel here: In the 20th century we had two world wars. By now we have completely stopped such a primitive and horrendous behavior as wars are. We no longer solve our conflicts with violence. However, these two world wars led to an escalated technological development while they were going on, particularly within the weapon industry. People on both sides of the conflict felt threatened. This affected first the allied forces and then the axis powers, and heaven and earth was put in motion in order to meet this threat. Something comparable happened around your time. Many problems had their roots in differing religious dogmas, while others were caused by the unfair distribution of resources or exploitation of animals. The environmental problems in particular gradually became so enormous that people realized that something drastic had to be done, and fast. Pandemics, unrest, hurricanes, sea level rise and huge flooding’s, extreme drought and high temperatures were some of the scourges that plagued humanity. We were not facing a threatening external enemy, - we were our own enemy! We had brought all the problems we struggled with onto ourselves.»
«So what you are really saying is that we had to change ourselves?»
«Yes, precisely! An individual as well as a collective self-development was called for. When enough people had realized this after we had had enough of all our problems, and started to act accordingly, masses of means and power was mobilized, and things quickly began to change. Starting at grass root level, and gradually attracting the authorities, business, organizations, private persons, - you name it - who implemented one measure after the other to help further this turnaround. People began to co-operate on a scale humanity had never before witnessed. Instead of making weapons of mass destruction, we started to create mass repair and mass mobilizing for the benefit of people and Nature. This is not a mere play on words, we quite concretely changed focus. We stopped making dreadful weapons meant for destruction. This freed an enormous lot of resources. In the place of weapons came a deluge of environmentally friendly ideas, inventions and innovations. Ecologically produced goods and services popped up everywhere. Creativity and inspiration blossomed. That was the time when the cleansing and rehabilitation of Earth really took off. And we in addition began to use robots to perform this work, the speed was further increased. But most importantly of all, massive resources were employed in order to create a shift in mentality which would prevent similar problems in the future. We became far more skilled at engaging in dialogue and in general listening to each other, also where religious conflicts were concerned, and we greatly improved in our ability to take care of each other and to share and distribute resources in a fair way. First, of course, there must be the thought! All of this meant that the turnaround in both the external and the internal world went more rapidly than many had foreseen. We shall return to much of this while you are here.»
«Now I have suddenly acquired a brighter view of the future! I have to admit that I have been rather «down» lately and have taken a gloomy view of both my own future and that of the planet» I said.
«It is understandable and natural that one reacts like that. Just take care that the gloominess doesn’t quite take over. You know, one thing leads to another, and when you take a dim view of what is happening in your own life, it can easily infect other areas of life and so the snowball starts to roll. The solution is to find and enjoy the small and larger good things in life. There will always be more and more of them when you appreciate them. And, not least, there will always be something to appreciate and be grateful for! Practice this kind of mentality shift often, so that this becomes natural. This will result in pleasant surprises in the future.»
«So now we are going to talk about my life? I said, smiling.
«It probably wouldn’t do any harm» Natalia chuckles and greets some persons who smile in a friendly way at both of us as they pass by. We sit down on another bench.