Damanhur

= a spiritual community in the North of Italy, famous for its temples carved inside the mountains, and its elaborate governance structure as a federation of villages, and the use of the Credito as alternative currency

URL = http://www.damanhur.org/ (official website)

Link collection by Lion Kimbro at http://lionwiki.taoriver.net/cgi-bin/wiki/FederationOfDamanhur

Citations

In the West the only reality I’m aware of where a complete complementary currency system is working, is the Federation of Damanhur.

- Bernard Lietaer

Damanhur is the best example found of a collection of eco-villages - a Federation - with a strong spiritual philosophy and work ethic. ...

- David Kanaley

P2P Context

"The Federation promotes an economy based on cooperation and solidarity. In order to use a means of exchange exclusively dedicated to growth and development, Damanhur has created its own complementary currency system: the Damanhurian Credito. The Credito is accepted in many retail outlets of the Valchiusella and in centers linked to Damanhur in Italyand abroad.

The Credito is a bearer of high ideals. It was created to restore meaning to the original idea of money, as a functional instrument that facilitates exchange based upon mutual agreement." (http://www.dontleavetheearthuntil.com/page/1/default.asp)

Eric Hunting:

“I actually first heard about Damanhur through Fortean Times magazine many years ago, long before the story seemed to break on the mainstream media in the US this year. I’ve had their original pre-tourist-board-push web site bookmarked for a long time. (http://www.tempio.it/) I put little stock in their mash-up of New Age beliefs and their pursuit of pseudo-scientific psychotronic technologies.

But, though it tends to look in style like a secret lair for the Abominable Dr. Phibes, I do think their temple is one of the great works of contemporary art and architecture and an excellent example of the potential of excavated architecture, which I have used as an example in discussions of practical strategies of lunar and planetary settlement. And it’s another good example of how people are cultivating images of the future derived from the ancient past.

What’s most intriguing about Damanhur, though, is the subversive nature of its culture. In ancient times it was common for cults, alchemists, herbalists, and early scientists to rely on encryption as a means of securing their research and knowledge from competitors or from exposure to authorities. But with Damanhur we have this situation - and still pre-Internet at the start, mind you - of a community of about 1000 people who effectively cultivated an encrypted culture flying under the radar of European authorities for decades! They even had their own secret currency, and yet somehow managed to avoid the ‘Waco Treatment’ long enough to secretly construct one of the largest and most sophisticated works of architecture ever created by such a tiny religious community in modern times. It’s like the plot of a science fiction story where the descendants of ancient astronauts are drawn together into a secret tribe with a secret racial language and pool together bits and pieces of the plans for a starship extracted out of their own DNA and then construct it in a secret underground hangar. It’s an amazing demonstration of the potential of small groups of people systematically cultivating surplus productivity through community structures and then applying that to a shared goal.

This is the sort of amplifying effect I have anticipated for things like cultivating post-industrial technology within a community setting - though, of course, with Damanhur there’s the factor of religious fervor as well. We squander a lot of our lives to other people’s profit in exchange for cash.

Though I wouldn’t consider it a model to follow, this is definitely a good picture of just how much that lost productivity amounts to. If 1000 determined people could build this in their spare time, what could a million do?" (http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/the-role-of-contemporary-spiritual-communities-in-the-post-industrial-reinvention-of-the-pre-industrial-past/2008/08/15)

Description

"Damanhur has established itself in Valchiusella, in the alpine foothills of Piedmont, bordering on the Gran Paradiso National Park. Located in the heart of Europe 45 km from Turin, the Italian territories of the Federation are located throughout the valley.

Damanhur numbers 20 small communities, each community having approximately twenty members. In total the communities occupy more than 50 houses. Another 400 supporters live nearby and participate regularly in its activities. They are contributing to the creation of a new social model based upon solidarity, volunteering, a respect for the environment and the sharing of ethical and spiritual values.

The territories comprise approximately 400 hectares of woodland; residential development and farming land and another 100 privately owned buildings, artistic workshops, studios, companies and farms. Damanhur has centers in Italy, Europe and Japan and maintains contact with spiritual groups worldwide.

The Federation has internal schools for boys and girls up to 13 years of age, a daily paper, a publishing house, a Constitution and a University that is open to researchers from all over the world

The Temples of Humankind, built in the heart of the mountain, are a series of underground Halls where art and beauty become a means of communication with the Divine. The rooms are connected to each other on different levels in a pathway that is liked to the journey that every human being undertakes from birth to death and again at rebirth: the Temples of Humankind for those who enter represent a real initiate path.

The Temples are sited at the meeting point of Eurasian and African continental plates whose movement has brought to the surface an ancient mineral, over 300 million years old. This mineral known as Milonite carries the physical energy of the Earth. The Temples were constructed inside a seam of this particular mineral which precisely follows the flow of the ‘Synchronic Lines’ of the Earth. The Synchronic Lines are great rivers of energy that surround our planet and link it to the Universe, transporting ideas, thought and dreams. The Temples of Humankind rise up on a shinning knot; the point at which four of these Lines meet.

