Our World, Our Hands

 

Our World, Our Hands: the roots that bind us

Recently I returned home from two weeks of vacation in the Nederlands. The whole experience was totally enriching, enlightening and refreshing. “Why did it impact me so much more than any other time?”, is the question that hovered over me while sitting at the Schiphol Airport waiting for my flight home. I think it had a lot to do with the main reason I made the trip, and then all of the other things were bonuses that made the entire time away completely wonderful. 

While on the island of Aruba — a peaceful place I visit four times a year, I met a passionate, caring, peace loving, kind lady named Sofie. She’s originally from the Nederlands and left in search for something different, something more, something that better suited her essence of being a productive, helpful human on this planet Earth. She has made Aruba her chosen home.

She has also connected with alternative thinking about how the Earth was created, what our role is, what our relationship is with Nature and animals, the sun, moon, stars,  the air, the water and the land. Her passion, knowledge and determined commitment to this way of living, thinking and breathing it every single day, is truly amazing, impressive and intriguing. I totally respect and honour her.

So one day she told me about a Peace Festival she and a few likeminded people were organizing. I felt an invitation coming and I can still remember my brain saying YES before her words were articulated. Something in me instantly said “I would love to go!”

I immediately went on line to book my flights and hotel. I plotted out a plan for the days before the Festival and the days after. I researched whatever information I could find about the mission. My excitement grew and grew as I read more and more about the 21st Century peace movement, the significance of creating a Peace Tree ceremony, and the small, but significant peace-related events this collection of peace warriors had already accomplished in various parts of the world. 

To be honest, I was imagining this would be my own mini Woodstock! Yes me, that little girl from little North Bend, who had heard about Woodstock One and Woodstock Two, was now elevated to something so hugely beyond her norm. Inner me stood high, within me, upon her stool, with arms raised, as I did the very same thing. The excitement never ended and the Festival did not disappoint.

Approximately a hundred people participated as we gathered in an open area of SloterPark, a tiny forest and Nature Education Centre in East Amsterdam. 

The opening ceremony included a lot of familiar indigenous style traditions such as ridding the scene and participants of negativity and pushing evil away through a practice called smudging. It is like starting something with a clean slate, and getting the mind and heart to open up to a refreshed,  steadily beating rhythmic heart beat.

After about a half hour of introductions of keynote presenters, explanatory remarks, and a bit of drumming to get all of us excited and motivated to start the three day festival, we engaged in a preliminary tree planting ceremony in the children’s play area. This included a simple explanation about the importance of trees, the significance of the apple tree, and a lovely children’s story correlating the tree to Nature and people.

From there everyone readied themselves for a three kilometer drumming parade- style walk through green spaces and residential neighbourhoods, to a organic garden farm. This is where a young, yet tall majestic Sequoia tree, delivered from Germany, was anointed as the focal point of the event — the everlasting Peace Tree where people from all walks of life could come to reflect, contemplate, pray or just think about the unpeaceful behaviours in their own lives, in their communities, other communities and all over the world, in places they may never have been, but where people are suffering, animals are suffering, Nature is crying and things are getting worse and worse for our now struggling planet Earth.

There is a whole interesting symbolism about trees. When it comes to symbolism, it is important to have an open and creative mind. It’s a harmless exercise and somewhat different and difficult for hardcore Mainstreamers to get their head around. I get it.

But I love abstract thinking. Call it the power of the metaphor or thinking beyond the obvious or not wanting to go with the flow of doing things as they’ve always been done because that’s the way we were taught to live. My mind likes more.

A tree is more than just a grown up seedling nestled in with a bunch of other growing or grown up seedlings. They are firmly rooted in fertile ground, stand tall and determined to survive. They do indeed survive for a very long time. Through their rooting system and waving branches they communicate with each other, support each other and, at the same time,  benefit humanity and the animal world in many ways. 

For non secular thinking people, the Peace Tree initiative is like a church for people who don’t subscribe to traditional religious thought. It’s a place for reflection and a place to spread the hopes for peace in our own lives, the lives of others close by, next door, far away. It’s as simple as that. Whether you subscribe to it or not, it really is as simple as that.

My experience on Day One of this Festival named LetLoveRulePeace, was like crossing a bridge.  I had been perplexed, or confused, or disturbed by various forms of traditional religious ideology about the purpose of life and living. Intellectually it was very challenging 😥 to be a soldier of the pack. Something was missing.

I broke away long ago and felt a bit in spiritual limbo at a time in my life when every day was consumed by so much more. 

Once retired, I had more time to reflect on abstract things and reality, and I focused on how the planet Earth came to be a home-base for humans, animals and vegetation. 

As cohabitants, and in order to live a peaceful existence, a reciprocal effort to exist harmoniously makes total sense to me. How and why did that notion fall apart? I know the answer. What roles do the sun, moon and stars have? I know the answer. I have securely crossed the bridge to seeing life and living from a different perspective. I am at peace. I am comfortable.

From this entire Festival I learned that we need to take a step back. The Earth is falling apart. Humanity is losing. Nature is losing. From Acid Rain and climate change, to autocracies, atrocities, war, evil, domestic abuse, human trafficking, poverty, addictions, homelessness, fracking, greed, avarice, hatred and relentless anger, soon there will be nothing left for future generations, including Nature and animals, to enjoy a peaceful existence on this special planet Earth. 

We do all have a role to play. For some it would be a very different role to play. One simple step forward is in understanding and appreciating the definition of LOVE. 

You cannot accurately or actually understand love and the power of love until you love yourself and everything about you  honestly and truthfully;  only then can you love others and other things. 

Love, unconditional love — that’s the power or energy or ideology our world needs, and our Mother Nature and Mother Earth want and need LOVE rooted in all aspects of our being. 

Talking about creating peace in our world and on our planet seems simple. Getting it done will require universal efforts. Concerned people are now crawling again by promoting a Peace Tree initiative all over the world. From crawling we need to get people to learn how to walk again. That is what is at the root of it all.

People, governments and businesses need to learn how to walk better with each other, respect Nature and the role of our Sun, moon and stars — that’s what’s at the root of it all.

I am very glad I participated in the LetLoveRulePeace initiative. It was not scary. It was not cult-like. It was not indoctrination. It was pure. It was honest. It was somewhat Woodstock-ish (no pot, no alcohol) — and, I hope all of that will be the root/route/bridge to peace in our lives and in our world that binds us all going forward.