Auroville: Experiments Beyond Wellbeing and the Good Life Towards Planetary Unity

By seeking human unity, Auroville in South India is a place of socio-spiritual experimentation that provides a space for the physical and immaterial manifestation of wellbeing and the good life for humans and the planet alike. Based on a series of structured conversations with selected residents of Auroville, the authors explore the manifold meanings of wellbeing and the good life in this particular context. These narratives touch upon questions and methods of inner transformation, inner and outer manifestations, personal evolution and collective work as an offering, the role of karma yoga, and Auroville as an experimental laboratory including its physical realisation. But they do not stop there at this junction, for the quest is much more ambitious with the ideals and vision of establishing divine life on earth through the methodological approach of Integral Yoga. The wholistic perspective of unity thus calls for planetary wellbeing which incorporates all of the non-human world as well. Therefore, the essay presents the intermeshed significance of physical place making of building a town in the spirit of planetary unity. Consequently, the conversations challenge some of the current prominent buzzwords such as sustainability and Anthropocene while offering insights into possibilities of deep transformation that can inspire other people and places in facing the ongoing planetary polycrisis.