on the peace pilgrimage today, i am continuing a deep dive and immersion in Dr King’s prophetic call to the peaceful revolution in consciousness we must actualize and i once again re-member the words of the Dalai Lama about our island home desperately needing more peacemakers, healers, restorers, lovers and storytellers which reminds me of an old legend of the first peoples of this land of turtle island… i love illustrating this post with the beautiful painting of the peace tree which is a great soulace in these times of dissolution, dissolving into caterpillar soup awaiting imaginal cells to come on line winging us into peace and harmony…
passed down orally from generation to generation, it is a legend about a savior named deganawida, the peacemaker, originating over a thousand years ago during the final decades of pre-columbian america at a time like now, a time of pervasive fear and instability in the haudenosaunee world when a young virgin gave birth to a son… she was told in a dream that “your child will be a messenger of the creator and will bring peace and harmony to the people on earth.”
when deganawida came of age he told his mother, “I shall now build my canoe from white stone, for the time has come for me to start my mission in this world. I know I must travel afar on lakes and rivers to seek out the council smoke of nations beyond this lake. It is now time for me to go stop the shedding of blood among human beings.”
as deganawida began his mission, he first encountered a group of hunters who were fleeing from the bloodshed in the their own village and he instructed them: “Go back to your people and tell them that the Good News of Peace and Righteousness has come to your nation.”
the peacemaker’s mission, as the many accounts of the legend make clear, was to reestablish the natural equilibrium on which the well being of individuals, societies, and the whole of creation depends… deganawida achieved this mission by healing them—by “making their minds straight.” deganawida’s role was not that of a warrior, but a redemptive shaman—a healer… he was quite explicit about the mission: “health means peace, for that is what comes when minds are sane and bodies are cared for.”
the peacemaker, like the rainmaker, like all healers and medicine elders well knows that conflict is born of suffering and the root causes must be addressed for the village to come back into health and equilibrium where all feel they belong and are cared for and are treated with dignity… may we all breathe deeply together into the sacred space of wisdom and courageously take on the transformative mission of being peacemakers in every moment of eternity in our thoughts, words and deeds with all our relations…
