More and more often visitors come to Damanhur who have never heard of Falco Tarassaco, the founder and spiritual guide of Damanhur. This partly occurred even before his death: Falco did not like attention, he refused the popularity he could have had if he had played “guru”, and instead he wanted Damanhur itself to interest people. The people who visited Damanhur, however, always came into contact with him in some way either while walking through Damjl or Damanhur Crea they would frequently run into him. Falco loved to talk to people especially while walking and sometimes even sitting alone during public meetings giving people the opportunity to chat with him directly. Every week there were two moments of animated storytelling, confrontation and study with Damanhurian citizens and guests. Today all of this is no longer possible and the contact with the founder and spiritual guide of Damanhur happens indirectly, through the words of his students (even among these, there are more and more people who never got to meet him in person).
The plants are teaching us
Sometimes, the guests ask us: what is left of Falco in Damanhur today? It’s a really tough question! On the one hand the answer is simple: a lot of things. On the other hand, it is complicated, because in the meantime Damanhur, by nature – and according to Falco’s teaching – changes, transforms, takes on new faces and develops new logics that were not imaginable five years ago. Sometimes we hear that Damanhur has lived for five years in the after Falco phase. In reality, there is no after Falco, as if he were in the past, the communities and their emanations were destined to live the final phase of an interrupted dream. On the contrary: in many respects, Damanhur is now only just beginning. The central area of Damanhur, in Italy, includes a vast chestnut forest, the Sacred Forest Temple. The chestnut tree is a plant that grows in stumps, from which various trees are grown and which, each spring, grow new shoots, destined to become trees. At this moment Damanhur is like a large chestnut stump in which the first tree has dried, and the others continue to grow and project themselves towards the sky. Once again, our plant friends can give us an example of vitality to inspire us.
Whoever comes to Damanhur today will find many things that in recent years have been transformed, partly following the indications that Falco himself has left us, and in part by completely new ideas. If it is true that the validity of an educator is seen from the autonomy that he has been able to teach his students then we can say that Falco was very good and also extremely generous, having created a world that knows how to survive. This is one of the central points of his teaching: no message, no realization, no spiritual guide can condition the future of who will come later. There are principles to be respected, values to defend, traditions through which to maintain continuity with the roots of the project, but it must be done expressing the talent of each person and creating space for their aspirations. In Damanhur today, there are some things that were not here yesterday: the impulse to create communities and initiatives abroad, the reorganization of many activities and the development of collaboration with many peoples and their shamans. These are things for which Falco has created space and motivations, which the Damanhurians have been able to interpret. In this way, there is still so much of him present.
A meditation on generosity
This is also a very instructive meditation that each of us can do. In our work environment, among our friends, in the associations in which we volunteer, in the artistic circles we attend and so on, how many things have we been able to create that work well even when we are not there? How many things have we created that depend on us and that others can not develop on their own? The answer we give us tells us how generous we are. Generosity does not consist only in giving so much to others but also in making sure that others no longer need to depend on us.
