The founder of Damanhur, sent these reflections to be read at the World Conference for Peace, Harmony and Non-violence, in Alyar, India, August 2002.
Peace is one of the most pressing problems facing humanity today, requiring urgent, effective solutions. Yet before we can speak of peace, it is important to establish what is meant by peace. The absence of war is not peace. An armistice is not peace. In order to achieve peace, it we do not need to have a winner and a loser.
In order to achieve peace in the wolrd, an exchange of human and territorial resources needs to bring more advantages than the conflict. There cannot be complete, lasting peace when others are robbed of their resources; it can happen only through co-operation, which can be achieved when the involved parties understand that it will bring advantages to everyone.
A respect for differences and all cultures is thus crucial because the resources, in order to be useful to everyone, must be diversified; it is the exchange of what is different that can permit an avoidance of conflicts aimed at aquiring resources. An equal and fair exchange arises out of the differences between cultures. It is the wealth rooted in the territory that allows for the creation of a local market.
Education plays a very important role in this process, being the means to cultivate valuable human resources. The differences constitute a great wealth that can be best expressed through specialisation. Specialisation is the result of the characteristics of the territory, the culture and the traditions of peoples and individuals. The cultural, genetic and individual differences must be respected, encouraged and rewarded. Intelligence must be stimulated in order to create equal exchange, constant growth and renewal of cultures.
In the world today, there are so many sad examples of peoples who use their customs and traditional cerimonies to attract tourists and their money. This impoverishes even more than ever. It is a new formula of induced colonialism which denies the dignity of these peoples. There can be full dignity even in poverty, but not if we accept this modern formula of imperialism. Those who accept alms-giving accept the crumbs of others. That does not create peace but only generates rage against these new colonisers who take away from these peoples the ability to produce something that has value.
Personal advantage generates poverty for others; collective advantage generates shared prosperity. Damanhur came into being and flourished on the basis of this idea, demonstrating that this method works not only in theory but also in practice. Damanhur has grown without any external financial backing, basing its development on its own strengths and above all on the integration of the human resources that make it up. With 30 years of experience, it is ready to teach its method and to exchange ideas, resources and experiences with whoever is interested, whether they be an institution, a group or an individual. Together we can bring about new sustainable societies, based on equal exchange and respect for differences, in order to create true and lasting peace among all the cultures and peoples of the planet.
Damanhur is located outside of Turin Italy. It is an Intentional Community. I implore you to google Damanhur and see peace in action. Many wonderful things are happening all over Gaia...transformation is taking place.
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