Regaining Realistic Hope

Hope has moved people out of unbearable situations into better lives and has inspired humans to survive until they can thrive. The word hope is used a lot in everyday language. And sometimes hope is used when we suddenly feel powerless and lost and need wings to carry us through the storm, something to motivate us moving forward. 

We live in times of rotating tragedies in the daily headlines, both on personal and collective levels. Wars, climate crises, collapse of ecosystems, immense injustice in wealth distribution, interlocking systems of oppression and societal breakdowns have been present for a long time in big parts of the world and are now entering the so-called “protected” western world. As never before, the pain of the world is coming closer to all of us. The global collective situation is challenging us to find realistic perspectives of solutions. In these times, we want to slow down and explore with you the power of hope.

What is genuine hope in these times? What is the difference between wishful thinking and realistic hope? One of the facilitators of this course, A’ida AL- Shibly, has been exploring these questions for decades. She recalls a key moment in her life that changed her political activism and made her understand the necessity of hope: “It was 2001, during the second Palestinian Intifada, and I was marching with women in Ramallah for freedom and justice. I was pregnant and involved in a huge love drama that left me depressed and hopeless. Still, I marched for a greater reason. An older sister in the resistance movement asked me, what is wrong with you? What is this face? I started rolling down all my personal agony and reasons to lose hope. She replied with conviction: A’ida, choosing to be born as a Palestinian woman in these times, you need to know, you do not have the privilege of losing hope.”
Today, A’ida continues to ask, Is hope a privilege?

Hope can be a balm for fear and anxiety. And we believe that combined with grieving the reality of these times, hope is a prayer that things will change, that our loved ones will be healthy, that we will finally be happy together. To study hope in the context of broader challenges as well as its connections to our mental well-being, is a goal of this course.

Program Details

This weeklong course is a deepening course and is designed for people who have already visited Tamera or have taken Tamera’s online education. In “Regaining Realistic Hope”, together we’ll explore the substance of realistic hope by examining each of our personal stories and our collective projects. We will study global topics such as patriarchy, capitalism, colonialism and visit the perspectives of people touched intensively by these topics, particularly with Tamera`s partner projects in the Global South.

We aim for the group of people in this course to represent many different cultures. A particular call goes to people who intend to or who are actively bridging social and political topics within their communities in the global south and/or bridging between the global south and global north. We will apply the ethical principles of equity in the registration process and while the course is running. For this reason please check out our solidarity fund on the sidebar and don’t hesitate to apply for funds if you are in need and donate if you have the privilege to give.

Tamera’s land and Tamera’s community will serve as a model of inspiration toward new ways of being on earth. What is the role of a community in restoring trust and cultivating hope? How can we develop a relationship with the land in the spirit of stewardship, which weaves us in togetherness with the flow of life?

You’ll explore:

• basic principles of Tamera’s social technology
• decentralized, scalable models of living as tools for hope
• the Political theory and the Healing Biotope’s plan
• outer and inner peace work
• hope in Indigenous cultures
• the interdependence of the relationship between the Global North and the Global South
• inspiring conversations with some of our partners from the Global South
• how to hang onto hope in the midst of anxiety and cultivate a ritual of faith and trust
• spiritual and body practices that support hope

The program will include: 

• a preparation Zoom call and questionnaire
• a Tamera tour, seeing different aspects of community building
• an excursion to a project in our region that is built on hope