To put humanity back at the center of our concerns, it is necessary for each person to understand the profound meaning of life—for themselves and for others. Without this fundamental interest, it is difficult, if not impossible, to transmit the value of inner freedom and the beauty of supporting one’s neighbor and society. Unfortunately, in our time, work, project realization, and the pursuit of results are often completely dissociated from attention and care for others.
Material advantages and the use of new technologies have significantly increased, but this has not led to inner, emotional, or social well-being. Often, the opposite occurs. Most of our energies are devoted to accumulating material possessions, as if wealth were the condition for happiness. But does this type of behavior truly bring deeper and more significant satisfaction?
At the request of a foreign community—which wished to remain anonymous to preserve the trust of the person concerned—we accompanied a prosperous businessman. Very active in the company he had founded thirty years earlier, this man nevertheless began, due to his health, to question the meaning of his work and the nature of the freedom he believed he had acquired through his financial success.
In our era, the media often presents those who possess much as role models, while those who have nothing devote all their energy to chasing the bare necessities. Hope has been guided by scientific and technological progress, orienting life choices towards consumerism, far from any spiritual aspiration. Yet, these figures of great wealth celebrated by the media often possess none of the virtues that characterize true heroes: idealism, courage, wisdom, nobility, kindness. These are qualities increasingly forgotten, whose profound and authentic meaning is no longer perceived today.
During our meetings with this successful entrepreneur, we extensively discussed and meditated together on his thoughts, but also on certain words—virtues—that he had completely forgotten. These words rekindled childhood memories in him, linked to elderly people who, in difficult times, had supported him when he was going through a trying situation, both morally and financially. Without their selfless help, he confided, he would never have been able to accomplish what he had professionally, nor believe one day that he could achieve true freedom.
What was most striking in our meetings was this man’s gradual realization: those who had helped him without any personal interest, and who were not rich themselves, were beings animated by a profound love—a love of a completely different nature than what he had experienced until then. They were truly free people, who had lived under the domination of a dictatorship, and who yet depended on no system to be who they were. It was during one of our last meetings that this man formulated in his own words the vision on which our Association bases its action: the kingdom of humanity is that of freedom—but a freedom that has nothing to do with wealth or prestige. It is only through this authentic inner freedom that we can access true love.
Our interlocutor thus began to question the purpose of material possessions, shifting his reflection from the economic to the moral and spiritual plane. Still passionate about his work, his business, and his success, he had nevertheless made a decisive turn: his attention was now truly directed towards others, and no longer solely on his own interests, pleasures, or ego. He aspired to do good deeds and contribute to the well-being of all, in love and joy. It was, moreover, the community that had asked us to accompany him that informed us, a few months later, that this man had begun to concretely help people in need—even hiring some of them in his company, thus offering those who needed it not only support, but rediscovered dignity.
