Re-Conectando: Weaving the Mycelium of the Soul for Peace in Colombia (2)

Van 2018 tot en met 2023 begeleidde Heleen ter Ellen, oud-CIMIC-docent en  -leerling, de Waarheidscommissie in Colombia met bijzondere workshops, genaamd: Re-Conectando: Laboratoria voor waarheid en verzoening in de buik van Moeder Aarde.

Dit proces was onder meer gebaseerd op het Werk dat weer Verbindt van Joanna Macy. Voor een nieuw te verschijnen boek over het belang van dit werk in de wereld van vandaag, schreef Heleen samen met haar collega’s een inspirerend artikel, met het mycelium als leidende metafoor. We brengen dit lange Engelstalige artikel in de CIMIC-Nieuwsbrief, opgesplitst in drie delen. Hieronder deel 2.

Opening the Wounds to find the Medicine

In a laboratory held in the Magdalena Medio region of Colombia, two victims expressed distrust toward a former paramilitary member’s sharing in the Truth Mandala. “I felt that he did not speak the truth. Something stopped him from opening up to us and he just told us what we wanted to hear”, Diana, one of these victims, said after the Truth Mandala had taken place.

The facilitators formed a new circle for the two women to speak directly with the ex-combatant. After hearing their fears and concerns, he responded: “It is very difficult to know that one is sitting here practically as a representative, because at the beginning I said: I come in representation of a group of ex-combatants, but I never said what group it was. Why? Because of fear. Right now, you see me as an ordinary person. I was no longer the man with the armband, the rifle, who was looking at you and you had to lower your gaze because uh huh. No, not anymore.”

He explained that he felt ashamed, because, as he recalled: “80 percent of the atrocities that you just narrated has to do with the paramilitary”. After being able to explicitly say who he had been, the group showed a renewed willingness to listen to stories of his present life, his processes, and the challenges he faces in reintegrating into civil society.

Although Re-Conectando presents itself as Laboratories for Truth and Reconciliation in the womb of Mother Earth, we do not offer any incentives for asking forgiveness or working toward reconciliation. We understand that these actions are meaningful only when they come from the heart and are born out of the empathy created through deep listening in a non-judgmental and safe space, free from pressure or expectations.

Laura Cifuentes, a servant from one of the Houses of Truth in our Sumapaz laboratory, noted in an interview: “What struck me about Re-Conectando is that participants are not told what to do or what to believe. They aren’t given instructions on what is good or bad, what should be, or the only way to do things.”

“Instead, they are presented with doors that open and pathways to explore. This approach sparked a significant reflection on the possibility of choice and responsibility, which I believe is fundamental to the spiritual dimension of peacebuilding.”

In our laboratory in the Urabá region in 2019, several high-level ex-combatants from opposing sides of the conflict—guerrilla and paramilitary—participate, creating a space for deep listening and unlikely dialogues amidst the nurturing embrace of nature, in this occasion the Caribbean Sea.

Through shared experiences of awe, wonder, play, and interconnectedness, participants develop a greater sense of empathy for each other’s suffering and a deeper appreciation for the sanctity of all life.

This environment naturally fosters the need for sincere forgiveness, as seen between ex-paramilitary commander Dario and ex-guerrillero soldier Eduardo: “Eduardo, my words are not going to give you back the parents and family that you lost as a child and that those same circumstances led you to make mistakes in life; but, today I want to ask for your forgiveness from the bottom of my heart and invite you to be that light for those who do not have light, because who else than you and I can tell the world that we can, Eduardo? And I will say it again, forgive me, forgive me a thousand times for the damage we caused.”

After several days the former high level FARC commander Francisco is taken by surprise by what unfolds in the village between ‘us and them’: “I think this village, what we call Re-Conectando, is what I needed to heal my wounds. I never imagined I would be able to hug a paramilitary, someone from a group that killed my family. But look, where is the revenge? It’s in smiles, in eating together, like brothers. I wish for all of us to reconnect, for all of us to belong to this village, to all of Colombia.”

At the end of the gathering, Francisco invites Dario to join forces for peace: “With this PEACE that we will achieve, with these rifles we consign to oblivion – rifles that took away mothers and children – with this peace and harmony, we will help the communities that have suffered and heal their wounds. Let’s join forces and build this peace together!”

Dario responds while lifting Francisco in his arms: “That’s how it is, brother. God bless us, and I will visit you soon!”

In an interview afterwards Dario concludes: “I do not believe in the kind of forgiveness that a judge orders you to do: ‘Go ask the victim for forgiveness’, because that is a mechanical forgiveness, people are not even prepared for that. Real forgiveness is what we did this week, that came from the heart, that is the true reconciliation that this country needs.”

