Editor’s note: The solutions to suffering can also be collective, says Darinka Rueda, the young Mexican engineer who helped bring this extraordinary event to life. Along with Rodrigo Martínez, a young Mexican internationalist and co-founder of the “School of Conscious Politics”, she is part of what Indigenous prophecies call the “Seventh Generation”—young leaders serving processes of unification, such as building bridges between ancestral wisdom and contemporary science.

Para leer este artículo en Español ver Renacimiento Renovado: La Sabiduría Ancestral Encuentra la Academia Contemporánea en Florencia.

In a sunlit classroom at the University of Florence, an unusual scene unfolds. A Maya elder from Guatemala shares his wisdom while an Italian economics professor listens intently. Their unexpected connection bridges centuries of tradition with contemporary academia. This is no ordinary university gathering—it is a Conscious Politics Festival, where ancestral prophecies meet present-day challenges in a collective effort to create a more conscious education.

The festival transforms a traditional university space into something extraordinary. A learning altar stands at the center of the classroom, co-created with objects that tell stories of connection: a law student’s paintbrush symbolizing the fusion of creativity and justice, a rosary from Jerusalem, an Andean Cross from Bolivia, and a small hummingbird figurine representing the power of small actions to create change.

During the festival, various guardians of ancestral wisdom from India and Abya Yala gather. The contemplative music of Ganesh del Vescovo, from the Vedic lineage of Sivananda, fills the same air where Maya prayers intertwine with the chants of Uditha Thwro Liyanwela and Nandasiri Thero, representing the Theravāda Buddhist tradition, sharing insights on the role of compassion in today’s world.

Technology allows voices from around the world to join the event, creating a unique hybrid space where Syameswari Prema and Kardapika Dasi present the relationship between consciousness and politics from the Vaishnava philosophy, offering a chanting experience from the Hare Krishna tradition to reaffirm the heart as a legitimate territory of learning. Meanwhile, they share the screen with university researchers and Indigenous wisdom keepers, engaging in dialogue with economic theorists.

The heartbeat of the gathering is palpable when Tata Cristóbal Cojtí, Indigenous mayor of Tecpán, Guatemala, meets economics professors Giovanni Belletti and Mario Biggeri, the latter an expert in International Cooperation and Human Development. Their conversation transcends language barriers as they explore how the Maya wisdom of the Popol Vuh could inspire contemporary approaches to development in economics, politics, and education.

This is more than an academic conference; it is a rebirth of how we think about global challenges. Professor Biggeri’s expressed intention to sustain an ongoing dialogue with Tata Cristóbal and to incorporate his teachings into the International Cooperation and Human Development course holds within it the promising seeds of transformation within Western universities. This initiative signifies a burgeoning acknowledgment of the ancestral wisdom of the Indigenous peoples of Abya Yala, pointing toward the potential for a more just and balanced appreciation of their knowledge within western academic realms.

The dialogue breaks through traditional academic boundaries using an innovative fishbowl dialogue method, where participants tackle profound questions to find individual and collective answers to today’s crises:

💬 “What social pains break your heart?”
💬 “What luminous potentials in your environment expand your being?”

These are not typical university seminar questions; they spark reflections that weave emotional understanding with intellectual rigor.

This event is conceived as a social sculpture, merging mind and heart to cultivate authentic connections, challenge assumptions, and inspire transformative actions.

A Social Sculpture: Art, Politics, and Learning as One

This event is conceived as a social sculpture, merging mind and heart to cultivate authentic connections, challenge assumptions, and inspire transformative actions.

As the festival unfolds, something extraordinary begins to emerge. Economic theories start to dance with spiritual practices. Public policy intersects with ancestral prophecies. Art becomes a language to express political ideas and inspire economic initiatives. The rigid boundaries between disciplines begin to blur, suggesting new possibilities for addressing contemporary challenges.

We are not just talking about change, we are experiencing a new way of creating knowledge together. We (Darinka and Rodrigo) with our very different backgrounds in engineering and international relations, embody this fusion of the traditional and the contemporary. We call this work a “social sculpture”, inspired by Dutch artist Louwrien Wijers, for whom art is not just what is created but how the world is perceived and inhabited.

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A Lasting Impact Beyond the Event

The gathering does not simply end with the presentation of academic papers—it concludes with concrete commitments. Professor Biggeri plans future collaborations with the Maya elders. Students begin exploring ways to integrate heart-centered approaches into their research. A new curriculum continues to take shape, one that honors both scientific rigor and ancestral wisdom.

As participants share a communal meal—another intentional act of merging the sacred with the everyday—the vision becomes clear. This is not just about creating more conscious politics; it is about reimagining how we learn, lead, and solve problems in an interconnected world.

In the historic city of Florence, where the Renaissance transformed humanity’s understanding of the world, a new form of Renaissance is taking root—one that unites North and South, the ancestral and the contemporary, East and West, the Eagle and the Condor, the sacred feminine and mature masculinity, the heart and the mind.

The future of this initiative lies in the hands of many people and organizations across generations, cultures, and disciplines—including young leaders who are part of a generation inspired to weave seemingly opposing worlds together.

As we carefully dismantle the learning altar and clean the classroom, we know that this is just the beginning. The real work is to carry these connections into territories and communities, beyond this event, transforming this brief encounter into lasting change in education, leadership, and how we respond to global challenges.

“Perhaps,” as one participant noted, “this is the renewal of the spirit of the Renaissance in the 21st century.”