Yesterday we returned from a Pilgrimage of Peace to India. We were pilgrims in the footsteps of Gandhi. The pilgrimage was much more intense than I expected. India on first impression is a chaordic country, where amidst the chaos of the rural and city streets there is some order. India is a successful developing country yet one full of poverty. India is a country of large cities yet most persons live in the rural villages.
It will take some time and effort for me to process this experience. There are many images to sort through and experiences to digest. However, one thing I can now say: at the heart of India is the merger of sustainability and nonviolence. The person that most symbolized this holistic life style is Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi encouraged the nation to be self-reliant and to achieve change with nonviolent action. By walking in the footsteps of Gandhi with followers of his way of life we were able to get a true taste of India, from central India to the Ganges River in the foothills of the Himalayas.
Now I know the reason of my long-time attachment to India. In India “You can be the change you want to see in the world” (Gandhi), a world diversified yet One. In India I more deeply understood the phrase: “We are the ones we are looking for” (Slogan of the Campaign against Violence). We can learn much from Indian culture about the world, and ourselves, including that a sustainable community or self-reliant person is not affected by economic turns as we are now experiencing in this country. India is the perfect home for the nonviolent worm.
In the days and months to come you will find on www.nonviolentworm.org many images and words about our Pilgrimage of Peace to India, about cows, composting and nonviolence. We will create a home page for Pilgrimage of Peace where we can share our experiences of sustainability and nonviolence. With the magic of the ‘wiki’ we can travel to the heart of India.
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