Last Friday, we gathered at Casita Alegria, a mix of locals, community builders, bohemian entrepreneurs, travelers, friends, and kids, all gathered around a fire to discuss what it means to create, to belong, and to build communities that are more than just algorithms.
There were no speeches, no stage. Just a circle. Each person with a voice, a story, a question.
What emerged was raw, honest, and deeply human.
Creation as Freedom
One thread that returned again and again was the link between creation and freedom.
If we cannot create, we do not feel free. Creation is not only about launching projects or starting businesses. It is about shaping experiences that stay with people: a song, a dance, a shared meal, even tears that cleanse.
To create is to choose life.
Another quite important realisation came up to the fire, on the need to create more than we consume.
Lessons from Elsewhere
Stories came from Costa Rica, where small communities survived the pandemic through WhatsApp groups and skill exchanges. Someone used Airtable to map what people could offer and what they needed. It was not about apps. It was about remembering the obvious: our deepest currency is connection.
And if that is true, then technology should only make it easier for humans to find one another, not replace humans.
The Attention Casino
We spoke about social media and the way it has turned into an attention casino. Feeds saturated with AI content, endless noise, shallow dopamine loops. The question is no longer about what we can build; the tools are already there. The question is: what is worth building? What is needed?
What if online spaces could feel as intentional as ceremonies, as nourishing as a fireside jam?
Community and Its Edges
Community is not an audience. It is not a tribe that demands conformity. We also spoke about the colonial implications of the tribe terminology and decided it’s not a word we should use :) .
Community is a web of relationships that allows freedom and difference. It takes shape through lived experience and shared values, but also through anti-values, the lines we refuse to cross.
To belong is not only to say yes together. It is also to say no.
Seeds of Alternatives
We shared models and experiments: sliding-scale access, local-friendly pricing, and rewarding early adopters. We spoke of simple tools like Lu.ma (no business affiliation, just useful), and how an Ericeira Community Calendar could grow bigger with each event posted, helping more people find what others are creating.
Someone offered the vision of Nature-based AI: instead of metrics and graphs, what if we thought in terms of trees, sunlight, rivers? Each person a tree, carrying both gifts and needs. Communities as forests.
The Inner Work
There were also stories of wounds. Of people burned in earlier communities, betrayed or broken, and of the way pain becomes a teacher.
Freedom, we agreed, is not resisting the old, but choosing creation over repetition.
The ember is inside each of us. The work is to tend it, gently, until it becomes fire again.
Closing the Circle
We ended with music, food, laughter, and the presence of children running around. A reminder that community is not built in theory. It is built in breath, in sound, in shared meals, and in the willingness to sit together in honesty.
🌿 This is just the beginning.
If you were there, or even if you weren’t, you are invited to keep the ember alive:
Share your reflections here: https://tally.so/r/woPypN
Join the conversation on our WhatsApp group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/DNsK1yir9Gx9fLhK853h02
First ember:
Explore and use the Ericeira Community Calendar: lu.ma/ericeira
Adding your events to the lu.ma/ericeira community calendar benefits everyone. Each time an event is published, participants who register automatically become subscribers to the calendar. This means they will naturally receive updates about future events, not just yours but those of the whole community. With every new event, the reach of the calendar grows, discoverability increases, and it becomes easier for more people to find out about what is happening in Ericeira. In this way, today’s events lay the groundwork for tomorrow’s gatherings.
Here’s how to add your events to the community calendar:
Community Events Calendar - Based on Lu.ma platform - Watch Video
Through respira.buzz, I’m building a decentralized communities toolkit: a simple operating system that helps groups self-organize, share resources, and support each other outside the grip of algorithms.
What is Respira.buzz?
Respira.buzz is a toolkit for decentralized communities. Think of it as a simple operating system for groups that makes it easier to organize without relying on big platforms or social media feeds.
Here is how it works:
Community events are added to Lu.ma, and the Respira Telegram Bot acts as an announcer. Whenever someone uses the bot, they can see the current events, whether there are tickets left or not, and click directly to get a ticket.
Anyone can sign up as a seller and add a catalogue of products and services that are neatly categorized on Telegram
The whole community can browse the catalogue and order. This can either lead to a personal conversation with the seller or a direct transaction with a card (crypto or Telegram stars options considered) or cash. Once confirmed, the checkout is followed by delivery of the product or service.
This also works for exchanges, bartering, or lending
The goal is to give communities simple tools to self-organize, share resources, and support one another in a way that is more human and less algorithm-driven.
My dream is to pioneer it here in Ericeira, together with you.
Let’s tend the ember.
~ Mihai
Casita Alegria, Ericeria, August 20th, 2025, 6:33 PM
P.S. Thank you
🙏One more thing..
I am looking for a grounded community builder who wants to take ownership of this pilot in the Ericeira community. If this speaks to you, let’s talk. I am also open to conversations with other communities who feel called to explore these tools and ways of organizing.
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