Liberation
The Sun in the Nordics in spring and summer is intoxicating. After long and cold winter months, being with the Sun is a self-transcendent experience. These days, I can see the Sun from my northern window, something I could not do in winter. The stones are the only decorations we have in our home. They were brought home from Bornholm by my partner. He found them by the sea. There are many stones like this, and one day we will return them to nature, as we have done with all the other stones that we've taken from nature for a while.
I was looking out of the window thinking yet again about our (human) basic needs. Sunlight, clean and fresh air and water. Safe shelter and energy, food, clothing, medicine, transportation, education. Surely some humans need more than others, but generally our basic needs are the same. And this is where our focus as a society should be. It is unacceptable that some fellow humans don't have a safe shelter or enough food while others overconsume. As an anarchist, I do not believe in governments or groups of experts assigning, e.g., carbon permits to citizen. I think that orientation towards basic needs and sufficiency must come from within and be part of one's life's philosophy.
Spring and summer feel like such perfect seasons for experiencing liberation. During these seasons, I use much less energy to keep our home warm. I wear less clothing. These days, I'm experimenting with letting go of more things. For example, I am using soap only for my hands. I wash my body and my face with water only, and so far it's working so well. I finally closed my bank account in Finland. It feels freeing.