Three years after Silo’s death, we recall the history of the man that gave origin to the Humanist Movement, a spiritual movement that spread to every continent and is now the philosophical basis of the Humanist Party .
Silo, whose name is Mario Rodriguez Cobos, was born in Mendoza, Argentina, in 1938. After abandoning his law studies at the University of Cordoba, he decided to start a trip through South America and, with it, the internal search for answers that would help the understanding of the human being, their existential conflicts and social problems.
Thus Silo gave birth to a spiritual current, worldwide, which was expressed in a social, cultural and political movement: the Humanist Movement . Over time, this movement spurred numerous organizations and action fronts, among which is the Humanist Party, present in 30 countries, the Community for Human Development, World without Wars and Violence and the World Center for Humanist Studies.
First public speech
The sun was shining, but the cold of the mountain felt hard. At the foot of Aconcagua, in the middle of the Andes, Silo ‘s message could be heard by to more than 200 attendees, amid the repression of the dictatorship of the time. But despite the armed control, Silo achieved the goal and sent his first public message in the presence of friends from Chile and Argentina, in addition to national and foreign press.
In this spectacular scenery, isolated and desolate, called Punta de Vacas, on May 4,1969, Silo, 31 at the time, led the clandestine meeting that was to outwit the military dictatorship. He addressed issues of personal and social suffering, talked about physical, economic, racial and religious violence and the change in mental attitude to deal with the events already in the horizon around the world.
On that occasion Silo said “If you have come to listen to a man who it is thought transmits wisdom, you have mistaken your way, for true wisdom is not communicated through books or speeches—true wisdom is found in the depths of your consciousness, just as true love is found in the depths of your heart. ( … ) You are listening to a man who does not know the laws that rule the Universe, who is not privy to the laws of History, who is ignorant of the relationships that govern the peoples of the world. ( … ) You should know that this suffering is based on the violence in your own consciousness. Spurred by desire, the violence in a person does not simply remain like a sickness in the consciousness of that person—it acts in the world of other people and is exercised upon them. Only inner faith and inner meditation can end the violence in you, in others, and in the world around you. My brother, my sister, keep these simple commandments, as simple as these rocks, this snow, and this sun that bless us. Carry peace within you, and carry it to others. To you, my brother and sister, I cast this hope—this hope of joy, this hope of love—so that you elevate your heart and elevate your spirit, and so that you do not forget to elevate your body.”
After that meeting, in 1972 Silo published his book called “The Inner Look” which would be the backbone of his teachings and where the thinker states the 12 Principles of Valid Action, which aim to help understand the process towards internal unity. These are:
1. To go against the evolution of things is to go against yourself.
2. When you force something toward an end, you produce the contrary.
3. Do not oppose a great force. Retreat until it weakens, then advance with resolution.
4. Things are well when they move together, not in isolation.
5. If day and night, summer and winter are well with you, you have surpassed the contradictions.
6. If you pursue pleasure, you enchain yourself to suffering. But as long as you do not harm your health, enjoy without inhibition when the opportunity presents itself.
7. If you pursue an end, you enchain yourself. If everything you do is realized as though it were an end in itself, you liberate yourself.
8. You will make your conflicts disappear when you understand them in their ultimate root, not when you want to resolve them.
9. When you harm others you remain enchained, but if you do not harm anyone you can freely do whatever you want.
10. When you treat others as you want them to treat you, you liberate yourself.
11. It does not matter in which faction events have placed you. What matters is that you comprehend that you have not chosen any faction.
12. Contradictory or unifying actions accumulate within you. If you repeat your acts of internal unity, nothing can detain you.
Over the years, Silo kept deepening into this complex path of inner knowledge, and from there to the ways to cope with physical, social and economic violence. Like his wisdom, the number of Silo’s followers kept growing considerably, his influence reflected in different organizations calling to active nonviolence and his message was heard around the world.
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary meeting of the universal humanist movement, on January 2, 2009 Silo delivered a speech to a multitudinous crowd in Punta de Vacas. At the foot of Aconcagua it was attended amongst many by Angel Abarca, Humanist Party activist, who remembers Silo and his message as follows: “That’s what communicated the theme of humility; seeing Silo talking to more than five thousand people denoting absolute selflessness. What he projected became really inspiring. What I heard conveyed the importance of consistent horizontality, there is nothing above the human being.”
A day like today, on 16 September 2010, aged 72 years, Silo died in his hometown Chacras de Coria, Mendoza, Argentina. Currently, Punta de Vacas is a Center of Reflection and Study where the spirit of Silo is still present and energy rises with the slogan that emerged in that place, Peace, Force and Joy.
