THE STORM AND THE ANCHOR

Fernando A. Garca, Ladwa (India), January 2015.

Our joint project, i.e. Silos lifework, is to give an evolutionary reference for the global
change of this world, a world that is advancing towards a synthesis with planetary
characteristics. It is a long-term project that began many decades ago, and that is still
very much in force, since the need that originated the project as well as it chances of
accomplishment are still alive.
As it was explained long ago and in countless occasions, change is foreshadowed by
a crisis that manifests in the social field as well as in the field of interpersonal
relations, and in everyones life in particular. In other terms, we mean to say that it is
a psychosocial crisis of transition and change.
Therefore, along so many years, we have been building a set of references for the
different fields in which the crisis manifests, trying to satisfy the need to advance in a
growing evolutionary direction. Those references we built are of different kinds, i.e.
human groups with their multifarious activities; groups and organizations, a doctrine,
an ideology, a psychology, a set of practices for overcoming suffering, for achieving
transcendental experiences and meaning, a new spirituality, places for gathering,
study and reflection, etc.
We are working to build the foundations of a new planetary civilization that should
entail an unprecedented qualitative leap of the human being. We have named this
project in different ways such as, for instance, to humanize the earth, the universal
human nation, etc.
In spite of the acceleration in the pace of history, a project with such a big scope
unavoidably exceeds the lifespan of the individuals who support it and develop it.
That is to say, it is highly unlikely that one indi vidual can witness the whole process
from its inception until its completion. Thus, each one of us, located at some poi nt
within this long process, does his or her share of this joint construction.
Under these conditions, our existential situation is that of acting for the sake of the
future we aspire at and love. However, as it all depends on human intentionality, and
not on mechanical processes, we do not have a guarantee of the ultimate success of
our efforts.
To place the meaning of our action on the external success of our action creates
problems. It is a trap and a mental error that attempts against our long-term action
with an uncertain result. It is a mental mistake to place the meaning of our action on
the value we attach to the things we want to achieve through the action, no matter
how high and noble they may be. The meaning of the action should be intrinsic to the
action; it should be inbuilt in the action itself. That is, it should reside in the internal
experience of the action. Such is the nature of the valid action, an action that is
devoid of calculation, of possessiveness, an action that flies well above the success
or failure of the attempt.
Besides, in a project like ours, it is not just a mental error to place the meaning of our
personal action on its success, but more is it so to do it under the illusion of
immediate success.

There is a whole series of illusory expectations exposed to failure. For instance,

social recognition and praise, the absence of difficulties and mistakes, the reward for
our efforts, the comfort, and the perfect match between our formation landscape and
our Project, etc. Even truer this is if we expect those things from an environment that
is undergoing a crisis of destructuring, of disorientation, of dehumanization.
Thus, it all depends on sustai ning our action based on a future that is necessary,
possible and desirable, but not guaranteed. An image of a future that perhaps we will
not witness. The image of a future in which there will be neither recognition nor
reward for our efforts that will remain mostly anonymous. Summing up, we work for
an image of a future in which human beings will become the central value, but one in
which our I (our ego) will not occupy the central place among the human beings.
Then, what will give a profound and lasting meaning to our action? Which will be that
meaning devoid of all frustration, of all accident, of all exhaustion? Which will be the
source from which the inner Force will spring forth, and what will constitute our
anchor to avoid drifting away in the storm? It is up to each one to discover all that,
and to nurture it. However, it will certainly not be a meaning that places ones own I
as the alpha and omega of each and every thing.
While we act, trying to mai ntain our image of a necessary, possible and desirable
future, inevitably we have to do it along with the perception of the present, a present
in which prevail violence, dehumanization, and the anti-values of an unviable and
agonizing world. But not only prevails that which is obviously unpleasant. There also
prevail the deviation that arise from the kingdom of the secondary matters, the false
ways out, and the fascination of the provisional meanings. Moreover, this does not
happen only out there, in the human landscape, but also, to whatever degree it is,
within our own internal landscape since both constitute our indissoluble vision of
reality. Thus, it will not just be the case of humanizing, but also, and simultaneously,
to humanize ourselves.
Thus, the tug of war is set within our consciousness, pulled between the forces of an
image of the future and the perception of the present. This balance of forces has its
cycles, and our inner force and our action fluctuate according to them.
When the image of the future prevails, life speaks through our mouth affirming that
there is nothing that can stop us. When the perception of the present prevails, the
earth darkens and the abyss opens up. The paths of the yes and the no are
always at play. Which reasons will try to disguise this basic fact? Perhaps that the
grapes are raw, as the fox in Aesops fable? By arguing the case with values that are
alien to us, or the so-called facts of life?
Perhaps, that is why those words spoken long time ago come to our memory: A
deeper and ultimate struggle is set between the dark and destructive zone of the
human being and his zone of light, between sleeping and awakening, between
regression and evolution. The true struggle of the human being lies in his
consciousness; therefore, what matters is to awaken it.
For this reason, maybe it is worth the while to modify the perception of the present
we have according to the light of our image of the future. That is, to change our
look in order to perceive also the light in the present, and not just the shadow.
Maybe it is also worth the while reinforcing the image of the future by linking it to a
transcendent meaning. Why not, once again, it may be convenient to reconsider The
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Guide to the Inner Road from the perspective of our action in the world; and from The
Internal States be sure to avoid the door of Degradation.
Last, but no less important, to conceive all this in a coherent and growing relation
with others, with the us.
The sun hides itself so that day becomes night, but the day will be according to what
I do with it.
Peace, Force and Joy to you all!
Fernando A. Garca // Mail: fernando120750@gmail.com //
http://fernandoagarcia.blogspot.com