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On Sunday December 19th Home for Humanity hosted the "Fireside Earth Agora”, an annual year end gathering of the Home for Humanity Earth Family. The event brought together change-makers and leaders from around the world to share in a moment of collective visioning, as together we explored the question:
how can we co-create home on earth?
We began this exploration with a Tibetan prayer for the Earth led by Tibetan musician and refugee activist Loten Namling. We then heard opening statements by living legends and Home for Humanity co-chairs Dr. Jean Houston and Dr. Youssef Mahmoud. Their words and evocations grounded us in the spirit of the Earth Agora.
Dr. Jean Houston asked us, “Friends, how do we move out of a time of literal apocalypse, at every level, and into the Agora? An inclusive, planetary Agora; a world in which the citizens of earth come together to shape a possible future that works for all life.”
Her words were echoed and expanded by Dr. Youssef Mahmoud: “The Home for Humanity initiative and its Humanity Charter are designed to be an overarching transformative framework for collectively addressing these existential dilemmas and using them as an opportunity for meaningful change. The Agora that brought us together today is a co-learning space for future-back thinking, where a thriving planet and peace are the entry points and the ultimate goal of our common endeavor.”
We then observed a moment of silence during which we lit Candles to symbolize our Earth Home and set the scene for our virtual fireside. The Agora was now in session.
Despite being geographically separated, the Earth Agora felt intimate and connected. Looking around the call at our candle-lit faces, each of us connecting from different homes around the world, I felt a sense of hope and kinship. The vibrant display of our humanity in all its rich diversity, knit together by the shared intention to co-create an inclusive and sustainable future for all, felt like holy ground and a sign of what is possible when we remember our shared humanity.
The Earth Agora continued its journey as we went from Home to Homes, deepening our exploration of how we can co-create home on earth by learning about the eight new Homes for Humanity that have been launched on four continents. We traveled from Egypt to Sri Lanka, from India to Nigeria, to Palestine, Morocco, Switzerland and beyond, as we celebrated all that H4H has accomplished in just two years. And this is only the beginning…
The next stage of our call was a celebration of Earth Artistry as we explored the topic of “art as a power for actively participating in the renewal of civilization”. Home for Humanity makes way for a burgeoning creative renaissance by celebrating and honoring the arts.
Throughout the Earth Agora, different H4H artists shared their creations. We grooved to musical offerings from Enzo, Tatiana, Arjuna, and Max and admired the art installations of UNESCO peace artist and sculpture, Marko Pogacnik. Filmmakers and visual anthropologists Elif Tibet and Cihan Elci also shared a brief glimpse of their upcoming film that tells the story of Home for Humanity.
To conclude the Fireside Earth Agora, each participant shared their unique Future Vision for a new paradigm. The same themes emerged again and again:
“Together we rise, together we craft a new world, together we birth a global renaissance.
Vasudevakutumbakam: The Universe is a Single Family
Yad Bhavam Tad Bhavati: What we intend becomes reality.”
As the call came to an end, I was left with the feeling that home is remembrance — a remembrance of our connection to ourselves, to each other and to the earth. The Earth Agora is a place where we remember our shared humanity. It is a place where we embrace and celebrate our diverse histories, geographies, and life-paths and come together to co-create a more vibrant, inclusive, and unified whole.
In Jean’s words, “these are not ending times, these are beginning times” and we are indeed at the beginning of a global transformation in which every single one of us is a pioneer; a pioneer shaping a new story for humanity and what it means to create Home on Earth.
We warmly invite you to watch the whole ceremony here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sF-fE8lnn4