Honouring Peace Pilgrim

Post date: Jul 6, 2018 11:36:00 AM

Geoff against the backdrop of Mount Everest or Chomolungma, the Goddess Mother of Mountains

‘Life is like a mirror. Smile at it and it smiles back at you’

Peace Pilgrim

Saturday July 7 is the seventh anniversary of an event that changed my life – I went from Petrolhead to Pilgrim with my vow to walk the equivalent of the circumference of the planet with messages about treading more lightly and lovingly upon our beloved Mother Earth.

Now, more than 25,000km and many millions of steps later, I’m examining what comes next and feeling deep gratitude for the love, magic and miracles that have characterised my odyssey. I’m remembering so many highlights topped by my walk through six countries and four European mountain ranges as an ambassador for WILD10, the 10^th World Wilderness Congress. And more recently as a pilgrim walking California’s Owens Valley from source to sea during the Walking Water initiative that is both a social and environmental action and a prayer. www.walking-water.org

Remembering also the incredible pain and hardships, perhaps worst of which was lying exhausted in deep mud and being repeatedly wakened by slithering slugs crawling across my face.

That was truly a Dark Night of the Soul and followed some Dark Nights of the Soles where I had pushed myself absurdly hard, with my feet and back crying out for relief. Why? What was I thinking?

Just 11 days into my world walk on July 18, 2011 – Nelson Mandela’s birthday – I experienced another milestone, but not without some unexpected help.

Spiritual and ecological activist Satish Kumar

My plan had been to complete the walk from the Hebridean Isle of Iona to the celebrated Findhorn Foundation community that is my spiritual home. The last day was a 16-hour, 50km traverse between Granton-on-Spey in the heart of Scottish whisky country, and the Findhorn Community Ecovillage, with a detour to the Cluny Hill former Victorian hotel that accommodates community co-workers and guests alike.

Just minutes into the walk I realised I was physically and mentally shattered and couldn’t walk another step. I discarded my 20kg rucksack and wondered if I’d ever have the strength to lift it again. “I need help, please help,” was my silent and desperate entreaty to the heavens.

Then something magical and mystical happened. The pain eased and when I attempted to lift the bag, it had no weight! I set off again with a spring in my step and began fantasising about treats I’d love, the list topped by a slab of chocolate.

Some hours later I spotted the first and only other hiker of the day coming towards me and quickly realised it was my friend John Willoner. He’d guessed I be on that route, on that day, and his pack was crammed with goodies with which to welcome me back to Findhorn. You guessed it: chocolate and delicious snacks.

I’d set off at 6am and finally reached my goal at around 11pm, feeling unstoppable and wondering if I should keep walking, just for the joy of it.

'Peace Pilgrim' is a major source of inspiration. Visit www.peacepilgrim.org

On that day and almost every other I’ve given thanks for inspiration that has come from many sources. These include my daughters Bonnie and Tammy, the Findhorn community, ecological and spiritual activist Satish Kumar, and Peace Pilgrim, a remarkable silver-haired woman who walked tirelessly for 28 years in North America, vowing: “I will remain a wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace, walking until given shelter and fasting until given food.”

Known simply as Peace Pilgrim she said a pilgrim’s job was to rouse people from apathy and make them think, adding: “Love is the greatest power on Earth. It conquers all things.”

Penniless and walking without any organisational backing, she touched the lives of countless thousands who were inspired by her message of achieving peace between nations, individuals and that all-important inner peace that is the starting point.

On July 7, 1981 she died instantly in a car accident when she was being driven to a talk she was offering. She was 72 and had said in an interview the day before: “Death is a beautiful liberation into a freer life.”

Exactly 30 years later I went from Petrolhead to Pilgrim and from a more car-based materialistic life to that epic walk that started on the sacred Isle of Iona. The choice of the date was a way of honouring Peace Pilgrim’s remarkable legacy and the many lives she has touched.

Today I see each step upon the Earth as a prayer and a blessing, given and received. And I try to walk as a pilgrim who sees the sacred in everything around me, rather than a tourist who simply views the Earth as a collection of goods and services.

I walk in gratitude for the many gifts I receive from valuable insights to the smiles and greetings of strangers. Life is so precious!

The Mayoral welcome for Geoff, friend John Horler and other walking pilgrims at WILD10, the 10th World Wilderness Congress in Salamanca, Spain in 2013

Walking from source to sea through California's Owens Valley - known as Payahuunadu to the indigenous Paiute tribes