The “Tallberg Gathering 2017”, a small and high-level workshop on the theme “What do we mean by Humanity? What is it?” was held in Tallberg, Sweden from May 31 to June 3, 2017.
The four-day workshop was jointly hosted by the Beijing International Exchange Association Sustainable Development Committee(SDC) and the Aurora Borealis Foundation(ABF).
Workshop participants included: Christopher Chuang, Honorary Chairman of SDC and Co-founder of ABF; Bo Ekman, Co-founder of ABF; Simon Jones, CEO of ABF; Jan Eliasson, former Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations; Inga-Britt Ahlenius, former Under-Secretary-General for the UN Office of Internal Oversight; Vaira Vike-Freiberga, former President of the Republic of Latvia; Angelika Cawdor, Dowager Countess of Cawdor Castle; Anders Wijkman, Co-President of the Club of Rome; Hans-Olov Olsson, Vice-chairman of Volvo Car Corporation; Colin Jones, Trustee of Desmond Tutu Peace Centre...
In the afternoon of May 31, all participants convened at the Greenverket of Green Hotel, which was furnished with 36 chairs and a low platform stage at front. Since the room got darkened gradually, a young musician seated on stage started to play the Movement of Bach’s cello Partita No 2, and then followed by a Chinese musician’s vibrations.
When the whole room was filled with silence, Christopher Chuang who was sitting at the front, asked “Why are you here? Why do the minds full of wisdom and beauty gather together right here?”
Bo Ekman, another sponsor of this gathering, took all participants back to the Svalbard Gathering 2016 by sharing how the beach of Svalbard remind him of the pebble beach of Faro in Ingmar Bergman's film “Through a Glass Darkly” whcih reveals the state of existence, shifting between reality and unreality. "So what is the reality?" asked Bo Ekman.
There were three films screened during this workshop, including Ingmar Bergman's “Through a Glass Darkly”, Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” and “Leviathan” by Andrey Zvyagintsev. And each film was followed by conversations on different aspect of humanity.
"We need to remove the masks on our faces. Let’s ask ourselves why we are here and what humanity is?" said Simon Jones, the CEO of the ABF. He also called on the participants to "pursue the beautiful land in our hearts and let’s merge into a new consciousness that world has been needing for quite a long time."
In Christopher Chuang’s sharing, he said: "I have always held a very objective understanding of humanity, that is, you can never eliminate the darkness, but if you light a candle, the darkness will retreat by itself.”
Children, ethics of science and technology, power and corruption were also hot topics of this workshop. All participants agreed that we must be reunited in face of the divisive force in our world today, and we this meeting as our last chance to work together.
Besides films and conversations, there was also a special concert held in the church of Leksand on June 1 as “an exploratory musical journey into humanity”. The Chinese culture met the Swedish culture right here through music. And deeply touched by the music, Christopher said he was home.
Also at the concert, Dr. Jan Eliasson, former Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, delivered a keynote speech on "what do we mean by humanity" and he pointed out that the word "humanity" refers to both "human" and "human nature". Although the world today faces a variety of difficulties and challenges, but there are hope among young people, women, science and technology and international cooperation. We must maintain the diversity and inclusiveness of this world, so as to solve the dispute, because we humans, are one.
At the very end of this workshop, Christopher Chuang sent a golden hada to Vaira Vike-Freiberga, former President of the Republic of Latvia. He said: “I want to send this light from universe to madam president, and I hope we could gather together in Latvia the next year.”