What makes us human?

As I was sorting through the photos that I have made during Hivefest I came to realize that for me beauty is found in nature and in people. I feel that nature has been my greatest teacher and I felt a strong feeling of togetherness while visiting a different country for my first Hivefest gathering.

We have all sat alone on one of these wondering...what's next?

We may be tempted to believe that our place of birth might be the greatest or the worst. But I saw happy people in Croatia while also looking in sadness at those who were searching in the dumpsters. There is misery and beauty everywhere. We are not that much different on Hive either. Each person will have more or less ego, happiness, creativity, humor or self-awareness. It becomes harder and harder for me to look at people as most of them would wish: through the lens of their ocupation or status. We are all a bag of bones waiting in line for the next thing after our death, why do we expect so much from ourselves and others?

This too shall pass...

Becoming acutely aware of my own humanity is easier while travelling in a different spot. I know that it is the people that you are with that make the difference.

The beauty of a caterpillar on Christ's thorn plant (Paliurus spina -cristi Mill)

I look at nature and I see the same struggle: trees grasping for the light, plants being drenched in water after a storm, insects crawling for shelter on the vast soil.

Tilted by the struggle for more...when is more good enough?

While looking at the old houses abandoned in the sun I realize that once upon a time a living human being was breathing in there. That person also had a dream, a loss, a joy, a sorrow, maybe a lovestory. I wonder: how much did they not manage to accomplish because of the country they were living in versus because of their own inner limitations? Now they are buried under deep floods of new information: life goes on decade after decade after you are gone.

Grandma Marta...maybe you know her story? Does it matter if you don't?

It is a very good lesson for the ego to walk in this kind of places and remind itself that our existence is temporary and that we should strive not for the battle of the egos as much as for leaving this place a little bit better than we have found it. The heart of a human being is so fragile yet it is the very first thing people go at with terrible anger to punch in their moments of desperation.

Just the two of us...We can make it if we try, just the two of us. You and I.

I am grateful that I was able to connect on a more meaningful level with some people. I felt joy by being able to pick some sage from the forest and use it as a way to express my delight to have been able to meet some kindred spirits.

You'll get the most joy when you give a bit of you in everything that you do

Regardless of how much power one has on Hive in regards to status, I came to realize that we are much more alike than we like to believe and that in the end it is the connection that we value the most when we meet with somebody else and not the country,location, fancy outfits or dinners.

Looking at the same water but at a different level. Still...it is just water

Rocks...different place, same story...

The more we open our eyes to this reality and be our authentic selves the more we might get back to what makes us human.

This reminded me of our neurons and how there is power in growing more connections

And after Hivefest was over I took the same old road back home. This time I know better that I am not searching for a building anymore as much as a safe place inside myself. That's the most solid home one can ever hope to get...