7 May 2022: Earth Agora - Co-Creating Home on Earth Integrally - Unleashing the Power of our Homes

At the 5th Integral Practitioner Convergence convened by Meridian University's Center for Transformative Learning - four Homes for Humanity from different continents came together with participants across the globe for an Earth Agora on the theme: How do we unleash, across diverse Cultures, the Power of Our Homes for Community Renewal and Planetary Regeneration?

On Saturday May 7, participants across the world gathered for a virtual Earth Agora hosted by Home for Humanity's Founders Alexander Schieffer and Rama Mani together with plenary speakers and Homes for Humanity Hosts around the globe,

• Thais Corral, founder of Sinal do Vale, Home for Humanity Brazil and member of Home for Humanity's founding family

• Daud Taranhike and Christina Taranhike, Co-founders of Integral Kumusha, and Home for Humanity Zimbabwe

• Maximilian Abouleish-Boes, Sustainable Development Lead for the SEKEM Group and Founding family member of Home for Humanity Egypt,.

The Agora started out beautifully with Alexander Schieffer and Rama Mani contextualizing the Agora, evoking the spirit of Home right from the start and the hosts of our exemplary Homes for Humanity welcoming us in their local language and in the spirit of their local culture and traditions. One of the phrases that still lingers with me is "Swagatam" in Tamil, a welcoming phrase recognizing also the higher self in one another.

Thereafter, each Home introduced us to their integral approach and how their Home for Humanity is putting into practice their take on our guiding question. Giving us inspiration and insights into how we can truly unleash the power of our Homes for transformation, regeneration and co-creation of a new paradigm and story for our shared future. Each panelist described how they work on the three different levels of inner home, outer/organizational home and the global aspect of Earth Home. Christina and Daud Taranhike shared how their simple home has grown into a national role model in Zimbabwe for community empowerment and the regeneration of rural livelihoods. We were then inspired by Thais Corral's work in the Brazilian Mata Atlantica, focussing on reforestation, food security and a learning campus for regeneration.

Maximilian Abouleish-Boes shared how the community at Sekem gathers each morning for a circle and reading the poem together below that deeply touched our hearts.

To wonder at beauty, Stand guard over truth, Look up to the noble, Resolve on the good. This leadeth us truly To purpose in living, To right in our doing, To peace in our feeling, To light in our thinking. And teaches us trust, In the working of God, In all that there is, In the width of the world, In the depth of the soul. - by Rudolf Steiner, translated by Sekem

Before asking all the participators to share their answer to our guiding question, we took a pause for reflection while listening to the inspiring Home for Humanity song composed by Maximilian Abouleish-Boes performed together with his sister in law Selma, inspired by Home for Humanity's Humanity Charter.

Here we present some of the many themes shared by the participants of this Earth Agora on how we can unleash the power of our homes:

• build belonging and embracing caregiving

• practice and build capacity for embracing differences, starting with the differences in ourselves, in our home and our places of work

• create a welcoming sacredness, starting with Self and then expanding outward

• propagate a message of hope

• Wahkohtowin - to embody that we are all related and interconnected

• honor the inner soul home and all life of our planetary home

• work on the self and society from a place of investment, regeneration and restorative justice.

After the closing of the session I felt within me a deep sense of hope. Reminded again that the dream of a different world is shared by so many and of our collective capacity to truly bring about societal transformation and create a new humanity that embraces unity, love, global inclusivity and systems change. Feeling deep love and inspiration from hearing everyone's sincere inner longing for change and their own unique and creative take on how we can move towards it together.

Letting Alexander Schieffer's poetic lines which he shared with us during the Agora close this post: "Let my heart be my home, let my home be a heart for everyone."

Kajsa Liedén

Humanity Team Coordinator

Home for Humanity