Where there is a Will, there is a – Third – Way.
From Thursday, July 25th to Sunday, July 28th, we held the 9th edition of the European Lansquenets meeting in Provence.
To organize it in the year of the Olympics, we had to hold firm due to the announced series of transport price increases and the impossibility for more than one French person to be present, being requisitioned for work, considering the wide impact on the french economics activities.
To maintain our decision, we had to monitor the situation and only make it in mid-May, another organizational handicap. Then there were obligatory cancellations due to serious health reasons, others due to job changes or severe financial situations in an objectively difficult situation for everyone. Very elderly parents to take care of, bereavements in the family. It seemed to be born under a curse.
And yet, as in the year of Covid, we wanted to keep the commitment at all costs and, just like then, we won the bet. We had several new attendees of all ages, with people from eight nationalities. And the shared perception was that we had experienced an intense and happy event as rarely happens.
To make a quick summary, as usual, we combined sports and leisure activities with moments of reflection, organization, and work, in an environment where one had to express themselves in four languages and everyone had to try to understand others who did not speak their language. As every year, we formed four teams, where ages, genders, and nationalities were distributed to create cohesion and not separation.
The novelty this year was Tai Chi, which occupied no less than three sessions. As for the moments of reflection and commitment, we particularly reflected on how the Lansquenets position themselves concerning themselves, politics, metapolitics, and especially reality. We developed some aspects of what is summarized in our manifesto book “The Challenge to the Future,” whose reading is indispensable and irreplaceable to understand what we have been doing for years. This year’s sports and cultural activities were: pétanque, axe throwing, arm wrestling, treasure hunt with historical questions about the Lansquenets, football, and Trivial Pursuit, with questions on history, geography, art, literature, etc.
Every year, we dedicate the teams to a theme that can be historical or mythological. The original idea was to tie it to Olympic themes. We changed our minds due to the disgraceful spectacle presented at the opening of the Paris Games and, above all, to align with the essence of Tai Chi, which places the axis at the center and is based on the rotation of essential movements. Therefore, we dedicated the teams to the cardinal points and the brightness produced by the sun. In the end, the rankings were as follows:
Red (South)
Blue (North)
Gray (West)
White (East)
We managed the catering ourselves with appreciable results both qualitatively and quantitatively. Each team took turns handling table service and cleaning duties. In the spirit that was created, there was always voluntary help from many others, who thus did not miss additional services. The responsiveness of everyone was surprising, allowing us to keep to the schedule without needing to repeatedly urge anyone.
Also significant was the motivation of those who came from very far, with layovers, just to spend a few hours with us. Some endured ten-hour car trips alone, and others even did eighteen hours round-trip just to deliver materials to us. All this is the fruit, and in turn the seed, of that European community spirit that we intend to regenerate and reaffirm.
Those who have never been to Provence cannot truly imagine what we are talking about. They will wonder what these meetings are for and what “components” participate. There are—and have always been since the beginning—many political or metapolitical components, some of which have been born over the years precisely from the meetings in Provence. And, what is most important, they have set aside, overcome, or completely ignored the logic of rivalry among themselves.
From an organizational point of view, what emerges in these meetings develops together and in the individual countries, perhaps changing along the way, throughout the year. From a purely utilitarian perspective, the balance is very positive.
However, one must consider it from another perspective, for which everything useful and productive is the result of something that condenses and symbolizes in a moment of the year in Provence but remains active always and acts in daily life with naturalness and solidity. It is about building community with cheerful, ironic, demanding, active impersonality and creating Synthesis, bringing oneself closer to the transcendent and immanent Center.
We can talk about Happiness, in the sense that the Romans understood this word. From which everything else proceeds and silently moves things.
An auspicious sign. Our Dutch comrade Laurens, who could not come for easily understandable reasons, saw the birth of his son, Elessar, on the very opening day of our meeting in Provence.
Now we are thinking about the 10th Edition (July 24-27, 2025), which will be preceded by a series of meetings throughout the year.
