How can we remain human in a world that is increasingly turning into an artificial and inhuman place?

Even after 45 years, I still remember what my body felt like as a five year old. I had no intellectual concept what it meant to be a human being on planet Earth. All I felt was a close connection to nature and to all living beings, of which I was one. I felt wild, alive, strong, loved and curious. I didn’t feel that I was superior as a human to any wild species around me may it be a tree, a dog or a wild animal, and if someone had told me that we humans are separate from nature, I would have strongly disagreed.

Our intuition knows the way

At around the age of six, the socio-cultural system hit my childhood hard and I was taught in school that my behavior was intolerable for a human, but especially for a girl. I was far too wild, showed no respect for the hierarchy and asked too many questions. I was furious and tried to fight for my freedom because I felt like a wild cat locked in a cage. It didn’t get any better for me at school, because the capitalist patriarchy I grew up with wasn’t interested in enfolding my creativity or interested in my expression of curiosity and certainly not in my strange behavior, which still made most adults uncomfortable, but even the children who seemingly fitted into the system found me annoying.

Finding my place

As a young woman, I was convinced that I could still find my place in a highly traumatized society. I studied international business and public relations, learnt to suppress any emotions and essentially behaved like a man in my work environment so that I could have a career, even though I still saw myself as a woman. It didn’t work for long. At the age of 35, after a deep personal crisis, I started my own business.

Enfolding my creativity

I didn’t dare calling myself an artist, writer or photographer, so I started working in advertising and marketing for companies that became my clients. Soon I became a filmmaker, then a business consultant and finally, after a lot of personal development and trauma-based body work, I was brave enough to show myself as the person I was always meant to be. Since then I’ve been working as a photographer, writer or film maker and no, I still can’t make a living from it. The hype around AI and the economic crisis might have an impact here, but that’s not our topic today. Therefore I did something that scared the hell out of me: I took a part-time job as a shop assistant in November 2024. The job, which was only meant to support me financially, turned out to be the greatest gift for my personal development.

Witnessing with compassion

Because in the charming old shop where I work, I have discovered my infinite love for us humans, me included. I see them all, the friendly ones, the mean ones, the stressed ones, the arrogant ones and the cruel ones. And I observe them without judgement or prejudice, because I too have learned what it means to be a human being in a society that constantly wants to transform you into someone more rational, more obedient, more efficient and more controllable, basically into robots. I watch all those humans with compassion, love and kindness, and I often see them come alive within minutes of entering the shop where I work. Their eyes light up and there is so much gratitude and connection felt because I I truly see them. And yes, I get a lot of crappy reactions too, but as an adult I know it’s not my fault or my responsibility to change myself or anyone, it’s okay to just be present and let everyone be themselves.

What does it mean for me to be a human these days?

It means feeling vulnerable, curious, wild, brave, messy and beautiful.

Deep roots, a strong back, a pure mind, a free soul and a wild heart: Those are my ingredients for growing into our own humanity. And we are all still evolving. And isn’t that the most beautiful thing? That we humans were never meant to become something solid and separate, but that we are allowed to be wild, living beings among others, living in a wild, living nature that is giving so freely and abundantly?