“Something good has to come out of this crisis and it begins with finding our souls”

Serge had often visited the island since he was a little boy, but an old school friend invited him out to the island and suggested he bought a holiday home on the island, which he did in Moscari - a small finca - before moving to Pollensa three years ago. He now spends his time between England and Majorca, where he is extremely happy with his second wife.

For forty years he has conducted spiritual retreats all over the world. In the 1980s, he co-founded the Institute for the Study of Conscious Evolution in San Francisco. He is the author of Awakening the Universal Heart and has recently published Gateways to the Soul; Inner Work for the Outer World, which is enjoying huge success in the United States and has just been released in the United Kingdom.

Serge, who trained and studied all over the world and was awarded an Italian knighthood twenty years ago for services to humanity, explained to the Bulletin this week that he actually started his latest book some two years ago but that its message or teachings could not be more apt than now, as the world struggles through the Covid pandemic.

“In the book I explore the connections between healing your personal wounds and healing the planet. I try to explain how embracing inner qualities such as love, friendship, joy, courage, forgiveness, and truth, as well as facing your shadow sides and confronting world evil, enables you to move through important gateways leading to the soul.

“The book also offers a variety of transpersonal exercises, meditations, and guided visualisations at the end of each chapter, so it’s also a self-help publication. We are all going through a dreadful and dark time right now and no one really knows what’s going to happen next. Will there be a vaccine soon or will the virus mutate and return even stronger? How long will this last? No one has the answers. But what is clear is that life is never going to be the same again and we need to seize this moment, make good of this crisis and change the way we live and our attitude toward others and the world in which we live.

“And what is crucial to us being able to move forward in this new world we are entering into is to reconnect with our souls, rediscover who we are and repair our own wounds instead of inflicting them on others. I see a change in civilisation, we need one. The old way of doing things, be it politics, economics or simple social affairs has reached its sell-by date. It’s old school - the blame game has got to end and we’ve got to become accustomed to being accountable for our own actions and positively influencing the actions of others.

“And I’ve got plenty more to learn as well. I love to create. I guess I write because I’m a hopeless musician, although I love to sing and strum a few chords on my guitar. For example, I’ve lived in Pollensa for some three years now and until the lockdown, I’d never known my neighbours. But once the daily 7pm applause for the health service and frontline workers began, I would join in and also play a few chords and sing a few songs from my balcony. Before I knew it, I not only got to know my neighbours, but we’ve become good friends who met sharing a common sense of community and respect for the greater good and selfless hard work the medical fraternity was carrying out and continues to do to this day.

“Humanity is in a great crisis of soul today, but there is also much goodwill around. As a species, we are challenged to start embracing a new story, one that enables us to be less greedy and materialistic and to espouse peace not war, kindness not cruelty, and heart as opposed to indifference. What we need is to bring more soul into the world.”

Serge also works as consultant for large companies around the world helping them adapt to a new way of thinking, operating and recovering their souls.

“My message applies to everyone from the top to the bottom, from politicians, big business, economists, international leaders and ecologists; it’s all interconnected. It’s no longer all about making as much money and obtaining as many material items as possible at the cost of the misfortune of others. This new civilisation I see does not, is not, going to work on those bases, beliefs or attitudes. And it does not matter what colour, religion, culture or standing you have in life; those barriers have to be broken down. But to do that we have to start with ourselves.

“We have to rediscover our souls, what really matters and learn to enjoy life and the company of others again, learn to laugh, love, help and share. The blame game has to stop. Individuals have to be able to be self-critical and also be held accountable. Our future, the future of the world we and our children will live in is at stake here, and if we fail to learn the lessons and wake up during this crisis then, unfortunately, it’s going to take an even bigger one to wake us up.

“We’ve become imprisoned within ourselves and we need to find the key to releasing ourselves and making a stand. If you object to the Japanese whale culling, for example, then join Greenpeace and take part in the maritime blockades to try and protect the whales. We can all make a difference in numerous ways, but now is the time for us to change.

“And in the midst of the pandemic we have all these problems. There are conflicts in Belarus, the Lebanon. There are people starving, there is immigration and the Black Lives Matter issue, which is being fuelled by far-right factions not only in the United States but across the world which are intent on sparking off more problems as opposed to finding solutions; that is a human trait we have to shake off.

“That said, it doesn’t help by having someone like Donald Trump in charge of the most powerful country in the world. I’ve never seen a more unhappy person. I’ve yet to see him smile or laugh. He’s classic old school, old civilisation. He grew up indoctrinated in thinking about himself, making as much money as possible while becoming all powerful. He doesn’t care about anyone else apart from himself and when things don’t go his way, he simply blames everyone else.

“Give him a week on one my retreats and I will make him laugh and smile again and help him heal the internal wounds he continues to inflict on everyone else. And the same can be said for many leading politicians. There’s little thought for the common good, all they think about is popularity, standings in the polls and votes, which amount to even more power. We need to remember how to listen and appreciate other people’s ideas and respect their way of thinking, it’s the only we can move forward as a new civilisation and in a much more civilised world."

His latest guide, which is available on Amazon, from the only newsagent in Pollensa (or as a signed copy direct by contacting him by email), is about engaging in inner work to bring change into the world. Serge reveals how the healing of our personal wounds combined with the growing of our soul life leads us directly to the addressing of world problems.

Sharing inspirational stories from his own personal journey of becoming a transpersonal psychotherapist, shaman, and activist, he shows you how, by transforming your inner world, you begin creating important positive ripples that reverberate around all areas of your outer one.

And should anyone who is suffering during this crisis feel the need for some help or guidance, Serge is offering a one-hour free session via Skype for residents here in the Balearics. All you have to do is contact him via email. “It’s my way of trying to help.”

For more information email: infosergebb@gmail.com