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self. And so, in light of th<strong>is</strong> statement ofprinciples, Montserrat welcomes you <strong>and</strong>hopes <strong>the</strong> workshop <strong>is</strong> fruitful for all concerned.Jordi López,President of <strong>the</strong> Steering Committee of <strong>the</strong>Board of <strong>the</strong> Mountain of MontserratIt <strong>is</strong> my ple<strong>as</strong>ure to be able to welcomeyou to Montserrat on behalf of <strong>the</strong> Boardof <strong>the</strong> Mountain of Montserrat <strong>and</strong> tothank you for coming to th<strong>is</strong> natural park.We were surpr<strong>is</strong>ed when <strong>the</strong> idea ofholding th<strong>is</strong> meeting here w<strong>as</strong> first suggested,but <strong>as</strong> time h<strong>as</strong> p<strong>as</strong>sed yourpresence here h<strong>as</strong> become an elementof great sat<strong>is</strong>faction for us for both institutional<strong>and</strong> personal re<strong>as</strong>ons. My own<strong>link</strong>s to Montserrat began <strong>the</strong> day I w<strong>as</strong>brought here to be bapt<strong>is</strong>ed at <strong>the</strong> tenderage of just one month. Since <strong>the</strong>n I haveremained in close contact with <strong>the</strong>mountain, <strong>as</strong> <strong>the</strong> members of <strong>the</strong> communityknow. I think that <strong>the</strong> idea ofestabl<strong>is</strong>hing a connection between a naturalarea <strong>and</strong> our own personal interiorexperiences <strong>is</strong> extremely positive; <strong>the</strong>d<strong>is</strong>covery of <strong>the</strong>se personal spiritual elements<strong>is</strong> of great importance in modernsociety. I’d like to remind you that <strong>the</strong>words spoken by Pope Benedict XVI th<strong>is</strong>week, in which he described <strong>the</strong> mon<strong>as</strong>teries<strong>as</strong> <strong>the</strong> lungs of <strong>the</strong> soul in an urbanworld, can be applied just <strong>as</strong> well to <strong>the</strong>natural world.Having begun with a personal confession, Ishould like to continue briefly in th<strong>is</strong> vein. Itoo am a biolog<strong>is</strong>t <strong>and</strong> would like to sharewith you a significant personal experiencefrom my time here: <strong>the</strong> mystical dimensionof <strong>the</strong> contemplation of <strong>the</strong> natural world. Iremember <strong>the</strong> nights in Santa Cecília,ano<strong>the</strong>r mon<strong>as</strong>tery near here <strong>and</strong> a littlefur<strong>the</strong>r down <strong>the</strong> mountain, when I wouldcontemplate <strong>the</strong> heavens <strong>and</strong> would feelaware of <strong>the</strong>ir infiniteness <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> relativeinsignificance of humankind. I would note<strong>the</strong> same sense of infiniteness during myresearch on cellular structures when Idelved deep into a different world via <strong>the</strong>eyepiece of an electron microscope. Heretoo I would d<strong>is</strong>cover o<strong>the</strong>r immensely smallenormities <strong>and</strong> real<strong>is</strong>e that in those cellstoo <strong>the</strong>re w<strong>as</strong> a harmony that reflected <strong>the</strong>infiniteness of life. The Universe <strong>and</strong> livingcells merged for me in a highly personalexperience here in Montserrat <strong>and</strong> so I toocan claim to be a spiritual son of th<strong>is</strong> mountain.I firmly believe that <strong>the</strong> reality providedby Montserrat gives modern society a spiritualdimension amidst <strong>the</strong> <strong>org</strong>an<strong>is</strong>ed chaosthat we are forced to live with.In Catalonia <strong>the</strong> majority of natural are<strong>as</strong>also contain religious elements such <strong>as</strong>mon<strong>as</strong>teries or hermitages. They remindus that many of our forefa<strong>the</strong>rs lived a22

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