8,00 €
Positive thought, openness to others, the search for the deep meanings of life, pragmatism... these are the base elements of the spiritual message of Falco Tarassaco (Oberto Airaudi, 1950-2013). Eclectic, creative and profound, Falco was the founder of a school of thought that touches countless themes and has given life to the community experience of Damanhur in Italy and around the world. This book presents the fundamental elements of his spiritual guidance, from the discovery of the divine nature of the human being, to our relationship with the environment, and all the way to the development of a sense of wonder and the indispensable curiosity to understand the language of the universe. His dream and his message show his extraordinary capacity to bring together tradition and renewal-two pillars upon which to found our personal and collective future.
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Seitenzahl: 178
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017
FALCO TARASSACO. THE DREAM, THE MESSAGE
Stambecco Pesco (Silvio Palombo)
Translation: Tigrilla Gardenia (Yvette Soler)
DEVODAMA srl publications, Vidracco (TO), Italy
ISBN: 978-88-99652-87-6
COPYRIGHT 2017© MIL Social Promotion Association
The current volume was created by the Associazione di Promozione Sociale MIL as part of the activities and functions of the statute.
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form without the written authorization of the publisher, except for brief citations used for book reviews.
Cover shows signs taken from selfic painting by Falco Tarassaco “Anteforma irradiata di densità”, (Density irradiated antiform) 8 December 1994.
Printed in the month of December 2017
FALCO TARASSACOThe Dream, The Message
THE TEACHINGS OF THE FOUNDER OF DAMANHUR
Introduction
If I were trying to define Falco Tarassaco, I would say: a modern philosopher; the bearer of a model that shifts the paradigm from egocentricity to community and from separation to integration. It is difficult—if not impossible—to contain in a few words a person such as he. He was the extraordinary inspiration behind an innovative and unique experience, and more than that, he was the central force that gave value to the talents and aspirations of so many people through his spiritual vision and the federation of communities he founded: Damanhur.
In the following pages, you will discover the elements upon which Falco based his teachings and through which he allowed us—his spiritual children—to develop our dreams. Now that he is no longer physically with us, those dreams have become the motor that fuels the dreams of so many friends that feel the calling of his message.
Through a mystic, creative and studious path, Falco took us on a journey of infinite themes and varied practices. Esoteric knowledge, discovery of the Divine within, self-education, contact with nature, art, healing… for each of these themes, he taught us that the path to mastery is always practice, experimentation and research. Today, spirituality means to unite the soul to the hands and to bring your soul and hands closer to the soul and hands of others to accomplish shared goals that go beyond individual accomplishments.
To bring closer what seems to be far away is the key to understanding the work of Falco. According to his teachings, living well is an artform, and art is a way to amplify perceptions and capture vibrations. Vital energy cannot be examined without taking into consideration the color of the sky under which it is developed. Just as, the spiritual progress of an individual is always in relation to the progress of those who can be found in the immediate surroundings.
We need to come together with others, add more know-how, cultivate a sense of wonder, imagine new scenarios different from those already known and have the courage to believe in ourselves while at the same time be open to questioning. The road to contacting the divine spark—that divine part that each of us holds within—passes through everyday life and is certainly connected to self-reflection, but even more than that, it is made with a passion for personal growth and attention to individual responsibility. All this, while living joyously—joy is a spiritual right each of us holds—an individual and collective adventure on this beautiful planet.
Damanhur in Italy was founded by and developed from the teachings of Falco in an area where little-by-little researchers sensitive to his message have gathered. As he prepared to leave the physical body, at the very moment that he entrusted the three Sages—Cicogna Giunco, Condor Girasole, Sirena Ninfea—with the task of guarantors of our community’s conscious continuance, Falco asked us to open Damanhur even more to the world, fostering the diffusion of a model where being together can be practiced in other points on the planet and characterized by local traditions.
At the same time, Falco set in motion the creation of the Path to Spiritual Freedom, which opens the School of Meditation of Damanhur—the chest that holds-safe his teachings—to whomever seeks to discover the vastness of our physical and subtle worlds, putting individual growth at its center. The Path is being practiced in countries around the world, wherever it is requested. The elements that unite Damanhur to the communities that will be founded in other countries and that connects the School of Meditation to the Path to Spiritual Freedom are represented by Falco’s original message, expressed in the topics found in this book written by Stambecco Pesco, who has participated in the development of Falco’s message since the early 1980s.
