MC: “Excuse me but doesn’t the circle have to do with the feminine side?”
Agó: “Sure! It is related to the mother, the planet, it is our mother’s belly, the cell, the ovary. While I was working with my Dad it was sort of a yin-yang-thing: he worked a lot with the black line from Africa, its roots, music, the drums, the ‘candombe’ and I based my work on the colours of the rainbow: I don’t use black in my paintings. I am aware that I am a means to help people. It not only heals me but it helps many others too.
“When my father told me: ‘Follow the sun’ I knew my mission was to help the world gather (itself) towards a Spiritual Awakening…”
Agó Páez
“It is all about discovering, one day after the other; like a close friend of mine says. It is not ‘Instant Coffee’ but a process that takes place step by step and one starts to understand why things happen and we are guided to do the right thing. You face a story and, suddenly, I realized that it began when I was three years old and I was painting sunshine with my Dad.”
MC: “Are you convinced that everything started when you were three?”
Agó: “No doubt! My first contact with the circle was beyond the shape; my father used to say to me, ‘Agó, you must follow the sun’. At that time I asked myself: ‘What is he talking about? To follow the sun?’ He loved the sun and when winter came he just grabbed a bag and went to any other country where it was summer. One day I was in Casapueblo, where we have those amazing sunsets; I was waiting for that unique moment when the sun hides when I got the message: my Dad was saying to me to follow my inner sun. That was and will continue to be my path: to find my inner sun and soul and to work hard every day towards that.”
MC: “When are you happy?”
Agó: “I think happiness is something momentary, like brief encounters of gladness. When I am truly connected, when I am able to achieve that divine liaison with Christ, but without any thoughts… I feel happy. I am now, in the present. Right now…”
MC: “Are you a strong believer?”
Agó: “I was brought up Catholic but I rebelled and searched for other paths: yoga, Tai-Chi, meditation, anything you can possibly imagine; I was curious, I wanted to experience different things. Until one day I attended a lecture by Jaime Díaz, a Mexican who came to Uruguay to speak about the word of Jesus Christ and it was then that I returned to Jesus, he was inside my heart. I acknowledged a free Jesus, I felt that divine essence, The Holy Spirit and, actually, I am a Christian. Christ lives in me, I feel him permanently.
“More tea?”
MC: “Yes, please…”
Agó: “My Dad used to tell me ‘Working is my greatest rest.’ I follow my father: I am always doing something in the garden I am creating all the time. I am a doer. But, on the other hand I agree with you that there is a kind of weariness and a money issue. I remember when my brother was in the plane that crashed in the Andes Mountains (Maria’s note: watch Alive a film about the real-life story of that incident) we had no money at all
and my father needed it to hire private jets to continue the search, to pick up things, meet people who could help him find Carlitos and for two years he was using money lent to him by real friends. ‘Take whatever you need, they used to say, ‘and someday, if you can…’; that is true friendship. To me, money is a ‘beside the point’…”
MC: “Why?”
Agó: “It is difficult for sensitive people, it doesn’t match with our spiritual side but it should be a like a sort of lifetime training. It also involves the fact of how much value we give to ourselves. How much does my work cost?” (Points to a canvas) “Like one of my paintings? I have no idea.”
MC: (I change the subject.) “In your opinion, what is going on in the world and with human beings, I mean: global warming, pollution, natural disasters, and regarding humans: aggression, violence, destruction, amorality?”
Agó: “I think that all that is taking place right now it is for good; there is a huge change (taking place) in humanity. It has to do with this awakening I told you about. We resist believing but we must be aware that the universe is revealing something to us. This awareness brings great happiness despite it being a lonely journey. In 2003 I had a kind of walking pilgrimage called ‘El Camino del Interior’ created in Uruguay where you go on foot; like the one in Spain which is called ‘El Camino de Santiago de Compostela’.”
MC: How nice!
Agó: I went many times to Spain and on one of my trips during my flight I thought, ‘Why do I go to Spain every year to walk if I have a marvellous country?’ So I decided to create one right here, in Uruguay. It starts on Punta Ballena and runs from east to west, crossing the whole of Uruguay. We do it every year in October; there are 100 km up to the Virgin of Verdún in Minas. It is crowded!
MC: Which question do you dislike to be asked? (I can tell she is in deep thought; she is such an adorable, open-minded person that it seems nothing can actually outrage her. But I decide to rephrase my question).
MC: “Has anybody ever asked you about the Andes Mountain tragedy? Carlitos is your brother, isn’t he? The one that survived together with other 16 boys that belonged in a rugby club?”
Agó: “Yes.”
MC: “Does it bother you to talk about it?”
Agó: “No, not really. My family lived the tragedy from another angle, totally opposite to its protagonists. It is like another story. To me what I find repetitive and boring are people to continue mentioning something that happened 46 years ago.”
MC: “Why do you think that is so?”
Agó: “My guess is that they think it is a heroic story – which in fact it was – but it is also like shallow talk because to undergo such an experience is huge. I also believe that it just happened to my brother and his mates because it was meant to be; it was their karma. Yesterday I met the sister of one of the victims of the Andes tragedy (he didn’t survive) and talking to her immediately reminded me of that painful time of my famly’s life.Moreover there is this kid now in Spain who fell into a hole and I cannot stop thinking about him and his family. In our case there were 72 days without any news! Can you just figure out how my family felt? My dearest Dad, my Mom, my grandmother?”
