Lanza del Vasto - Pilgrim of the Essential

The poet, the philosopher, the fighter.

A film by Louis Campana

I was seventeen years old, I was sick in the countryside, and a priest from the neighborhood came to visit me. He was a holy man, with a great Gothic head, he spoke simply and we came to talk about Paradise and he said to me: "Paradise is to return here, where we are, but whilst now we are on the surface of things, Paradise, it would be to be here and understand how plants grow, to be in that growth».

I wandered all around our Mediterranean sea, in the Holy Land.

One must look at the flowers as one stands open-mouthed before a miracle, as one feels in oneself the ascending love. We should look at women as flowers, that is to say, without any qualification.

I believe in you God who sleeps in the stone, dreams in the tree, aspires in the beast, loves in man, dies, and whose head pierces the sky and passes the light.
Lanza del Vasto

To take the path of violence with its inevitable consequences, is a major failing of humanity. Profit, domination and disrespect are the spirits of violence. Violence does not solve conflicts but creates more problems.
Letting go of the old reptilian reflexes and becoming wiser is a lesson that must be learned. This lesson is called "Conversion".
Louis Campana

Bonus: The meeting of Lanza del Vasto and Gandhi in Sevagram.

This DVD includes both French and English versions.
62 mn