At the beginning of this week I attended an interview with Satish Kumar in the business club where I am a happy member. My friend and CEO of the club Isabel Casteleyn introduced this incredible person with sparks in her eyes, so I was already on the happy wave seeing her shine. It is quite remarkable she succeeded in getting this renowned man to come to Brussels. Satish is an Indian British activist and speaker. He has been a Jain monk, nuclear disarmament advocate and pacifist and he has been inspiring global change for over 50 years.
Satish talked about many things that night in Brussels, but the most important message I took from him is the fact that we should all practice spirituality in the world. For him spirituality has nothing to do with religions, books and goeroes. It is the second part of a human being beside our body. He says that meditation is the medicine of the soul. If we do things with love, he states, they become spiritual, we can transform everyday life by changing our intention.
Therefore contentment and gratitude are key to live a joyful life, never take things for granted and be happy with what you have and who you are.
Every individual has unlimited possibilities and we can all paint the art of our life, we need to all become the CEO of our own lives. The planet and history gave us so much, we need to watch over planet earth and keep it a beautiful and clean place for our children and grandchildren.
Kumar says that the real problem is our attitude towards the planet, climate change is only a symptom. Not the problem.
We should stop seeing nature as a resource for the economy. Humanity comes from Hummus, soil.
We are nature and on top of that we all breathe the same air.
Satish got a question about education. He said we need to be aware that education should be more than only about brains and especially the focus we put on training the left part of the brain. We need to teach children to become makers and not consumers. Schools should not be job factories, hallelujah, yes I agree on that!
Another fantastic concept is his “elegant simplicity" , everything you do, buy, think,... should be BUD, Beautiful, Useful and Durable.
I was happy to hear that Satish also believes in balance in every person.
His recipe: 2 parts of feminine energy and 1 part of male energy….interesting. Oh and he says that we should see mothers again as heroes.
He said that activists are positivists, and journalists are pessimists. I don't really agree on that, but it made everybody laugh, so I suppose it was a joke.
So spirituality is not to be found in books, it is about the relationship between body and spirit. A good idea to take with you in the coming weekend.
