We women know a lot but many are afraid to speak, I want to change this.
We are more than half way through our Global Campus time! Our days are busy, and we are diving deep into the study and the social fabric of this global community. During the last four days we had Sabine Lichtenfels and Benjamin von Mendelssohn leading us in ‘Community Knowledge and Love School’, taking time in the big group and smaller project groups to hear about the issues the communities and individuals face, questions about love and community building, and the visions for the future.
Yesterday we heard Rubi from Colombia: “During this time I have been listening what is the essence I can bring home. I feel a responsibility to bring back the important information. I wish to show the women back home that we as woman can take an important role in our community. I am gathering information to help women to build the courage to speak publicly – this fear of speaking holds us back. We women know a lot but many are afraid to speak, I want to change this. I feel more relaxed here now, and I am learning a lot”.
One of the gifts of this time is to feel the strength of the project leaders, and feel the big love, support and knowledge they offer each other. Hellem from Brazil told the Colombian women “I see the strength they can bring to their community”. Ismail from Palestine said “I see them like Arab women. There is no reason to be shy. Arab women walk through the streets with their eyes down. Women should walk with their eyes lifted. I see the power of the feminine in them.”
Earlier that day, during a final question and answer section, Sabine Lichtenfels said “Women must dare to speak. We come from such a history of violence. We also fought against men. Now, we need to find our compassion for men and know our responsibility and part in patriarchy. We must find our memory in the female source.”
Diving into this topic of love and community is so delicate, especially in a group with such diverse cultural backgrounds. We take a lot of time for deep listening, hearing moving stories from family history, cultural practices, and exploring the deep longings for love and partnership. Tamera is a project to save love and, for the past three decades, has been engaged in a radical research to free love from fear and create social structures that support the building of trust between humans and all of life. Sabine Lichtenfels gave a beautiful and clear opening speech for this time, making sure it is clear there is no flag or imposing of a value system. She said “War comes from world views, Peace comes through true contact.”
As we ended the community and love school time, we said goodbye to Sabine who now goes on a healing journey with Dieter Duhm to Peru, to contact indigenous knowledge and the power of the Amazon jungle. As they go, we continue, beginning a study time on ecology and the physical manifestation of model villages. As always, we continue to tend the individual movements of each of us, knowing that the inner peace work and community building serves a greater collective transformation of humanity and our relationship to the earth.