The Federation promotes an economy based on cooperation and solidarity. In order to use a means of exchange exclusively dedicated to growth and development, Damanhur has created its own complementary currency system: the Damanhurian Credito. The Credito is accepted in many retail outlets of the Valchiusella and in centers linked to Damanhur in Italyand abroad. The Credito is a bearer of high ideals. It was created to restore meaning to the original idea of money, as a functional instrument that facilitates exchange based upon mutual agreement." (http://www.dontleavetheearthuntil.com/page/1/default.asp)

Discussion

Lion Kimbro: Daimanhur is not spiritually authoritarian

I (michel bauwens) asked a few questions to an enthusiastic visitor, Lion Kimbro, here is his response.

• "Is Damanhur Authoritarian?"

• "Is Damanhur Spiritually Authoritarian?"

• "How does Damanhur stay open to criticism?"

• "How does Damanhur engage in dialog with outsiders?"

IS DAMANHURIAN AUTHORITARIAN?

With respect to projects undertaken, Damanhurian has an essentially authoritarian society. They are quite up front about this.

The metaphore I like to use is in the social organization that characterizes Open Source, which very closely resembles Damanhur's vision for the world: Many many societies to choose from, with different policies and ways.

MOST (but certainly not all) Open Source projects are authoritarian ("benevolent dictatorship,") though there are societies like Debian, where voting and so on is essential to the character.

What I get from Damanhur is that they'd like the world to be made of myriad communities, perhaps with enclaves of non-affiliated people living "out there" as well, engaged in politics in existing (and to-exist) real-world political bodies (such as the nations of the European Union, the United States, and the myriad countries of the world.)

The Damanhurian vision of "Freedom" is that people should live in communities that manifest their ideals, values, and positive visions. They see our society as very UN-free, because the society does not work in such a way as to cultivate our individual virtues and strengths, but rather to prey on our weaknesses and vices. That is, if we are slave to our passions, if we cannot make our dreams come true, if we even forget the value of making our dreams come true, and fritter our lives away in consumerism and so on -- they do not see this as "freedom," but rather, as bondage.

COMPARE: If you go to a training program to become a trained artist, you are not "free" by the discpline of the arts. But in another way, you are more free than you've ever been, because you are now in a track, voluntarily chosen, that allows you to manifest your higher nature.

Like Aristotle, who said that the society exists for the Individual, and that the individual can only *really* develop in the Polis.

Damanhur *requires* that children LEAVE Damanhur, and see the outside world, and live in the outside world. (And further, pays for all of this, as a collective.) And then, IF the child wants to return to Damanhur, then the child can begin the application process into Damanhur, just as any other person.

They envision tons of communities, sharing and visiting with one another, exchanging members, and so on, so that ideas can transit, and so that individuals can transit, to the place that will serve them and their spiritual development best.

IS DAMANHURIAN SPIRITUALLY AUTHORITARIAN?

I don't think so;

Damanhurian thought (Falco's philosophy) is explicitely non-dogmatic.

True: You'll be kicked out, if you're not going with their program of action, which includes some aspects of valuing their beliefs. (Not necessarily *believing* it, but for sure at least *valuing* it.)

But as far as making ontological statements about reality, "no way."

HOW DOES DAMANHUR STAY OPEN TO CRITICISM? HOW DOES DAMANHUR ENGAGE IN DIALOG WITH OUTSIDERS?

In some ways, this is like: "Who is Damanhur accountable to?"

Damanhur is directly and deeply accountable to the citizens of the primary town that hosts them, to three neighboring towns, and to the sovereign government of Italy. It is also politically accountable to the Catholic church.

I'm going to copy and paste something here from a different version of this email that I was writing to you; No point in wasting good explanatory text:

- snippet begins - Damanhur is quite open to criticism, and is engaged in vigorous dialog with outsiders.

I don't understand their political philosophy (it's probably in a number of people and books in Italian at Damanhur,) but I do understand that they are deeply committed to politics. When I say "deeply committed to politics," what I mean is that they hold it as a key part of understanding for every individual in their society, and that it is core to their philosophy. Put simply (and perhaps subtly incorrectly,) the commitment is to exalt the uniqueness of the other, and to commit to working together for high objectives.

This is to be applied at all levels of society.

This is a big part of how they have achieved use of the Credito (their alternative currency) in many locations in the three neighboring towns, how they have integrated with their primarily traditional Catholic town, and how they have achieved majority city council positions in these towns. The nearby town trusts them to a very high extent, and has elected a Damanhurian for their mayor.

Response to criticism is definitely something they have had to do as a society, especially since the temples were found out.

Response to *philosophical* criticism may not be so urgent, and I don't think they feel that they are accountable to any particular individual.

That said, you can stop by any Friday evening for a Q&A with Falco, and voice your questions and criticisms. He's very open and will just say what he thinks. He's friendly, joking, and also shows sensitivity to people, if they aren't hostile." (email, August 2008)