Holo-Education in Interlaken: reflections from the first Interstellar Community Gathering

From 24 to 26 September 2026, our founder, Dr Nina Meyerhof, presented Holo-Education at the very first Interstellar Community Gathering in Interlaken, Switzerland, convened by the Interstellar Foundation in synergy with the EarthRise Collective.

The presentation, Holo-Education — Completion of Phase One: Awakening the Whole Human Within the Whole of Life, marks the close of the framework’s first phase: a theoretical foundation for curriculum and systemic change, prepared by Nina with our board chair, Stamoulis Manginas. It sets out what Children of the Earth has carried into camps, chapters and classrooms for thirty-five years — and names what it asks of us now, in a world being reshaped by artificial intelligence, by climate and by fragmentation.

Holo-Education treats each young person as a whole individual and as a participant in larger living wholes — community, humanity, Earth and cosmos. It describes a developmental journey from I to We to One, seven pillars of essential development, and five intelligences that are complementary ways of knowing: nature, indigenous wisdom, artificial intelligence, cosmic awareness, and the distinctly human capacity to integrate them. Its practice is the one every Children of the Earth programme follows: reflect, connect, act — then integrate and evolve.

Diversity is not an obstacle to oneness; it is one of the ways wholeness expresses itself.

The response in Interlaken was more than we had hoped for. At the end of the presentation the room stood and applauded. More importantly, a number of participants asked the same question afterwards: how can we help develop this? Several want to work on the inner content of the framework — the practices, the curriculum, the training. One young educator has already asked to join the work directly.

That interest is now our next step. Over the coming weeks we will form a small working circle around Holo-Education, bringing together those who came forward in Interlaken with our own youth leaders and chapter coordinators. If you were there, or if this speaks to you, write to us.

Read the presentation: Holo-Education — Completion of Phase One (PDF, 15 slides). The framework is also introduced in our library: Holo-Education for Youth Leadership.