Alongside the emotional narrative of Stambecco is the priceless vision of Luigi Berzano, sociologist of religious movements and author of numerous studies on Damanhur. His afterword provides an understanding of the figure and work of Falco mediated by academic analysis.
I like to imagine the Damanhurians as they re-read the fundamental tenets upon which they have dedicated their lives, finding and rediscovering the typical expressions of their spiritual guide. I can imagine so many new readers who through these pages will get to know the original and passionate spiritual teacher that was Falco Tarassaco.
Falco taught us to research what we have yet to understand, to tangibly do what we feel is important and to love others and life in order to bring together heart, mind and hands. Times are changing, and the world will soon ask us on which side we stand in the epic battle between life and immobility. Falco’s dream and his message suggests a positive and active response.
Orango Riso
First Part - Falco Tarassaco
The Man who Dreamed Damanhur
This book is dedicated to the teachings of Falco Tarassaco and strives to inspire in every individual the desire to know one’s true nature and to find happiness.
To those that knew and studied with him, Falco always asked not be defined as the “master teacher”. Even if he was fully aware of having a mission to complete—to share a philosophical and spiritual message that comes from levels of existence higher than our own—he preferred not to be called anything other than his name. At most, he would use “spiritual guide”, a term that indicated his function, not his charisma. The master, he taught, can be found within, and one of the most important goals in a person’s life is the reawakening of this master.
Founder and spiritual guide of Damanhur, inspiration behind the Temples of Humankind and originator of multiple collaborations with Selfica, Falco Tarassaco lived from 1950 to 2013. His first name was Oberto Airaudi, and later became Falco Tarassaco, according to the Damanhurian tradition to take on an animal and plant name. He was born into an unpretentious family in a small town in the province of Turin, Italy.
His enlightenment—according to his own accounts—was gradual, beginning in childhood. Many witnesses tell of his extraordinary abilities as an intuitive healer, which he practiced on his teammates and friends, and of his even more original interests in areas of magic, intuition, ethical principles and teachings of philosophies and religions.
Little by little, Falco developed his own, personal spiritual vision. He founded a spiritual research center on September 1, 1975 and dedicated it to Horus, the Egyptian solar divinity. In 1977, together with a dozen friends, he started on the path that became Damanhur—a social, cultural and spiritual community to which he dedicated his entire life.
When Falco left this plane of existence in 2013, Damanhur had grown to a federation with over 20 communities and centers in Europe, Asia and North America and with thousands of individuals that participate—directly or indirectly—in the experiences created by the spiritual research of this Federation of Communities.
Falco published over thirty books, which can be thought of as mere “comments” on the copious themes he covered and elaborated on during his discourses. An adamant advocate that from the beginning of time—and maybe even before!—teaching is to be passed orally, he mainly spoke. Over forty years, he shared his spiritual vision through direct contact, lectures, conferences, public meetings, and his preferred technique, questions and answers.
Falco loved to discuss topics dear to his heart through discussion and exchange with the participants in his lectures. This allowed the important topics to slowly emerge over the course of the discussion, and often answered the very questions being poised.
His personal style could be characterized as that of great moderation. He spoke of the quality of life as an element of personal development, and explained that a good life is not the antithesis to purity—to move toward wellness you often need to transition through beauty, understood as quality.
He made it clear that you need to always be willing to tighten your belt—as he and the first Damanhurians did—when it is required, but also making it clear that poverty is not in and of itself a spiritual path. With a healthy sense of balance and the ability to share with others, it is more useful to know how to appreciate what life has to offer.
He didn’t love being in the spotlight. Visitors were often surprised to discover that the smiling man that had given them directions, had just walked by them or was quietly reading the newspaper at a table, was the founder of Damanhur. He was indistinguishable from others. This was probably because of his shy nature and distaste for fame, and a little because he chose to give value to the experiences of Damanhur and the Damanhurians instead of his own figure.
Falco did not look for the fame of other spiritual teachers of our era. Instead, that distinction was placed on accomplishments connected to him: Damanhur itself, for example, and even more so the Temples of Humankind—dug out of a mountain by hand and decorated with works of art of every genre. The Temples continue to be a subject of study for researchers from around the world.
