Right Me Up

I was watching “Good Morning America” before I left for work this morning - I find the Diane Sawyer/Robin Roberts duo strangely soothing at 7:30 a.m. - when I caught several minutes of a piece about the Damanhur Temples of Humankind, thirty miles north of the city of Turin. The Temples were built beginning in 1978 and are a handcrafted place of worship. Amazingly enough, the Damanhur Temples were carved inside a mountain without the knowledge or permission of the Italian government (1).

While that’s quite a feat in and of itself, even more fascinating is the group of people that live there, the Damanhurians. The Damanhurians somehow still believe that humanity has the potential to live free of discord and at one with nature (their society is an eco-based one). The Damanhurians (about 800 people) live communally, have their own language and have managed, despite all odds, to retain faith in the goodness of humankind.

Wow. I want to join them. I can just see myself now, bathing in streams, sleeping under the stars, never to be bound by the pressure to wear foundation and eyeliner again. I’ll be able to read and to write, to hike and see the world from a new and more pure vantage point, to listen (and sing along to) Pavement and Patti Smith with impunity. I’ll pick out a new name - like Phoenix Renee - to symbolize my rise from the ashes. I’ll get over my addiction to caffeine and will never have to deal with the disapproving looks of other women as they give my shoes and handbag the once-over in department stores or subway platforms. Cry Freedom!

There is the little problem of my student loans. But if the Damanhurians can build a temple in a mountain without the government even realizing, surely they can handle a few less-than-scrupulous creditors, right?

(1) – Thanks to Good Morning America, Thursday January 31st, as soon as I figure out the proper way to do an internet citation (Blue Book WHERE ARE YOU?! ) I’ll edit this.

If you want to find out more about the Damanhurians, go to http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Story?id=4216350&page=1.

Title from the song “Right Me Up” by State Radio