Remember the City of the Sun by Tommaso Campanella or Utopia by Tommaso More: also Evanland it is a wonderful place, as, in the best of all worlds, all population centers should be. This imagined by Gio Evan gathers artists, writers, philosophers, spiritual teachers, travelers, poets, all together, for one day (1 July 2022), from four in the afternoon to midnight, at Overhead crane of Sesto San Giovanniwhere this ideal city will magically be composed.
«I was talking to my friend Bruce and we were reflecting on how bad people are brilliant, always very capable in knowing how to organize themselves, much better than how good people can do. As if evil knew how to respect appointments. “Shall we make war?”. And after two hours the bombs go off. While good people are there to discuss how to make an educational farm and then, between one debate and another, the project vanishes. So we wanted instead to have a punctual appointment for the good, an event that would gather those who are capable of tenderness and kindness. In Evanland you can meditate, play, do yoga or reiki sessions. I like the idea of connecting people. I start talking about my new book on India and then it continues for the whole day: Tamara Krisana talks about Family Constellations, Daniel Lumera of Interior Ecology, Luciana Delle Donne of the future of prisoners and many others, with the possibility, for each of the people present, to occupy a microphone for 20 minutes and tell their projects and dreams ».
So many new things: in addition to Evanland, his new song has also recently been released, Hopper. There is often an artist in his songs: I think of Klimt, of Joseph Beuys… Why?
«Because I think that an artist always carries a spiritual message, capable of making you grow. When I realized that I would not find a teacher, I decided that art would be the teacher I was looking for. So every year I decide to pay homage to an artist and this year it’s Hopper. I like his perfectionism of solitude. Hopper used to say that all he needed was a piece of wall and seeing the reflected light coming in. He didn’t say it is enough for me to see the sun… His is a much more refined detail ».
The video of the song was self-produced and, in agreement with Universal, you donated the budget of the video clip to the Cristo de La Calle Foundation (Ecuador). Why them?
“I went to Ecuador when I was 16, I worked there for three months, right in this Foundation, which is an orphanage. I was very impressed: here there were some children who had been abandoned. I still remember we found twins in a garbage can. I fell in love with Claudia and Juan Francisco, two silent Jesuses. And so over the years I have remained attached to them and I try to help them. Over the years they have built a playground and a swimming pool, and I am committed to creating a bit of tourism and movement around that place ».
In his songs, as well as in his books and shows, he never talks about big wins, but he never gives the feeling of being a loser. There is always a positive imagery, conquered by getting up from troubles and failures. There is never anything given as a gift, but there is always a smile. Is it an effort or does it come naturally?
“I think it’s mandatory had a harmonic perspective. Any tragedy must be seen with the brightest eyes possible, otherwise that tragedy will always remain a tragedy. If you fall you have not failed, you have simply fallen. As if to say, you aim for victory, but never competitive. Accidents and disasters happen to everyone, and then I often go looking for them ».
In his latest book, Live at the top of your lungs (Rizzoli), tells several of his adventures and talks a lot about India, a country that is always dear to her. What could we learn from a trip to India?
«India is the first country in the world, which has based its entire history on personal research. There, the search for spirituality has been going on for 5 thousand years: there are testimonies that 3 thousand years before Christ there were bhajan, devotional songs, every minute, everywhere, there is someone reciting a mantra. There every bus, every train has the name of a god, you feel a constant search for spirituality, something you don’t hear elsewhere. When I was 14 I lived in an ahram: for me India meant meeting a teacher of life, who would welcome me, who would teach me fasting and show me the way to the truth. Then it didn’t go quite like this, but India is capable of spitting in your face a reality that tests you: India shows you a state of poverty that you must be able to introject, to make yours. Only when you come to terms with the misery that you find inside you can you really find a teacher, only in that moment can you know fasting without cursing him ».
In the book there is this question: “And what freedom are you capable of?”. I ask you the same question …
«A great freedom is to practice non-possession. I have a 9-year-old son, but I know that he will walk alone, I know that his life is his father more than I can be for him. The sea and the forest are his parents. Freedom is changing, knowing how to let go “.
She always stresses the importance of small, tiny things. What is small that is essential to you?
«For me, the whole collection of small gestures we make during the day reveal who you are. I think it’s important to be present in small gestures: if I’m washing the dishes I look for that thing there, I’m in it, I’m present: it’s not that, while I’m washing the dishes, I start listening to a podcast. Everything you do can be a stimulus for truth. I believe that I really don’t miss anything in life: I’ve learned to do the little things with the right people. Small gestures, mantras, harmonic repetitions: this is how I work … ».
Let’s take a quick tour of the “If you were” game: What if I were a color?
“I’d be a light blue, very light blue.”
If I were a city?
“Atlantis”.
An artist?
“Joseph Boyle.”
If I were a gesture?
«I would be the first mudra of Buddhist meditation, it indicates the union between man and god. It looks a bit like the ok gesture… ».
Source: Vanity Fair
