"Think better to live better. Connect with the world to connect with oneself."

Compass, the University's Counseling and Wellness Unit, in partnership with the Core Curriculum Institute, held the second session of Re-conecta "Think better to live better", a cycle of 4 sessions for students and mentors. This second session was position by Carmen Basanta, professor at the School of Education and Psychology, and Deliacir "Peca" Macher, architect. 

This is how one of the attendees describes the session:

"Soft light, noise coming from outside, we breathe, we become aware and, in silence, we enter into the work of art proposed by the speakers. 

We move through the museum, we arrive, we stop, we contemplate: a look. It looks at us, a man, an eye, an ear, splashed with color, shades of yellow and ochre. In the center, the eye that questions us. He seems frightened, clinging to a stick, wood or iron... impossible to tell. Vulnerable. Hidden. It clings tightly to the bar, it hides or comes out to our meeting, we don't know. One side in the light and one side in the shadow. We let our imagination fly, why this fear? why is he hiding? why this penetrating, stealthy, sad look? A shot in the chest? A wound? He seemed dressed, I approach, he is naked, even more vulnerable. He looks like a soldier in battle. We get closer. In the four corners, four small images, four parts of himself. How to understand what is happening to him? Can I hear a look? Can I listen with my eyes? Can I listen with my eyes? Can I listen with my eyes? Fear, sadness, anxiety. Wounded, rifle. With the look. 

We are in front of 'Portrait', a work by Rafael Lavenfeld, former artistic director of the Museo Universidad de Navarra, who died in 2023. The comments described above were part of those made by the participants in the session 'Beyond the surface'. This openness to the image financial aid us to look at ourselves as well. This was appreciated by Carmen Basanta and Deliacir 'Peca' Macher, speakers at the second session of the Re-Conecta cycle. Everything seen, everything perceived'. 

We have prepared the body to be able to reach this point, we have activated the attention and the 'ignorant mode', we have deactivated the gaze of judgment and we have turned it into a gaze that came from within. We have let the work speak to us: to the heart, to the soul, to the spirit, to the conscience. 

Body, mind and spirit have been united; pleasure, truth and good; being, being and feeling; brain, will and soul. And the conscience. We go looking for pleasure, we saturate ourselves with it, without letting anything else in, but that is not everything. But we are much more, we have more dimensions, we can think, but it generates anxiety that these thoughts deceive us. But we can modify them, we have a mind that can lift or close the barrier. 

However, there is something beyond the intellect, we have spirit and heart, something that reason never manages to explain. Pain, illness, the death of a loved one, a loss... we see it, we know it, but we can only see the light if there is a shadow. The shadow is also beautiful. We can find beauty in pain. But be careful, because it can become morbid. If looking at pain moves you to compassion, to tenderness, that is in the heart, that is what makes us truly human. 

Art also gives it to us. Beyond the surface, beyond what is sample. We cannot denigrate the surface either, but it allows us to look. We need the surface to breathe. It is the first thing that presents itself to us, we should not judge it. We tend to label and pigeonhole, we financial aid to look and pay attention, but we must go beyond it. We walk daily, we go through life without paying attention to our surroundings, looking at the screen, what has it given me? Nothing, because life is beyond it. 

Students and mentors, look at each other and listen to each other, stop to pay attention, slow down and look at who we are to connect, but look at each other as a whole. To go beyond the algorithm, what is in our mind, and go to the spirit, what we are. 

We have to go to the bottom, leave the 'why are you saying this' and approach the 'what makes you say it' to reach understanding. In the different generations, reason and emotion are opposed, but we have to contemplate, listen to each other and get closer. It is not only about looking for the well-being of the person, but to be better, to be better, all of you, all of me. 

Let's use the great tool that the University of Navarra offers us, we have mentoring to help us to look ourselves in the face. To be, without more, which is not little, if not a lot. 

Let us use this knowledge, these weapons to improve what we have around us, to slow down the speed at which this frenetic world takes us. 

When we have discovered something as good, it is non-negotiable to eliminate it from our life. What I financial aid to have a contemplative activity I want and keep. We have to fight to get spaces, keep them and protect them. I have seen it in others, and I want it for myself. And what we have, we pass on. Priorities. Little practices, moments, that are attainable. It is non-negotiable, I have to know myself to choose well: my degree program, my husband, my day to day. 

There are no rules, each one looks for his space, his temple to meditate, to pray, a museum... The Museum of the University of Navarra, the atmosphere that surrounds it, the silence, the rings that lead us to it, the decision to climb the stairs... our body is preparing for contemplation. We breathe other air, we hear other sounds, we see ourselves reflected on the floor, we are alone... Rafael Moneo managed to allow us to enter this atmosphere. It is not necessary to be an art scholar, do not try to know the painter or the style, enter in ignorant mode, because it can become data, a wall that does not allow us to listen to the work. Let it speak to you, let it become your mirror, let it catch your heart. 

Encourage the ability to be surprised. We live in a scrolling world, we see a thousand images a day without looking at them. Stop, contemplate. Art enlightens us in this, it plays with the excess, the ugly, the broken, it does not hide it, it does not judge them. 

We are back in the classroom, but we are leaving and, although the silence outside is broken by applause and words, inside us remains calm. We have learned to look differently: without judgment, with attention, letting life and art speak to us. 'Beyond the Surface' not only invites us to observe the world with new eyes, but to discover ourselves in the process. 

In a time where everything seems fast-paced and superficial, stopping to contemplate, feel and reflect is not a luxury, but a necessity. True connection, whether with art, with others or with ourselves, requires time and disposition. And this space that the Re-Conecta cycle gives us is an invitation to make this internship a habit, to choose to prioritize what makes us human". 

Next session of the cycle

The next talk, "Is it possible to live in a polarized world?", is scheduled for February 19 and will focus on mutual understanding and respect, fostering empathy. Those interested can register at this link.