Iceland ( Europe ): A group of 120 leaders from 27 countries and from all continents, came together to explore: Healing a World in Crisis – leading with authenticity and love. This was the theme of the 6th Spirit of Humanity Forum held in Hveragerði, Iceland. Below is a report from the Brahma Kumaris who joined the Spirit of Humanity Forum held from May 31st to June 3rd, 2023.
Because of the reputation the forum has built up over the past 10 years, people came with a lot of trust to a new retreat format. Six guides – two from the Presencing Institute, two from Internal Family Systems, a Sufi teacher
and BK Sister Jayanti guided two groups of 60 through what for many was a life transforming experience.
Ragnheiður Gröndal, one of Iceland’s most loved singers, performed various times during the Forum. The Forum began on Wednesday with a welcome reception by the hosts, The City of Reykjavik at the City Hall.
Following a welcome from the Vice-President of the City Council (the youngest councilor ever to be elected in Reykjavik at age 25) one of the organizing team skillfully took the group through a process of connecting and
sharing.Later they moved on to Hotel Örk in Hveragerði, about 45 minutes away from Reykjavik to the retreat setting.
Friday morning began with a 20 minute recorded interview by the director of the Forum. In this, the Prime Minister spoke of the importance of spirituality, the need to reflect and sustain oneself, the importance of care in governance, among many other aspects. Quite remarkable for a prime minister in office to speak so authentically about her experiences.
We then moved into our groups of 60 for our sessions. The guides used several methods to help us go deeper into the meaning of authenticity and love and reach a place of healing. We spent five hours each day in quite an
intensive ‘process’. Everyone, of course, took away something different.
The session by those from the Presencing Institute used body work to help an individual understand his or her journey in life and in particular where you are ‘stuck’ and cannot move forward. In the final exercise we were asked to team up with two others and turn by turn you ask the other two to help release you from your ‘stuck’ posture. This opened up a sense of relief and tangible care for each other.
The second group work focused on exploring authenticity in leadership. Part of this involved a deep exercise of ‘who are you? In pairs you ask your partner, ‘who are you?’ again and again for 5 minutes each and then again for
5 minutes each. It involves a lot of eye contact and the sharing becomes increasingly deep.
The evening session began with a video message from a young leader from Zimbabwe who could not get a visa to come, despite intense efforts by the organizers and others who were facilitating his journey. This sparked off an
intense discussion of the refugee situation, our entrenched attitudes and the need for change. One of the participants who had headed the consular section of the embassy of his country shared the other side of the story in terms of the pressure staff are under and how he had personally taken great risks to help people. This discussion helped us begin to bridge between the personal and the systemic.
Friday morning began with a clip from the 2017 forum where Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, shared how releasing herself from a
victor/perpetrator dynamic in her personal life helped to release the countries from a similar dynamic which was hindering the completion of the Paris agreement. We then moved into another full day of sessions with our
guides.
Later in the afternoon we were welcomed at the residence of the President of Iceland for a reception. He made us all feel at ease with his friendliness and jokes. He spoke of the important role of Iceland in the world, having come top of the Global Peace Index for several years.
In the evening we held a celebratory dinner in a local greenhouse! One participant said that he was seeing bananas growing on a tree for the first time and it happened to be in Iceland!
Saturday morning was time for consolidation with a facilitated sharing and a chance for some participants to share in a ‘fish bowl’ conversation where the larger group observes a smaller group in conversation. The first five to share were a multi-ethnic, intergenerational group. For some the process was new and challenging but the majority opened their hearts and minds to fully benefit. The young participant from Cameroon, a student of political science, spoke of how the forum had helped her to cross barriers in her own mind and also coming to Europe for the first time. She is planning to take back what she has learned about herself and from others to her country and her work. Others commented on how people were not coming from their ego but being together as human beings. Others felt that the Forum had given them hope for the future.
There followed a silent ceremony where each one symbolically stepped into a circle to go beyond limits to place an artefact from nature, symbolizing their experience.
Then the farewells and hugs. Many spoke of feeling part of a family and of the courage they gained through being with so many people deeply committed to making a difference in the world.
On Saturday evening there was an event hosted by the Free Church of Iceland where participants from all generations shared their messages of hope and inspiration. We were uplifted by the singing of Ragnheiður Gröndal and the Free Church Choir.
All of this was made possible by the huge dedication and hard work of the planning circle and especially the BK centre in Iceland and of course the magic of the Divine hand that is working for all of us.