Falco spoke to large audiences in conferences, conventions and interviews, but he always preferred to speak directly to the Damanhurians—his spiritual children—so that it could be them, through their practical accomplishments and teachings, to share his message of spiritual freedom, devotion to the beings with which we share this divine ecosystem and great pragmatism.
After having traveled extensively for personal study, he preferred for Damanhurians to do so instead of himself. In this way, they could spread their shared experiences and bring home new ones. A spiritual guide arrives to leave a message to the entire world, not just to his spiritual children. Falco trusted his message to the Damanhurians, and now it is up to them to spread it through their personal testimonies—another way to show that each person is both their own guide and master teacher, even when having the fortune to cross paths with a unique travel companion such as he was.
His Message
The message Falco left through his forty years of teachings is aimed at all the men and women that desire to make happiness the central theme they research in life. “Research”, because life is a school—from age zero to 100 years—and a day doesn’t go by when you don’t learn something new. There cannot be an experience from which we do not learn; there cannot be a routine to which we don’t try to apply something new. “Happiness”, because every human being has the task to find it and the right to obtain it, and because through it, the best of oneself can be expressed and offered.
Happiness is the natural kingdom of the human being in the journey to discover the magic of life, of the individual and of others. Even if two thousand years of history characterized by pain often leads us to think that it is the only way that has the strength and dignity to help us grow and progress, the truth is that joy and serenity are the territory upon which the seedlings of our evolution and maturity grow. It is our right to find this territory—to create it—without any guilt or judgement. Always—and for the spiritual seeker it should be natural to think this—and not only with respect to the space of others, but instead looking to be a guiding force to the research and well-being of others as well.
Falco’s message traces a path to spiritual freedom—a fundamental goal for every human being. Spiritual freedom, according to Falco, means complete and total awareness of what we are and complete participation in the laws that regulate the universe. It is the expression of individual free will and taking responsibility of one’s self. It is a journey that passes through personal maturity on the basis on individual talents and individual experiences, and through exchange with others, because community environments are the natural habitat of the human being. It passes through the realization of the value of thought and education of the emotions, to the discovery of a level of life different from our own and complementary to the “divine” sphere: the magic of the universe and the energy of life.
From the first years of his teachings until his death, Falco invited every human being to look within to discover their individual, divine nature, and to use this to explore the world and life. What does “divine nature” mean? It means that the entire universe permeates from one intelligence that is coherent and aware of itself, and can take on the characteristics and forms of animals, vegetables, minerals, spiritual beings and temporal beings. And to participate in this energy means participating in Everything, which in turn means being divine. Only awareness is needed. All we need to do is recognize it.
But divinities are also those natural and mysterious forces without physical form that live amongst us and influence our happenings.
These are the forces that ancient civilizations have given superior attributes and characteristics in order to create the pantheons we learned about in our myths and stories, in addition to the ones we still worship today. It is imperative, taught Falco, to re-learn how to establish contact with these forces, because they are part of the ecosystem in which we live and they possess the keys to our evolution. Real research will inevitably take us into an exploration of their dimensions.
We are entering a new age. The symbolic passage from the second to the third millennium—from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius—marks a decisive paradigm shift for life on our planet. Sharing, Research, Love, Union of Knowledge, Integration and Sensibility are the voices—today diminished, based on the cultures and experiences of the various peoples of the world—that can guide those that have survived the last millenniums toward more complete self-awareness. To help affirm this, Falco used many languages: the language of esoterism and mythology; the language of mysticism; the language of art and wonder. Through each of these, he shared his vision of the world and invited those who wanted to create their own, bringing elements of each one into his stories.
This multiformity—the quality of having multiple forms—in his teaching is another fundamental element in the message of Falco. Spirituality is not only found in some things, in some languages and in some topics. Spirituality means being aligned in life, able to take advantage of and give meaning to every event and knowing how to live in a spiritual-artistic-creative way (words that for Falco were practically synonyms) every moment of the day, from when you pray, to when you sing in the shower! It is the intensity with which we act—to live each moment completely—that makes the difference between a life of suffering and a life lived. The main characteristic of this message is its breadth, the way it extends out to numerous fields of spiritual life and daily life, and as such offers a complete vision of existence.