We observe that proposing care for our shared natural world and ancestral Mother transforms into a powerful source of inspiration on the path to peace and reconciliation, not only among humans but also with the living body of Earth, as many ancestral communities in Colombia have long practiced.

In the same laboratory in Urabá, beside the Caribbean Sea with its unique and healing energy, the group was spontaneously drawn to a collective act of material and symbolic restoration—after cleansing their ‘inner beaches’ in the Truth Mandala—, gathering all kinds of debris from the beach.

Standing proudly behind many filled garbage bags, facing the sea turning orange with the setting sun, the participants burst into singing Re-Conectando’s jingle: “Está pasando, nos estamos Re-Conectando!”

The Game of the Elastics: Experiencing Interbeing

An impactful practice we have developed to experience interbeing and the theory of living systems is what we currently call the Game of the Elastics. Each participant receives a closed elastic band, long enough to form various shapes by stretching it with different body postures. The elastic represents qualities or ‘medicines’ that each of us carries within.

Gradually, participants are invited to join their bands with others to create increasingly complex shapes until all the bands are intertwined into a single network. At this point, we ask them to describe what they see. Common responses include words like ‘brain’, ‘community’, ‘entanglement’, ‘spider web’, ‘ecosystem’, and ‘mycelium’. This sets the stage for a reflection on what might happen to the human and natural ecosystem if current trends continue.

Then the facilitator begins to separate parts, unlinking the participants one by one. At this point, they no longer represent themselves but are seen as parts of an ecosystem being devastated. Having researched the specific socio-environmental conflicts of the territory beforehand, the facilitator makes cynical, harsh comments during the disconnection process: “This is a river contaminated with mercury from gold mining, now lifeless, but who cares!”

“This is a mountain being decapitated for its mineral wealth, but who cares! There are thousands of mountains in this country!”

“This is an indigenous community driven to extinction, taking with it a unique cosmogony, language, and art, but who cares? They’re just obstacles to progress!”

“These are orchids no one has ever seen, now vanished, but it doesn’t matter.” “And you, the social leader making a fuss about all this, we’ll disappear you too. You’re just a troublemaker, always arguing and complaining, doing nothing useful… and nothing happens, because we are all afraid.”

As the unravelling progresses, some participants start to resist the dismemberment, reflecting the real-life struggles in Colombia. The facilitator responds with increased determination to make them disappear, cruelly mirroring the harsh reality they face. Eventually, the network is almost completely detached, leaving only a few participants loosely connected by their elastics, while the rest lie disconnected on the floor.

At that point, we ask the participants how they feel about what has happened. They usually express feelings of desolation, hopelessness, and pain for everything that has been lost, realizing the deep impact it has on them.

We sometimes comment on what remains, sharing facts such as only 17 percent of animals left on Earth are wild, 75 percent of birds are chickens, and almost 60 percent of mammals are cows. This prompts reflection on what these changes mean for the planet and humanity.

Next, we invite participants to consider what they can do or contribute to prevent the remaining parts from disappearing and to regenerate life. As they name the qualities they bring to the ecosystem (e.g., ‘protect the rivers’, ‘reforest’, ‘raise awareness through art’), they reconnect their elastics with the surviving network. This process continues until the network is fully restored, giving rise to a new, interconnected system.

This dynamic is rather painful yet clarifying, serving as a perfect introduction to seeing our interconnectedness in the web of life through new (or ancestral) eyes, regardless of the role or place you occupy in this web.

Often, we proceed by reconnecting participants to the causes they defend through the beautiful Work That Reconnects practice: Widening Circles. This involves working on their ecological self, cultivating passion and compassion, and opening up to new identities.

We invite participants to create small theater scenes in evocative natural settings, which themselves become actors in the performance. This exercise helps to strengthen the muscle of imagination and allows participants to fully embody the experience.

Amidst liberating laughter or while holding their breath, the audience witnesses scenes where a victim takes the place of a perpetrator, a former combatant embodies a child of the future, or an indigenous leader represents the CEO of the mining company destroying his land.

This approach creates a transformative space for participants to confront past traumas, articulate emotions, and reconnect with their inner selves and a larger, collective purpose.

Through forum theater, participants also practice agency by intervening as ‘spect-actors’, exploring new, alternative approaches to these complex issues.

Helena ter Ellen

Voor meer informatie: www.reconectando.org

Het derde en laatste deel van dit artikel verschijnt in Nieuwsbrief#61 van maart.

NB: This article will appear in the forthcoming book Coming Together in the Great Turning: Collective Liberation and Work That Reconnects, by Aravinda Ananda, Molly Brown, and Kurt Kuhwald. New Society Publishers. Fall, 2025.

Lees verder (inhoud februari 2025)