Today is the day when committed leaders or founders of different projects are invited to the institute.
Different panels are offered on the themes of water, nutrition, education, spirituality and music. Again we are touched by the richness of thought and action that gathers here in one place.
I would like to highlight especially Hermes — he says that he is neither the Greek nor the Egyptian god, but the Hermes of the peasants. He wanted to provide opportunities for people growing up in difficult circumstances similar to his own to get a new perspective on life. He built a school under the bridge.
It is moving to hear the commitment and also humor with which he talks about his work. He spent more than 10 years in prison, he escaped again and again. Twice they picked him up again. He doesn’t complain about his fate, but says that this was also part of what prepared him for his leadership. It was the nucleus and forge of his personality. I learned what it means to develop a free mind, a free heart and a free spirituality. When he came out of prison, he started to build a school.
I came back to the favela, a favela with the second highest rate of violence in the world.
Arakurin, Capoeira master, who inspired our youth in Tamera, speaks in a very similar way about the core of spirituality, he tells how he had to leave Catholicism and he was led to Capoeira, as a source of power and spirituality. “We are responsible for our thoughts and for our actions, and often do not realize how much we are controlled by negative thoughts. Tamera has made a big difference in my life. I am so grateful that you are here! Now let’s create our Tamera here! There is no revolution on the outside without a real revolution on the inside.”
The highlight of the event was a samba session. Samantha Santos, over 70 years old, loved and admired by all, filled the room with her deep lively voice. Gabriel, who previously held a panel with her, supports her with his musical soul. Samantha talks about how music saved her life. Around her, four men support her with their percussion and voices. Little by little the room fills with dancing people. Samba is a living source for them all to transform their pain into strength. It is something that holds them together. What strikes me is the powerful charisma of the mature women, with their wrinkles and shapes they radiate a kind of dignity and liveliness that we can take as an example. Kitchen, cookingand children, these are not inferior values here, from which one must liberate oneself, they form the heart of the revolutionary force.
One senses that lively women’s circles are forming here, where emancipation is not directed against the man, but they are concerned with a responsible participation in the values of a new society and a real femininity. They all know that they have to speak, to get out of silence, to overcome patriarchy on a new deep level of participation in the destiny of humanity. That there is still much work to be done here, they know.
In the late afternoon, the “Defend the Sacred Alliance” meets for the first time among ourselves. It is challenging to find the right words. What do we stand for as an alliance? Can we see next points that we want to take to ourselves together? Stuart leads us into a perceptual space with the question: what touched us in particular and which question emerge from this space? For me, three points of high need come up: youth, global campus, and art. These are the aspects that call me especially, where my heart feels that next steps are here and where my biocomputer works . I write this only as one person, not on behalf of the whole alliance. There is a transformation that leads to greater and greater commitment to the inner voice. I see a youh camp in front of my inner eyes, where music and art are in the center as a source of revolution. With youths from the Colombian peace community, the youth from the favela, maybe from Cameroon. By getting to know each other, they feel the pulse of the times and that they are part of a larger global movement. They need to feel that they belong to something bigger.
You often have to go far away to see the value we create as a nucleus for others. And now accept the responsibility. The cultural crystal, it is polished in other ways than we sometimes think.
After such a highlight, there is another one. A free evening – let your soul dangle! We go to a nearby bar and restaurant. It was built by a friend of Claudio. A wonderful party with lots of music and dancing! A collective love space has been set free and now wants to find expression. It moves me to tears to see German and Levis blossom. For once not having to carry the responsibility and experiencing a joy of life that corresponds to their age.