On this fifth walk we honor all the people (human and non-human) around the world who have walked, run, swum, fasted, sat in trees, on rocks or in one way or another made a stand for betterment within themselves and in the world around them, regardless of the obstacles
-- people such as....
Peace Pilgrim, Peace Pilgrim Two, Julia Butterfly Hill, Mahatma Gandhi, Shivapuri Baba, Wangari Maathai, Martin Strel, Genshin Fujinami, Black Elk, Nugi Garimara, Roger Fouts, Digit, Skidboot, Mottaipaiyan, Ananda Mayi Ma, Apisai Bati, Kenny Ausubel, Jane Goodall, Brighty, Washoe, Chief Sequoyah, Chomolungma, all the great rivers, and countless others.....
These humans, animals, trees, mountains and rivers and countless others have, in one way or another, stood out for tolerance, peace, environmental protection and for sheer life! They and their efforts continue to be inspiring for their enduring effects.Swami Vivekananda once told a gathering of people seated in front of him, "All of you here are not less, but greater than, Jesus, Buddha, Krishna and Mohammed because you are alive here right now, at this very moment!"
He was telling his audience that the achievements and inspirations of others, no matter how great, are efficacious only to the degree that others, we -- you and me -- take up their lead. He emboldened everyone he met to be as great, or greater, than the most impressive people in history in terms of action and life.
If we are merely inspired by the seven year running feats of Buddhist monks, the tree-sitting of environmental activists, or the great realizations of spiritual giants, we support and further very little of what their lives attempted to set in motion.
Martin Strel wrote: "there are millions of people throughout the world gazing out the same window. Occasionally a crazy thought comes into their head from somewhere so far away they can't even fathom its sources, but they quickly discard it and return to the surface to deal with the seemingly important aspects of everyday life that crowd their inbox. Years pass, their children have children, and every time they gaze out that window, those old dreams flood their minds again. Big dreams. Dreams they are afraid to try to reach but yet linger. They may think they’re too fat or too old or whatever their excuse. They all have an excuse that prevents them from reaching those dreams. If a fifty-two year old, slightly fat man can swim the Amazon, what can you do? Remember, those last two hours before sunset can often be the best swimming of the day".
The monthly Fear-No-More World WALKS are an opportunity for everyone to n
ot just admire others for their heroic efforts, but to put our own energy forward also, bare our sweat a little, exercise our muscles for the simple sake of the life before us and around us -- inspired by all those others who have stepped out more dramatically then we to induce a positive life. If our lives come to match our potential these great friends of humanity may never need to extend themselves so again. As they have done for us, we also can relieve them by our greatness, how we live, what we understand and do.Let's pick up their energy for life and carry it with us, take up their action and prayer and re-enliven it as our own... carry their intentions forward as they would have wanted us to... they are part of our human lineage and legacy as we are theirs.
WALK for a world free of unnecessary fear, perhaps even to free fear from its own desolate solitude of unhappy self...
Stuart
