CONSULTATION WITH ANACLETO 09 – PERSONAL INITIATIVES FOR SOLVING THE INTERNATIONAL CRISIS
Anacleto, would you have something to tell us about the International Crisis?
We reinforce what was already previously stated elsewhere, regarding the wars and the great crises and calamities: which are an excellent opportunity for collective growth, as much as for individual growth.
What else, in particular, should we do now?
There has to be a greater concern with the other. The empathic sensibility (there is the selfish sensibility, of those who only feel for themselves), the fraternity, the solidarity, all the values that the consumerist, materialistic, and competitive culture attacks and weakens, the family values, for instance, values of friendship, and of fondness for neighbors. Undoubtedly, it is not possible to return to the times of the primitive urban life, in which one could spend hours, every night, at the doorstep, speculating about everything that happens in their neighbors’ lives. Yet, these values can be transferred to our electronic neighbors, those with whom we can weave threads of friendship, even if they are hundreds, or thousands of miles away. People, in the name of efficiency in the job market, in the professional and student life, in several roles they assume, have been neglecting the essential: relationships.
This does not implicate only to spend more time at home and with friends, but also the time spent at work should also be influenced by this new standard. This proposal of greater humanization of the relationships can very well be transposed — and must be — to the workplace, where the interpersonal connections must weigh at least the same amount as the purely professional commitments.
Then, would you suggest more love in the workplace?
Oh, yes. Small initiatives, in this sense, that can be taken. For example: birthday parties in the office, the happy hour with friends on a Friday night — even if, and much better, without any alcoholic element to integrate the group —, the small friendly e-mails on the company’s intranet among coworkers, superiors and subordinates, a sincere smile and the fondness of a little tap on the back shared with everyone.
Would you suggest something else in these days of rush, to make us more human?
That each person set the daily discipline of, at least once a day, establishing a candid and profound dialogue with a family member, including, in the concept of family members, spouses and close friends. Those, for example, who live far away from their parents, can call, at least on alternate days, to ask how they are doing. Those away from their children can do the same. Those distant from good friends can send kind letters of their own handwriting, and rekindle old and cherished memories. Fifteen minutes or half an hour a day dedicated to this practice will keep alive the flame of love, the flame of the most precious accomplishments of the soul. Many people run from work to the TV or computer screen, from there to bed and from bed back to work, without noticing that there are beings, and the most precious human beings in the world to them, at their side, growing up, afflicted or hopeless, without them noticing any sign, until it is too late, and they are left alone and unhappy, consumed in remorse for the lost time. To prioritize relationships, love, is fundamental for a happy and full life.
Does it mean that, in times of crisis, love is the best we can do for the Earth?
There is nothing more important. Attitudes of love improve the psychosphere of the planet, because they create new psychological dispositions, generate a chain of intertwined fraternal events, a domino effect of solidarity and kindness that has positive results for the events in planetary dimension. Obviously, a single initiative or only one person can do very little. However, it will be through these individual and scattered changes, in time and space, that we will plant the seeds of a better, happier and more peaceful world. Let no one doubt the power they harbor to transform the Earth. The world will improve with the transformation of each individual. The responsibility for the improvement of the planet, therefore, is in the hands of its every inhabitant, individually and collectively. May each one do their part, to the maximum extent possible, and all will benefit, gradually but effectively, toward a new era of peace and joy.
Benjamin Teixeira de Aguiar
by the Spirit Matheus-Anacleto.
October 16, 2001.