REPORT FROM THE INDIGENOUS CULTURE AND EDUCATION CENTER

Report from the Indigenous Culture and Education Center

During the Week of Global Interreligious Dialogue

Co-Organized by Global Family for Love and Peace and the Global Family for Love and Peace Cooperation Circle -- September 19, 2009

More than 30 people gathered on the evening of September 19, 2009 to share the wisdom of Indigenous Peoples. The topic of the evening was Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability, seeking answers to the questions:

How can we balance the needs of humanity with sustaining our planet, and work to resolve the conflict between a global economy and environmental conservation?

How can the religious and spiritual communities contribute their considerable resources to these crucial issues?

In the tradition of Indigenous cultures, responses to these questions come from no one individual but from the Spirit. The message from the Spirit is clear: Respect the Earth. If our actions do not arise from the foundation of respect for the earth, then they ultimately will not serve to benefit environmental sustainability, or other ways in which we want to change the world. It must be respect for the earth that guides our actions.

Second, the Spirit speaks about stillness. Without stillness, we are not able to accept the gifts from the universe nor are we able to share our own gifts with each other. It is the stillness of our own spirit, our inner core, which brings about this openness.

Someone asked, how could my spirit be still when during this life it has witnessed pain, sadness, and disappointment? Overcoming what we perceive as injuries and hurt can only be achieved through love and forgiveness.

The wisdom of the elders goes on though. Before the Creator created there was stillness. We were all there. We are that stillness. And from that stillness comes creativity, and from that creativity comes our stories. Being in the stillness we have the ability to change our stories, perhaps not the stories of the past, but certainly the stories we tell of the present and of our future.

We can begin to tell new stories together, co-creating a future of caring for the earth and for each other. The stories must be about peace, love, and understanding. Most importantly, peace, peace in what we say to each other and what we do not say to each other, peace in our actions, peace in our thoughts, and peace in our hearts. We are that stillness from which each of us can create – that is the starting place which we all share.

May Peace Prevail on Earth!