The village of outcast souls
There is a road leading to one of the mountains in Armenia. You have to walk through bushes and trees to get to it. Few people from the world of the ‘healthy” go there. Locals tell stories about this village. They say, if you are lucky, you will be accepted in their land and find a life of peace and harmony. But if you don’t accept their rules, your body will burn and turn to ash.
People from the world of the “healthy” try not to talk about this village. Only a few courageous ones make the trip. Some of them never return. They find their place in the village and live with the outcasts till the end of their lives.
There is one precondition to being accepted in this village. You should do what you really like. Simple enough, but many of the “healthy” don’t know what they really want to do. Others who know what they want cannot leave their attachments in the world of “normal people.” Only the lucky and courageous ones enjoy a place in the village.
Those who have been in the village tell us that there is a man sitting under an oak tree and smoking a pipe. The white smoke rises into the air and gives a taste of magic to the village.
They say there is someone to manage all their finances. They know when and how to spend.
Every person has a role in the village. There are doers, decision-makers, executors, dreamers, visionaries, and people of all kinds of professions. They all do what they really like to do.
There is no fighting in this village. The outcast souls created a land of harmony.
How did they manage to do that? What was different in the village of outcasts? How did it separate itself from the rest of the world? After all, these were souls that lived in the dark for a long time. How could they manage to get out of the dark and enjoy life to the hilt?
As the writer of these stories, I interviewed one of the souls on this topic. Here is what he said:
I lived in the dark for a very, very long time. The world was scary. Any time I tried to get out of my secret place, the world responded to me with pain. After a while, I learned to live in the dark. But don’t think that those in the “normal world” did not suffer because of me. I gave them as much pain as they gave me. I was a secret demon that tortured the “normal bodies” and made life unbearable for them. Yes, I was demonic. It was me that was giving pain and suffering to the normal people. It was me that was creating chaos and despair in their lives. Why? Because they never turned to me and never asked me what I really wanted. In fact, I wanted to be accepted the way I was.
I did not meet their standards, and that’s why people turned away from me and pretended I wasn’t there, that I didn’t exist. How insane! I was there and I wanted to be part of their world with my outcast body and mind.
Only after I changed did they let me in. First one or two, then many “normals” would start questioning their lives. What is it that is missing? Why can’t we be happy? And then, only then would they acknowledge me. These courageous people would look into the eyes of pain and go through it themselves. These few would accept me and the many other outcast souls.
Then they would see what I had known, but been too off-kilter to communicate: we have dreams. We have stories to tell. Then these courageous people who spoke with me ceased to be afraid of their own demons. They would stand firm and say, “Yes, you exist.” That is the start of the journey to the land of wonders.
So, if you want to get to the village of outcasts, you should be able to meet your own demons. But that isn’t easy, and I will tell you why. You are too concerned with yourself. You prefer to live the lie than to face the harsh truth about yourself. You blame others, you fight, you hate. Why do you do that? I will tell you why. You need to fight one supervening demon in you which has the mask of pride. Why do I say it has the mask of pride? Because underneath pride there is peace and joy. But first, you have to let go of your pride in order to see the lake of peace and joy. Can you do that? I guess you can if you are here and reading these lines. I guess you also went through the pain and suffering until you said “enough” or “something is wrong.” Until you decided to turn to yourself and say, “I am what I am and I accept myself the way I am.”
If you are reading these lines, it means you made this journey, and I want to accept you in the village of outcasts. Where is it? In Armenia, in the high mountains? Wrong! It’s everywhere! You can find it in an island country like Japan… You can find it in Afghanistan, which is famous for its harsh life and horror stories… You can find it in Australia and Germany…. Anywhere! And you know why? Because the true place of the village of outcasts is the human heart. When you build that village in your heart, life becomes a lot easier and, certainly, peaceful. I don’t mean that you will be happy if you find the village of outcasts but one thing I guarantee – you will be peaceful. You will accept the external world just as you accept your inner world. That’s analytic. If you accept us – the outcast souls that have become demons inside you – you will accept the external world as well. That’s a truth.
So, any time you are unhappy and angry at the world, ask yourself, “Who is that demonic soul that is sitting inside me?” Ask that question and you will soon find the answer.
Transadaptation Volume 6 – Meaning? – Uncertainty, Instability and Extremes Transadapted
January: A Regular Train Trip – Mateusz Tymoszewski (Poland)
February: Growing Up – Adriana Uribe (Columbia)
March: Mess – Veronika Groke (Austria)
April: The Roads We Take – Svetlana Molchanova (Russia)
May: Need – Nadia Silva Castro (Brazil)
June: “Next Sunshine” – Jonay Quintero Hernandez (Spain)
July: Intentions – Narantsogt Baatarkhuu (Mongolia)
August: Planet Kyiv – Anastasiia Leonova (Ukraine)
September: Torn – Ulrike Bergmeister (Germany)
October: Stories of Outcast Souls – Armine Asryan (Armenia)
November: Ronaldinha – Alejandra Baccino (Uruguay)
December: Aimlessly – Krisztina Janosi (Hungary)
Background – Context
Transadaptation Volume 5: Of Flowing Vicissitudes – Life Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2024)
Transadaptation Volume 4: Material Dissent – Adulthood Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2023)
Transadaptation Volume 3: Evanescent – Young Adulthood Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2022)
Transadaptation Volume 2: Conceived – Childhood Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2021)
Transadaptation Volume 1: In the Middle – Prelude to a Contemporary Transadaptation, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2020)
Peripatetic Alterity: A Philosophical Treatise on the Spectrum of Being – Romantics and Pragmatists by Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2019)
La Syncrétion of Polarization and Extremes Transposée, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2019)
The Codex of Uncertainty Transposed, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2018)
L’anthologie of Global Instability Transpuesta, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2017)
From Wahnsinnig to the Loony Bin: German and Russian Stories Transposed to Modern-day America, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2013)
Emblems and stories on the international community
Perception by country – Transposing emblems, articles, short stories and reports from around the world
Credits
Left side (top to bottom): 1. Yerevan, Armenia – The block – Uladzislau Petrushkevich (Unsplash); 2. Dilijan, Armenia – Traditional – Erinada Valpurgieva (Unsplash)
Middle (top to bottom): 1. Yerevan, Armenia – Road sign – Sergey Isakhanyan (Unsplash); 2. Yerevan, Armenia – Republic square – Joejo Joestar (Unsplash)
Right side (top to bottom): 1. Yerevan, Armenia – Home – Ali Haghighi (Unsplash); 2. Yerevan, Armenia – Soviet style – Artur Adilkhanian (Unsplash)
Source: The Codex of Uncertainty Transposed