If we put trust in people's ability to organize themselves one might ask: How then does anything ever get done reliably? It gets done because people who are around and resonate see that it needs to be done. All it requires is a certain level of awareness and willingness to do one's part when life calls for it. Immediacy.
I remember two glaring examples of this from my festival days:
Once at Ozora there was a major storm brewing and it started pouring like crazy. So much so that the whole valley was in an uproar, it was quite the exciting day. The universe and the weather set people's priorities, with noone forced to do anything by any centralized human authority.
Cars started slipping from the hills in all the mud, tents were blowing away and people were falling on their ass walking down hills. And you know what? Other people came to their aid.
As soon as a car started slipping or there was a shout for help nearby people came running to help. It was quite the scene and it was beautiful. Human beings lending each other a helping hand, taking responsibility. Doing what needed to be done.
Soon I saw people just walking around looking for ways to help "strangers" on the camping grounds with their cars or tents - cause after all: noone here really was a stranger.
Others felt called to lighten the mood and sang in the rain making nearby people giggle and smile. The whole festival crowd went through this amazing experience, seeing just how efficient and organized such a loose group of people could become when the situation called for it. After the rain passed and things went back to normal you could see most people returning to the mainfloor that had been rather empty all day long during this exciting episode. Swarm intelligence at its finest. It works!
The other situation was quite different but even more glaring, at my first Ozora in 2012.
There was a police raid on the festival grounds! The DJ playing the mainfloor announced the police's arrival over the PA system and that we should all take care of each other and stay calm. And wow what a scene! Police as well as military police with machine gunes. On a hippie festival!
I went to the camping grounds and what I saw amazed me!
There were many groups of uniformed dudes, 4 at a time, and they stopped by every single van, camper or tent camp where people were sitting. And started going through their stuff. To the onlooker it looked quite intimidating. Rough dudes with guns having this sort of authoritarian attitude with serious faces.
And some festival visitors were really scared as the cops went through their stuff and all they could do was stand there with worried faces.
But then something shifted which amazed me.
Wherever there were scared people standing next to their camper other festival visistors would walk up to them and just stand there as well with them, some sat down, others just kept talking like they were before they walked up, sort of casually positioning themselves near the affecte people without changig anything else. Like standing with our fellow man is the most natural thing in the world - an obvious no-brainer to everyone I saw doing it. Wow!
It was like an energetic sign of presence, of passive resistance - energetically. No arguing, no resisting the cops. Just displaying in a non obtrusive manner the power of the swarm being there in groups of people watching the cops do their thing. "We are all in this together. Don't despair."
And you know what? Wherever that happened the cops stopped their search relatively quickly and moved on to the next camper or van at which time the group disbanded momentarily. Problem solved.
The power of presence cannot be overstated and it left a lasting impression on me.
Years later I would find myself still doing the same thing wherever I saw people get into trouble with the security or the cops. Just walking over there and being with them. The subtle energetics of aware people present shifts the entire weight of the group in a way that makes the victims less helpless and more demanding of respect on part the state authorities. Without being in their face about it. Hardly a criminal act standing there, being.
What a lesson! People have so much power, it's just that all too often we choose not to make use of it. Thoughts like: "Oh I don't know this individual" or "what if I get into trouble myself" are mere excuses that weaken the whole field of society. If anyone present just showed a little courage the swarm can overcome any self-appointed authority easily and without any word, resistance or violence.
Centralization is really really weak when it comes down to it, because its power comes from delegation of behavior, whereas swarm intelligence is arising from the inside of aware human beings.
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