Let us return again to the sunflower idea as philosophy. Jürg Conzett regards the individual spirals of the sunflower as metaphors for persons. Persons with preferences, abilities and talents. Just as a sunflower grows and thrives, so, too, growth and success are experienced by people when they recognise and make use of their talents. No matter whether he or she is a dancer, an artist, a businessman or a scientist: whoever is aware of what he enjoys doing and can do well will be successful, and success will always result in new success. In the Bible it says: “For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have abundance.”
Jürg Conzett has asked himself what he needs to recognise and develop his talents. He explains his reflections with the three terms self-confidence, self-esteem and a recognition of the esteem one has for others. Self-confidence is possessed by someone who gives thought to his own aptitudes: his origins, his history, his wishes and desires, his strengths and talents, but also his weaknesses and insecurities. Anyone who has good self-esteem can be himself, contribute his abilities and exchange his views on matters. But success requires a third aspect, namely to recognise the use of one’s own talents for other people – in brief: a feeling for the esteem that one has for others. This feeling requires much empathy: you have to know what moves the other person, what needs he has.
Just as in the head of a sunflower numerous spiral arcs lie side by side, so the human being is also integrated into communities, whether it be the family, whether it be a working team. A good partnership is made up of individuals who, although they have different abilities, still harmonise with one another, and all are equally respected. If the persons are too similar to one another, if there is a lack of sufficient tension, disharmony will prevail and the creative spiral will fall apart.
When people work together who are in harmony with each other, vibrate, but fail to control themselves mutually, chance plays an important part. Things occur which nobody had foreseen, but which fit in precisely. It is a kind of serendipity, of favourable providence that results from a positive constellation.
But friendly relationships between people do not stop at the working team. Success also means including the social sphere and improving interaction with it. Jürg Conzett recognises the social sphere in the counter-rotating spiral arcs of the sunflower. He considers the centre to be decisive for the creative intertwining of these two spirals: a vision, an alignment, an inner image holding everything together.
The awareness of oneself as a person, the potential that is present in partnerships and interaction with the surroundings guide the activities of the Sunflower Foundation and of the MoneyMuseum. An interest in history is for Jürg Conzett – who studied history – not an end in itself, but a means of acquiring a better understanding of himself and his fellow men, his sphere of activity. So when the MoneyMuseum deals with such subjects as economic and social history, it is not a matter of imparting dry knowledge. But the aim of the exhibition is, rather, to stimulate the visitors to become aware of the way they handle money. Completely in keeping with the sunflower idea: a philosophy of constant change which is lived out, of growth and the interaction of people.
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