The teachings of Falco and their applications in Damanhur cover life across 360 degrees. Falco’s vision is both transcendent and pantheistic, celebratory and minimalistic, secular and devotional, classic and futuristic; it is connected to art and technology, organization and creativity, anarchy and hierarchy.
All this gave life to a vision strongly characterized and recognizable, “adapted to its time,” with a broad scope and understandable to all with their own preparation and sensitivity. These are the main reasons why he attracted so many seekers and repelled so many others in search of superficial consolation.
Falco was a spirit warrior. Beyond the broad scope of knowledge he shared and the gentleness he often used to deal with important and demanding topics, he constantly reminded us that a smile, compassion and understanding are the clothes with which we dress the grit, strength and constant push to improve that fuels us.
Falco taught us to think positively of others and always give them another chance, but never to give up or turn the other cheek, something he doubted anyone would have ever really said. This is why, in sharing the message of Falco, we decided to articulate his teachings in so many different themes, and then dedicate the last part of the book to the main languages he used. In forty plus years of shared life, we—together with him—covered Damanhur, the Temples of Humankind, the School of Meditation, Selfica and so many other areas of a practical, spiritual path to which we have dedicated our lives.
For you, the reader, from now on, this book will speak to you in first person. Draw inspiration from what you read for your own path to spiritual freedom, a path that can consist of many other pathways: mysticism, secular research, the exploration of the human being as a temple, the connection to nature and its Forces, etc. The “what” is relative, it is the “how” that colors what we do.
To “give order” to the comprehensive message of Falco is somewhat antithetical with respect to how he loved to speak—mixing discussion topics and making fragmentation a virtue. He asked the listener to know how to quickly jump to a new logic trail, then return to the starting point, connecting discussion threads sometimes long after they were exposed, but perfectly coherent when put together in the right sequence. A good part of this style has been preserved in the pages that follow because it is an integral part of the message that teaches how to fuse and “confuse” themes that appear distant. To better illustrate the chapters of Falco’s message, we have inserted some citations directly from his lectures.
To help you immerse yourself in his vision and to ground the most important points, at the end of each chapter we added a brief meditation created by Damanhurians over the years. Falco used to say that probably the most important meditations happen during sleep—who knows, maybe the night will create a greater resonance between you and this book?
Falco dreamed of a world made of spiritual researchers enthusiastic, sincere, pragmatic, capable of wonder, wanting to “create community”, and filled with love for life and the discipline to live. He didn’t dream of a world made of other communities the same as Damanhur, he believed that differences and subtleties are the biggest resources humanity has. His message consists in the creation of so many different nuances taken from personal application.
Today’s men and women do not need regulations and commandments to drive a peaceful and straightforward existence, but instead they need light to indicate which are the important areas, and by applying themselves to those, take comfort and make the world beautiful.
Every Damanhurian, and to a certain extent, every person that was a student of Falco, can tell of the same area in a slightly different way based on personal experiences and, therefore, of personal interpretation which contributes to the kaleidoscope design around the teachings.
This is also what we looked to create in the writings that follow, with the intent to honor the extraordinary figure that inspired them and to offer sparks of inspiration for your personal reflection: and to the questions I would like you to ask yourself.
It is important to research new spaces in life with the spirit of the explorer that faces the unknown to amplify personal knowledge and to re-discover ancient values hidden inside ourselves and with the same joy with which we welcome the springtime; even though we remember what it feels like, it warms our hearts again every year upon its arrival.
Second Part - The Chapters of the Message
Research
If I do it, it is true.
If I believe it, I do it.
If I don’t do it, I get bored.1
I would like to create the “Research Party”, and I would like to do more in all fields. To be a part of this party, each person needs to research something. I think of research like one of the points of individual satisfaction. Why does a person live? Why does one push to carry on or search for something more? In my opinion, people are looking for something more; it is not enough to get by or just keep going, they expect others to do something. I would like a party of researchers that are not just researchers of the spirit, but researchers in other fields, as well. In the field of magic, for example, you have had various experiences. You have probably learned how to create an alchemical substance, and to manage it. But, we also research other areas, from new musical instruments to agronomy, and so forth…2