Light the Night

Watching the sun rise at Rochers de Naye, Switzerland

Dear all,

my name is Alexander, and I was a Caux intern in the soulful and sunny 2012. :) Here are some words about that summer.

The array of Caux experiences for me was dazzlingly positive at times. Apart from attending the interns' classes, I volunteered for the IT department, interpreted conferences in the Russian booth, and came up with two workshops of my own — one on positive thinking and the other one on hithchhiking (the fact that I thumbed over 2222 km all the way to the Caux conference centre from the city of Brest in my home country Belarus was a real eye-opener for many). I enjoyed my morning meditations, the occasional "quiet times" in Salon du Lac, the delicious vegetarian food, and the magnificent views of the mighty mountains with clouds floating into the window. It was lovely to write flowery poems on the shore of lake Geneva, visit my dear Swiss friends in Lucerne, dance in the rain to shamanic drums and lightning and have late night philosophical discussions with my Mexican roommate.

The true treasure of Caux was definitely the people there — the interns, the volunteers, the interpreters, the conference participants and many others. Mixing with them was like knowing the whole world "without going out of doors". "We touch other people's lives simply by existing", as JK Rowling once said, and it is certainly people that my favourite moment in Caux is connected with.

Picking just one film frame out of the kaleidoscope of unique moments in Switzerland is a hard nut to crack. The undoubted highlights for me were a night walk to the top of a local mountain with the other interns and an unexpected presentation of Jose Carlos's project about pepenadores (waste pickers), which, by the way, received "the Real Heroes of Mexico" award in 2012 and 2013. But, perhaps, none moved me as deeply as the words of my fellow Japanese intern Masaaki about a "fire in his chest" on the very last day of the Interns programme. It feels that his words summarize the essence of IofC, and here's why.

The more I feel and think about it, the more it seems to me that starting this fire of Love in your heart could be a sure way to the world's positive transformation. I realise that if I change, the world will change as well because I'm a part of it.

The photo of that sunrise captures the essence of my experience in Caux beautifully, and it additionally speaks to the present. I'm currently living, working (as a content manager for an IT company) and volunteering (as a translator) in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. Here, amidst the present mass protests, this picture also reminds me that the main war is not the one happening in the streets, but that it is the inner jihad taking place in our very hearts. The most important battle is said to be the one to conquer yourself, to overcome your own negativity, despite the circumstances, by switching your thoughts to the power that “conquers all”...

I would definitely like there to be more Peace and Love, which is why I choose to "be the change I want to see in the world" and radiate this change outside rather than seek it in anything external. It might actually be an effective way to “light the night”. After all, "peace should first of all be inside you. Peace and harmony".

Thank you.