Hoday, after many years, I may have come to the market here for the first time. There are so many economies here. Shopping - of course - routines run their course too... Efficiency - the best for the best price. Meeting people, looking out for acquaintances. What I've never seen is the social aspect. People know each other and play music for each other. Sharing coffee and quiche, stories and singing together. How do you perceive a market, how do you participate in it? A person who sees himself as spiritual and energetic sat down next to me. He lives in the side street. He asked me if he could give me a message from the universe. Why not? We had a nice little chat about positivity, self-love, freedom and tolerance...
Playing for the birds
I had sat down next to a guitar player, he was playing Latin American sad music, beautiful. He often just plays in the forest for the birds, probably used to play concerts. He doesn't take any money. A businessman wanted to leave money, there was no basket. He puts a euro on a box. That was an insult, alms that seem to make the giver feel good. But how petty is the perceived happiness when it is worth one euro? What is a person who plays for the birds supposed to do with one euro? He was not even noticed, an economic parallel universe.
What had happened? I became part of the market for a moment. I communicated in many different ways with the people who either have a stall there, or are neighbors who come for a little chat, and with children who are playing. The tourists suddenly became invisible. As if by magic, they were suddenly mere shadows. A liveliness of the here and now opened up for me, I was allowed to participate in it. When I left, I was bid farewell like one of them. We were there together for a moment. We shared it, enjoyed it, free as the birds.
