Bringing the Gestalt methods into rural Iceland in 1930 was a courageous act. According to Steiner´s ideas one should sow the fields in the afternoon when the earth was “breathing in” rather than in the morning when the earth was “exhaling”. His anthroposophist ideas also manifested themselves in the furniture and interior design, no sharp corners or angles but gently sloping balustrades and soft edges were the way to go. For Sesselja´s neighbours, who grabbed every grain of fertiliser and funkis with the same enthusiasm as a hungry infant a mother’s breast, this was sometimes a little difficult to comprehend. They watched in awe and wonder as Sesselja refused any fertiliser other than fresh cow dung and fermented horse manure.
No cell phones in heaven?
Upon arrival I freaked out when I got no cell phone connection. The next shock was the deli with nothing but macrobiotic food. And the third shock was when I read extensive literature on that same food and realised my innards are currently as clean as a London sewer. Before I went to bed that night I swore that I would never drink another drop of milk nor eat meat again. That is, until I read another book about eating according to ones blood type, wherein it said that people of my blood should specifically binge on milk and meat. Which I did the very next day.
That afternoon as I was cursing the lack of cell phone connection while trying to find a kiosk with candy, I thought about hitchiking my way to Selfoss into civilisation again before I realized that the words civilisation and Selfoss don´t mix. That´s when I discovered the bar. And the organically produced beer. Does it have alcohol? Yes. Well, gimme one.
From the ridiculous to the sublime
And it all got better from there. As I observed the inhabitants at work, the borders between ordinary and special slowly blurred. There is a theatre group which is brimming with activity. Everyone does their part in accordance with their ability and functionality. And no matter your talents, creative energy is free to flow.
After five days my cellphone, which occasionally worked if you ran to the top of a hill, finally ran out of batteries and I didn´t care. After seven days my stay was over, and I was relaxed and ready to stress myself out again in what passes for civilisation. As I sat on the bus that took me back to Reykjavik I thought about where to go for a vacation next summer. And I had the perfect place in mind. In Russia, in a forest, is a village founded by a bunch of hippies. An ecovillage, they call it.