Itinerary

then I shall, through some anecdotes, expand a little on each of them.

The first of these deviations occurred when enmity was accepted within the family (the entire assembly of all those who wished or yearned to serve Mother) and one began to identify the adversary with “the other” instead of working upon one‟s own transformation. Yet evidently, as soon as Mother was no longer visible and accessible in Her room, the general atmosphere was considerably impoverished, the individual egoistic natures were as if revived and, on the still virgin territory of Auroville, we thus had to cope and struggle with notions far too narrow and stifling and intents of control far too limited and arbitrary for us to bend to. Nevertheless, as a collective, we have compromised with our law: we began to judge, to condemn, to pretend we could discern the presence and action of the “adversary” in whoever was not supporting us and this “we”, this “us” has consequently fragmented.

These deviations are like bad folds of habit: one wants to straighten them, at once they form again.

There were many efforts at reconciliation along the years, but they were weighed down by an emotionalism devoid of force or reach. Such folds are contagious and corrosive; each one becomes their relaying station, situating the enemy or the obstacle in another individual, another group, another association and in this way a whole dynamic of separation and distance spreads out.

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