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AVI meeting in Paris
Full meeting
report in pdf NEW
Avi meeting
in Auroville
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AVI meeting report from Paris 2003 - HUMAN UNITY
How can we help?
The year 2003 saw exceptionally two AVI meetings,
one in February in Auroville, and the second one in June near Paris. The
theme 'Human Unity' was explored, highlighting today's need of counteracting
increased fundamentalism, fanatism of all kinds, of killings and destructions
on our planet earth. How to bring peace, unity and understanding into
our daily lives? How to infuse spiritual values into our society? Our
world has become so small, a change in consciousness is needed, how can
we help? Members of nine AVI Centers and -liaisons and seven Aurovilians
participated in the conference, about fifty people. The setting of the
meeting was beautifully chosen in a castle, Méridon, 35 kms away
from Paris town, easily to be reached by public transport, complete with
castle park, marble statue in the garden, and a small lake.
Discussions and presentations
It was a joyful group that came together. The
sessions featured a thorough presentation of developments in Auroville's
International Zone, including an update on the national pavilion activities,
discussions on 'Human Unity and Society and Auroville' and 'Human Unity
and disturbances'.
During other sessions, the AVI centers had opportunity to exchange their
experiences regarding the functioning of their organisations amongst themselves
and learn from each other how to make their centre grow and facilitate
events. Furthermore, a former Aurovilian who now lives in Paris gave a
presentation of the successful Auroville
exhibition in the UNESCO-headquarters in April 2003, where UNESCO'S
Director General, Mr. Matsura from Japan, praised the Auroville project
resulting in three resolutions being passed in support of Auroville.
Further presentations to the AVI meeting highlighted
the 'million-dollar-compaign'
towards securing of the Auroville lands, and introduced activities of
Auro-Traductions, a new organisation in Auroville geared towards translation
into Tamil and French of most published material in the township.
The group also watched several new videos on Auroville, a slide-show '35
years of Auroville', enjoyed a French chanson group and Indian and Brazilian
dances, and were given a workshop 'Creating awareness in the cells'. Even
a visit to nearby Versailles castle and park was on the programme.
General Assembly
During the more formal session of the gathering, the
General Assembly of the Auroville International Association listened to
the annual AVI reports from the various centres and liaisons, approved
a regular financial contribution to support the International Zone, and
welcomed a new AVI-liaison for Switzerland. It also approved some proposed
changes in the AVI statutes as well as modifications in membership / functions
of board members, brought forward by the AVI board of directors. The decision
was made that Brazil will be the host country for the AVI meeting next
year, and since Auroville's International Advisory Council (IAC) needs
to be elected again, the AVI Board decided to recommend several prominent
new names to the Governing Board of the Auroville Foundation. Details
of the General Assembly decisions can be read in the official AVI report
to be placed at AVI's site www.auroville-international.org
Soul quality
For the last day of the conference in Meridon Castle
something special had been prepared. Twenty huge sheets of white paper
were laid out on the floor, which carried the year numbers from 1968,
the year of Auroville's foundation, until 2003. A short description of
the main world events in that particular year were listed on the sheets,
as well as the main events in Auroville. Each participant wrote on the
paper his/her name under the year in which s/he came first in contact
with Mother / Sri Aurobindo / Auroville and shared his/her personal experiences
of that discovery. During this last session also feedback on the present
meeting was given. This sharing was enchanting and touching, and each
participant added a pinch of soul quality to it.
We invite you to come to Brazil in mid-June 2004 and
strengthen, with us, the pillar of the AVI work in South America.
Tine, International Secretary of AVI
(Full meeting report in pdf)
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