The Negev desert

Things can really get to you. Sometimes that happens a lot easier than normal. Last week I traveled, together with a group of entrepreneurs through the Negev-desert. You get simply overwhelmed by the rough and beautiful nature. Especially under the full moon and the crystal clear stars, which light up the entire desert.

Because the desert is a place where you are secluded from the usual context of daily life, it is a place where you can easily be affected by things from within yourself. Surrounded by very little stimulus, your soul starts to stir, your heart speaks clearly, and you cannot just ignore it, you have to face it. A revelation...

The desert breaks you open, it provides you with a secluded place and space. And suddenly you get struck by a totally clear insight, or by new thoughts. You almost become a new person. At once I understood it a little better: ‘sometimes I get through a ‘desert-experience’ and it changes me. This can be in the Negev, but it also can be in a spiritual desert or in a psychological one.’

It often seems totally unexpected that amidst a desert new life is born. But really, it is not that strange. The ‘löss’ of the Negev-desert is carrying many seeds with him, waiting for water. And so, it is possible for some of world’s most beautiful flowers to grow in the middle of the desert.

Jolanda Oosterom