Civil disobedience and push towards change: let’s build together the community of Custodi della Terra
I don’t watch television, I don’t read newspapers, I rarely seek out news that can be assimilated via the internet. Despite everything, at the end of January I was informed about a dangerous virus that was hitting China. Precisely in that period, my partner and I took a flight to Koh Phangan in Thailand. We would spend a month there to regenerate after a particularly intense year. During the journey we met the first masked human beings, especially Orientals, something that we initially found bizarre and amusing.
I had never looked into the subject before then, but I already noticed how people used the medical device clumsily: they put on and took off the mask dozens of times an hour, they ate and drank in crowded bars, they put it back on and then took it off again at their mobile phone, at passport control and so on. Difficult to understand the reason for such an absurd practice.
Thailand: where we regenerated in body and spirit
Having arrived at Koh Phangan and precisely at The Sanctuary Thailand the memory of masks vanished, even though from time to time we received some not very reassuring information from Italy. The month of February for us was a real tonic. Waking up early in the morning whilst the sun appeared on the sea on the horizon. We could admire its rise directly from the hammock on the balcony overshadowed by enormous and spectacular trees. After a few breaths and a glass of spring water we went to the Buddha Hall where we practised an hour and a half of Anahata Yoga with Peter Clifford. At the end of the yoga class, swim in the sea, cold shower under the rock and breakfast fit for a king. Giulia would then sunbathe whilst I remained in the shade to study, read and write. Our activities were interrupted from time to time by a fresh coconut or some smoothie and light meals. In the late afternoon another swim in the sea, sometimes a walk in the surroundings and then concluding with a little dinner on the beach before it got dark.
The communication of fear
We returned to Italy at the end of February and returned home without problems: after a few days the Covid-19 era began. Despite the alarmism we continued not to watch TV, not to read newspapers and to live as usual. It was evident, even just indirectly, how the information and images that were communicated through the media had no usefulness for the population, but the simple purpose of terrorising them, as if we were at war. The first available data already highlighted how, like any influenza, Covid-19 seriously affected only people who were severely physically debilitated. The media, therefore, could have set up positive communication, encouraging adherence to a healthy lifestyle: healthy eating, sun in the open air, walks in the woods, cold baths and showers, good interpersonal relationships. Unfortunately the exact opposite happened. Today the media, the economy and politics push us increasingly towards an artificial lifestyle that envisages the constant use of medicines, encourages a sedentary lifestyle and constant exposure to technological devices, discourages the initiative of micro-enterprise, invites individualism and ignorance. As soon as we returned home, in our disbelief and that of many, the health dictatorship called by the media lockdown began. We immediately asked ourselves whether it was right to support restrictions that didn’t respect fundamental human rights and damaged nature.
Civil disobedience: an act of civilisation
Thus began our civil disobedience which, unlike how many interpreted it, was not a failure to take responsibility but exactly the opposite. Our past choices proved favourable. We live in a natural paradise surrounded by woods which is Autosufficienza Farm. We decided to be even more responsible by paying attention to the right hours of sleep, eating healthily, walking in the woods, cultivating our land, taking supplements that raise the immune system, doing breathing exercises every morning. We feel like “Custodi della Terra” and as such we have chosen to take responsibility for our health always and not only in case of epidemics. Our body has always been in contact with viruses, bacteria and fungi and could not survive otherwise. We don’t need medicines, vaccines or other poisons. We don’t have to find a cure for all the diseases in the world, but rather make sure that our body, our immune system is ready to react in the best possible way to the external environment. Perhaps we shouldn’t even call diseases by name any more but rather give a name to the imbalance that causes the disease. How can you solve an error without understanding its causes?
Vivi Consapevole Live: an event for change
In the midst of the health dictatorship through the Vivi Consapevole Live event we tried to communicate a different reality, a reality of love instead of fear. Doctors, journalists, free thinkers, farmers, therapists who have chosen the path of awareness in their life journey and have put themselves at the service of the common good spoke at the event. Over 60,000 people registered for the event: many, amongst these, would like to build a healthy society based on balance and harmony, between us and the environment. The health dictatorship is a new limitation in the realisation of this dream, but for many it represented a strong push to become the change they want to see in the world.
The society of the Custodi della Terra
A significant mass of people doesn’t want to change, has chosen to live through the filter and control of TV and the major media. They participate in party political debate with confidence, consume based on advertising and fashions, find advantages in the globalisation of markets and consider cooperation unnecessary in the euphoria of an individualism and independence never seen before in history. However, there is a growing critical mass that no longer trusts what the mainstream media communicate, seeks alternative information, searches for spaces to connect with nature, takes care of their own health autonomously, often purchases critically favouring local, unpolluted, ethical items. They seek people with similar thinking to be able to cooperate, perhaps even share a life in an ecovillage, a cohousing or an association. The paths of humanity are separating more and more: communication and interaction are becoming increasingly difficult. Today it’s up to us to demonstrate with facts that we can build a different society, which can be convenient and inclusive for everyone.
Written by Francesco Rosso. This article was featured in the magazine Vivi Consapevole 62, September/November 2020.
