As the world seems more divided than ever, it is only through unity that we will find solutions to the planet’s pain.
Photo: Francesco Scotti
I have been thinking about the word “separation” quite a lot lately. It is difficult this month to write, as the world is feeling so agitated, raw, in despair. Humanity divided at an ancestral level, everything so inflamed, causing even more separation – from one another, and from us in the world. It is almost paralyzing. As I was filing this column, I had to stop and start again. How do you write in a moment like this? I went back to two pieces I wrote – the July/August 2021 column with Satish Kumar, and the September 2022 one with Deepak Chopra. I need to be reminded of their words, the authenticity of their message. Hopefully this is useful for you too.
Livia Firth in conversation with Satish Kumar
“As a modern society, we have lost that sense of humility, and we convey arrogance in our culture. We think we are developed; we are further ahead, we are better than ‘uneducated’ people. I think we need humility. Without humility, there’s no humanity,” Satish told me. “Unfortunately, at this moment, we seem to think that civilization, industrialization, and urbanization is progress and being close to the land, close to nature, being indigenous, and living a simple life is backward. This is our mindset, which needs to be challenged. What if we saw indigenous cultures as our teachers, and learned from their wisdom?”
Livia Firth at an event hosted by The Caring Family Foundation in London
The cultural arrogance Satish spoke of is one of the root causes of separation. You can feel it everywhere. It was palpable at an event I recently attended in London hosted by The Caring Family Foundation for Brazil’s minister of indigenous people, Sônia Guajajara (who we also honored this year at the Green Carpet Fashion Awards) and environmental activist Txai Surui. They were talking to an audience of white, privileged people (among them myself) about the urgency of safeguarding indigenous people, who protect 80% of the world’s biodiversity. We were the audience; they were on stage – there was even separation in the setting. They are fighting every day, we are benefiting every day – and we take it for granted, apart from one breakfast moment in our busy diaries when we all listen attentively and care for 10 minutes. “Do you even know where the leather that makes your expensive luxury handbags come from?” asked Sonia. (From cattle farming that causes most of the deforestation, is the answer.) Yet, said Txai, “No one hears the trees crying when they cut them down.” Like Satish noted to me, “We need a resurgence of indigenous, ecological, and holistic values. Indigenous culture and wisdom have that spirituality, and they feel in their heart the unity of life. They feel compassion.”
Brazil’s minister of indigenous people Sônia Guajajara, environmental activist Txai Surui, and filmmaker Alice Aedy at the event
There is a “magic link” missing – gratitude, humility, a sense of connection or interdependence – that would allow us to operate in a new way, with unity and peace as the fundamental principles. What does it take? And why are we incapable of it? I remember talking about it with Deepak. “Maybe it’s more about memory,” he said. “When I was a child, my father often talked about the horrors of the Second World War. What has happened? Has anything changed? No. If you go back to the dawn of history, what do you find? Violence, racism, bigotry, hatred, prejudice… Nothing has changed – and that’s because we do not remember, and we do not remember because we do not care.”
I think of how environmental activist and scientist Vandana Shiva advocates the need for a new paradigm for living on Earth, “because the old one is clearly not working. And the alternative is needed at the level of our world view. How do we look at ourselves in this world? What are humans for? Are we merely moneymaking, resource-guzzling machines, or do we have a higher purpose? I believe we do – I believe our first identity is that of being citizens of this Earth.” She calls this “earth democracy.” And why, oh why, can’t we do this? Imagine earth democracy combined with ubuntu, a Southern African word that is often translated as “I am, because we are.” Ubuntu is a philosophy that emphasizes the interconnectedness of all people and the idea that our individual well-being is intricately linked to the well-being of others. It’s notable that the same region also gave us the word apartheid – literally meaning “separateness.” This duality is so telling of the two sides of the world today, and which one is dominating. But it is also a story of redemption and change, of what is possible when people put unity and peace first.
What will it take to find this bond within us and then use it to connect with one another and to all that surrounds us? The power of words such as “peace” and “love” does not need to be proven, but it is important to be reminded of the danger of dismissing them.
Originally published in the November 2023 issue of Vogue Arabia
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