Seeds of new hope

 “The future is impenetrable especially to the wise; for what is really important is always hid from contemporaries, and the seeds of what is to be are quietly germinating in the dark in some forgotten corner, while everyone is looking at Stalin or Hitler” (...) The greater part of the truth is always hidden, in regions out of the reach of cynicism. (J.R.R. Tolkien) 

In our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalises the poorest. For our part, we want to be a small leaven of unity, communion and fraternity within the world. (Pope Leo XIV)

It seems almost impossible not to fix our gaze on the “too many wounds” of our time. With our eyes enhanced by technology and constantly bombarded by images of evil, it's easy to fall into indifference or alienation, cynicism, or even despair. Yet this is not the first time in history that humankind has faced such a predicament. As in other dark times, life has not been extinguished: rather, like an underground river it continues to grow and flow, ready to burst forth in the most unexpected places and moments.

In the next edition of Convergence, we invite you to shift your gaze, away from the Stalins and Hitlers of our time, toward the “forgotten corners” of history, where the life of “what is to be” is already showing the seeds of new hope. This is not an exercise in narcissism, as if we were the owners or privileged recipients of these seeds. Instead, Convergence 2026 invites you to reject the impulse to retreat into small, insular groups or to see ourselves as superior to the world, squandering energy on self-conceited complaints about the desolation of the times.

In the words of Augustine, “Bad times, hard times, this is what people keep saying; but let us live well, and times shall be good. We are the times: Such as we are, such are the times”.

In this two day event of Convergence 2026 we want go out in search of real stories, where hope is not an empty word but a living reality; where language is not ideological but filled with love; where unity and peace are seen as more realistic than war; where communication is “disarmed and disarming,” and allows “to share a different view of the world and to act in a manner consistent with our human dignity”.