On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Public Act in Mumbai, held by The Community of Human Development

 

(Personal Narrative)

On Oct 31, the 40th anniversary of a public act will be held, revisiting what was said and launched in the Mission of 1981, Humanizing the Earth.

At the invitation of the Community for Human Development in various countries, Silo took part in a tour during which he spoke at a number of public events. His speeches were accompanied by those of his friends Bittiandra Aiyyappa, Saki Binudin, Petur Gudjonsson, Nicole Myers, Salvatore Puledda, and Daniel Zuckerbrot. The talks were held in public acts in Madrid, Barcelona, Reykjavik, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Milan, Colombo, Paris, Mexico City, and finally for Asia, in Bombay.

The key message was: There is a crisis brewing but in spite of this, there is a future and a way to open that future.

Is it still relevant in today’s trying times? When a global crisis is affecting everyone everywhere and the future looks bleak and uncertain?

I look back at my experience and my memories to find an answer.

40 years ago,1981…

It is 6 pm the end of a regular workday. I am walking home, happily, with an overwhelming sense of freedom from the day-to-day routine, the coming days looming wide open ahead of me.

I was going on a trip to the mysterious, mystical land of India, to Mumbai, then known as Bombay, to take part in a Public Act organized by humanists of the Community for Human Development at Chowpatty Beach.

Two years prior, stepping out from college, I went through a personal crisis they call a “quarter-life crisis”, searching for something that would be more meaningful than the usual options in front of me. I was searching for a meaning in my life, in life. The book written by Silo, The Inner Look, gave me a glimpse of what I was searching for.

So it was that, in 1979, I joined the Community for Human Development, a humanist organism that was formed around Silo’s writings. I found a philosophy a way of life and of doing in the world that, since then, I found to be full of meaning.

Then news came that Silo and a team of speakers were going to India to give a public message. An opportunity to hear firsthand what Silo had to say was not to be missed.

A bunch of us Filipinos took the plane to Hong Kong to meet up with other humanists from other parts of Asia who were also going. Our Hong Kong friends, Norma and Puchi, helped get the tickets for everyone (at a budget-friendly price which made it possible for me to go, who, at that time, had just started working) and even made sleeping arrangements for the stopover in Hong Kong.

My first visit to Hong Kong. Meeting new and old friends who shared the same aspirations. I stayed in a lovely flat at Victoria Peak which overlooked the western part of Hong Kong island. We rode the Star ferry, walked the streets and shared stories before getting on the plane for a six-hour ride to Mumbai/Bombay.

It was evening when we arrived. The city was a glittering sea of multicolored lights as the Diwali, Festival of Lights, was in full swing.

We were greeted by our Indian friends who had organized the whole event and accompanied us visitors during our whole stay. We arrived a few days before the public act and had some time to experience life in an age-old city. It was like stepping back in time to an ancient culture still vibrantly alive. A heady mix of spices, tastes and textures, multi-colored sarees, Hindu lingams, devas and icons, Indian snake charmers and all.

While we walked the bustling streets inviting the passersby to come to the event we saw the sights of the city, tasted Indian food, even visited a sacred Hindu cave to experience Hindu worship.

Then comes D-day. We were all hands on deck setting the outdoor stage by the beach just when a typhoon was threatening with rain and strong winds.

But, no worries says Silo. The weather will calm down, will cooperate. And, true enough, it does.

Over 10,000 people came to listen to a man and his message. But this man, known as Silo, thinker and founder of universal humanism, does not stand alone. This was a man who always worked in and with a team. A team of speakers accompanied Silo. And all the visitors from the other countries were asked to go on stage, myself included.

Seeing the sea of people respond to the speeches given by the team was energizing, all standing when Silo ended his talk, in a ceremonial manner, saying:

“You must begin a new life, and you must have faith in what you can do. In order for this to be possible, accompany me in a free, courageous, and profound act that is also a commitment to reconciliation. Go to your parents, your loved ones, your companions; go to your friends and your enemies alike, and tell them with an open heart, “Something great and new has happened in me today,” and explain to them this message of reconciliation. Let me repeat this: Go to your parents, your loved ones, those close to you; go to your friends and your enemies alike, and tell them with an open heart, Something great and new has happened in me today,” and explain to them this message of reconciliation. To all of you, Peace, Force, and Joy!”

The whole experience filled me with hope and optimism, and a drive to share this message. It was a shining, inspiring moment.  I went home with something great and good within me to share with my family and friends. With renewed faith in myself, in others and in life itself, I and other humanist friends went on to work voluntarily, doing what we could do on projects that hoped to contribute towards building a culture of non-violence and non-discrimination, with a vision of humanizing the earth.

Forty years later, by reviewing what was said there in the light of the current global crisis, can we say there is hope? That there is still a future? If 40 years ago, a message was launched into the future?

On October 31st, the team of speakers who were with Silo has put together to present a review of the Mumbai Public Act with this view in mind. To affirm that with faith in oneself and in others, fear, suffering, violence and destruction can be overcome. To affirm once more that strong faith in the future and its message of hope and reconciliation.

.There is more information on this website:

https://pazfuerzayalegria.net/2021/09/mission81/

To join, please register at this link: https://tiny.one/3wucf7fd