Nature as a source of spirituality as discussed at the Lassalle House

Last Saturday visitors to open day at the Lassalle House in Edlibach were prompted to contemplate nature as a source of spirituality.

The Lasalle House, situated as it is amid beautiful scenery near Menzingen, is regarded as a place of calm and a potential source of strength.

As Tobias Karcher, the director of the institute, explained, the place is somewhere where whither one can withdraw and escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Courses are not only offered in yoga and Zen but spiritual exercises and contemplation, too, enabling participants to celebrate being alone, the coming together of various values and perhaps find themselves, all with the aim of living more consciously, able to take in and appreciate the everyday life in the valley more consciously, too, perhaps.

Visitors that day were able to admire the striking architecture of the buildings and the gardens, all at an altitude of 200 metres above sea level. In an ensuing podium discussion about nature and spirituality, it was inevitable climate change was talked about and how one should tackle the related challenges.

Among 50 people attended the discussion, to which Ion Karagounis of the WWF Switzerland organisation (on the right in the photograph), Robert Unteregger of the Future Council Foundation (on the left) and Michel Christensen of the Swiss Impact Investment Association, contributed. In addition to the afore-mentioned challenges, the trio also spoke about how to live in a sustainable way in today’s society, economic developments as they are.

What the three experts agreed on was that it was not knowledge that was wanting, but what to do and how to respond, not just asking questions, but acting on our thoughts, and in a courageous way, changing the ways in which we act.

Indeed, it is in such beautiful, if not magical, surroundings set amid trees on this hill that, as Lena Dysli wrote, it is hoped many more people will come to in the future to ponder on such things.