> [ intro ] / Building something always requires specific knowledge and skill. All Masters of nonviolence have moved from a deep spiritual (not religious) experience - for a comprehensive distinction between spirituality and religion see P. P. Giorgi 2001; their teaching and their praxis have been characterized by that. Therefore to build the nonviolent society it’s necessary to acquire a spiritual competence.
Spiritual competence can’t be only theoretical knowledge; how could otherwise be justified that despite the existence of marvelous texts such as the Vedas, the Dhammapada, Bhagavad Gita, The Zend Avesta, the Gospel, the Holy Quran and others humanity still has not been transformed?
Beyond knowledge, thus, patience and steadfastedness are necessary, because the transformation of themselves is as difficult as the creation of a jeweler's masterpiece and yet more gratifying.
To supply instruments for self transformation and change in the vision of the world, Neotopia offers moments of improvement of individual spiritual competence joint with an education to everyday tending of own' reform path; all in the lay vision of equal respect, dignity and consideration for every Truth searching Path.

# / Formation
# > "Maya: il grande gioco della vita" by Federico Fioretto

# / Words of Peace - self help groups

# / Reading Groups

# / Manual work or Bread Labour

# / Sharing with the Last
# > "Happy Homes project"
# > "Skip a meal, donate a home"

# / Meet the testimonials

> Formation / intro Neotopia offers formation opportunities to give cultural and operational instruments to develop a nonviolent conscience to which more effective relations follow bringing happiness and prosperity as a byproduct.
Our activities can be organized in our seat in Gazzola or wherever necessary.
Depending on multiple factors formation can be subject to participation fees.

> Formation / "Maya: the great game of life" Maya is a self knowledge path which can take many shapes, according to who is willing to walk it. Actually it is directly managed by its developer so you can watch about it on Federico's websitei MAYA on Federico Fioretto's website

> Words of Peace - self help groups / These are very important moments in the life of our association; they are open to all and are kept whenever there’s a group feeling the need by our seat in Gazzola. They are subject to a small participation fee to cover the expenses.
In the group the practice is reinforced, by sharing prayer, without borders between religions or beliefs, meditation and reflexion about the great spiritual questions.
Every time, starting from a quote of one of the great Masters who accompanied humanity’s spiritual evolution, we try to take the essence of it and to apply it to daily life.
Personal taste of the conductor makes often start from Gandhi quotes, but we have picked from many other sources in time: Jesus Christ, Buddha, Meister Eckart, Satya Sai Baba, Mohammed, Mother Theresa, Rudolf Steiner, Vinoba Bhave and many more.
During the meetings it’s possible to ask questions and to submit personal subjects so the meeting works also as a self help group.
Before the end we take some time to share spiritual chants and silent meditation.

> Reading groups /Reading sacred books, spiritual Master’s texts as well as tough essays is often better together; confrontation enriches comprehension and the sense of immediate profitability from the teachings.
Groups of members spontaneously organize into reading groups and periodically meet more prepared witnesses to deepen their comprehension.
It’s reserved to members.

> Manual work or Bread Labour / Manual labour is an essential practice in gandhian’s view of nonviolent life; it’s even given a high relevance by a specific vow among the eleven of the Satyagraha Ashram of the Mahatma.
For Gandhi every human being should provide for his/her own basic needs through manual labour irrespective of his/her profession; human beings should, in Gandhi’s view, commit some time to grow their food, weaving their clothes and so on.
Manual labour as a practice of meditation is also an ancient european tradition, codified by St. Benedict in the motto “ora et labora” (pray and work).
Humbly Neotopia wants to honor these intuitions by organizing occasions in which we cn care about our seat, cook food for the group, raise vegetables and fruits in a natural way.
At the moment the activity is in an experimental phase and reserved to members; we have great hopes for the future.

> Sharing with the Last / "Happy Homes project" In 2007 the Welfare Society for destitute children launched the Happy Homes project to expand its support to the families of the children it helps.
It is very important that all the work done with the children doesn’t go wasted when, at the end of the school, they rejoin their families.
Thus now the parents of the children shall adhere to three conditions: they will have to get a stable job, settle down in the slum areas and set aside a sum between 100 and 200 Rs a month (a little over 1,5 or 3,0 euros according to the number of children taken in by the institution).
After a 12 years period these savings will help re-localize these families in groups of 30 in villages or rural areas where they will have self built homes and a school for theirs and the village’s children.
Some craftwork will also be started together with the construction work.

> Sharing with the Last/ "Skip a meal, donate a home" At the end of 2006 in Piacenza four Nobel Peace laureates, Betty Williams, Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi and Rigoberta Menchu Tum, launched the project “Mothers of the Earth for peace in the world”.
During the meeting a girl from the audience asked what “normal” people could do for peace; then Mrs. Betty Williams answered “you can skip a meal a week, put what you save in a money box and at the end of the year use it to finance some deserving campaign”.
This is a good idea; it’s both a participated act and a chance to feel, slightly but for real, the disease of an empty stomach which millions of our sisters and brothers feel painfully throughout their lives.
We have liked, of Mrs Williams’ idea, the sharing not of the superfluous but of what is necessary to all human beings.
Many of us have decided to adopt this instrument to give to less fortunate brothers and sisters and to develop their inner strength.
Neotopia believes that Vinoba was right when he said that “the way to strength lies in the fields which offer natural opportunities for renunciation and sacrifice”.
Joining in this initiative is obviously open to all; we also suggest inner growth practice to all wishing to give the savings to other charitable initiatives, fully respecting individual choices..

> Meet the testimonials/ At times the paths walked by searchers of the Truth cross each other; in these precious circumstances the exchange of ideas, opinions, knowledge and information enrich our lives; we at Neotopia do our best to catch every opportunity of exchange.
When possible, thus, we organize meetings with testimonials of nonviolence or anyone whose personal path can spur our quest of Truth. For details see “Events”.