We were sitting at the bay of the river, that runs by our homes, listening to the water flow and to the sounds of the night. The water was moving in silence and we shared her silence. When I looked to the sky, the stars were blurry, as if they would be behind the blaze of a cloud, but there was no cloud. It was smoke from fires. We spend the night at the river, listening and praying, being with the water and the sky. Before we left, a great cloud came from the sky and sank down, immersing us in a soft, expansive field of moisture, which carried a silver shining. We shared many stories with each other and eventually the night called us to rest. My husband, a friend of ours and I walked back home and on our way, we felt like we were fish in the sea, the moisture was hanging thick in the air. 
It entered deep into my lungs and heart and helped to cleanse remainders of exhaustion, that were left from the recent combat of wildfires in September. Thirteen days of wildfires, more than 1300 hectares burnt down. After the forest burnt, the rain carried the toxins from the sky onto the earth and the fish, in the already too hot water, started to die by the thousands. The exhaustion comes from seeing our world burn. The cloud descended with the spirit of a whale and carried my exhaustion away, away, and further away. Melting it back into pure energy, returning into the flow of breath, like the river and its water. 

As we were sitting at the river and sharing stories, a friend of mine was looking for the southern cross in the sky. 
I found it and showed it to her. Close to it we could see Mars shining with a bright red light in the sky and it reminded me, that they say when Mars shines red it is an omen of war. 

The moon was a thin sickle and her gentle light shared the beauty of receptivity. 
Receptivity to receive that what the stars and the waters are offering to us with their infinite wisdom and care. With their guidance we can walk a path of peace.  Like bubbles from under the sea, questions arise:

​

Do we ourselves carry peace in our heart?
How committed are we to compassion?
How courageous are we to defend the weak?

​

My heart is with the native people of Palestine, with the Jewish and Arab people, the children, mothers and grieving fathers. In our conversation at the river bank our friend shared the story of a journalist, a friend of the Ashaninka, who had been brutally murdered on the river. In the last two weeks many journalists have been killed, and others, like a Rabbi in the United States, had to go into hiding. With our words we can fuel hate and separation, but we also can offer medicine and turn the mind towards peace. 

What can we go beyond right and wrong?

How can we preserve and restore our humanity?

The whale that came to us as a cloud, spoke about our connection with nature. Because nature, with her birds and stones and trees, she knows. She carries a language for every world to blossom. Our earth, our land and her peoples are sacred.

The innocence of our children is sacred.

The waters of our territories are life.

The stories of our peoples weave who we are.

When we look at history, we find that the human psyche is fragile, when it comes to language and imagery. We tend to believe what we see, we tend to absorb what we hear. The art of restraint and discernment is crucial in an epoch in which AI can generate anything for us to see, read and hear. In nature exists communication without words. Waves and frequencies travel and create harmonies that carry wisdom. 

When we look at language and the history of dictatorships and fascism in the world, it becomes visible to the eye that sees,  that language is the most powerful tool. Language is the code of our mind. Most of us - are governed by our mind. It is few that descend into the realm of the heart and live without fear. 

The language of dictators and fascist leaders around the world try to mask the truth. But the land knows, she will always now the truth, and when we listen and learn to speak her language, we start to flow. It is simple.   

To speak about liberation and peace, first we are called to listen. More bubbles arise.

Who is being oppressed? Who controls the food and water sources? What is being sold and where does the money go? What do the elders and wise ones say? What do the suffering say?

The Jewish people and Palestinian people used to babysit the children of the other. The old ones know many stories of this. Who does it serve for two peoples native to the same sacred land to massacre each other? 

​

It serves hate, it does not serve life. 

​

Om mani padme hum. 
The buddhist mantra, the jewel in the lotus flower. It holds the fountain of compassion and births in our heart when we allow us to meet suffering without rejection, but with all embracing compassion.

There are many news going around that are written by fear and by hate. 
And there many stories that never reach the news, of the human courage to act and speak in the name of truth. 

The jewish people are saying “not in our name”. I listen. My heart says, “in the name of truth”. 
The truth of our earth, which loves all people equally. The truth of the land and the truth of her peoples are one and in our connection lies the path out of hate and destruction. In the name of truth, we are one people. 

Humanity is gifted. We have been gifted a creative spirit, that knows how to heal, to regenerate and to build worlds that are filled with beauty and justice. Today, the earth is filled with enslaved people and the current system is coughing up blood on all ends, it is spilling blood in our rivers and oceans and forests. 
How do we leave terror behind and walk into a story where pain can be dissolved, as if we could offer it to the clouds?

We are brothers and sisters. You are my brother, you are my sister. Our voice is a privilege, our access to education is a privilege. In a world that is burning on all ends, our access to clean water and food cannot be taken for granted. It deserves respect, study and protection. 

​

In this war we witness the military pouring concrete into water fountains of the Palestinian land. Where are we without water? We are on the other side. With currently less than 4 % of the water being drinkable, the pressure on the Palestinian people is heart wrenching and a massive outbreak of sicknesses due to toxic water only a matter of time.
Bubbles rise up. What happened when the Portuguese and Spanish came to America? Do you remember the sicknesses the colonisers brought? After the Holocaust the Jewish people said “never again”. Never again, it is an anchor and a tree of life. My grandparents where in the concentration camps and i sense what it means to say: never again. 

​

Never again, for any people. 
No more genocide. 
Never again, for any people. 

​

We may say that this is a fantasy, because the human mind is weak, and we are easy to stir when we are trapped in fear and the pain of centuries. Languages and imagery push our buttons and war becomes mechanic. 

In the name of truth, i believe in change. I belief in a story that evolves beyond our current imagination.

I believe in the power of forgiveness. I belief in the restoring forces of nature. I believe that we carry a responsibility on earth. Like each child that grows up and eventually starts receiving responsibilities in the family,- like this we are meant to grow, assuming responsibility in the great family of life on earth. 

​

To listen with humility and find the light of truth inside, that is the path from polarisation to understanding. 

My prayers, my heart, ears and eyes are in the middle east. They are in the rainforest, they are in the coral reefs and with the whales, with the dolphins and glaciers and bees. 

I believe in the connection of our hearts and that we can rise up into our responsibility of being human, of being a child of earth, and to protect the children of earth, which belong to her, which belong to you, to me and to all of us. 
Their joy is sacred. Their laughter is light from the stars. 

​

As I write these words, the nocturnal sky blends into a soft and compassionate blue. 

It is not easy to witness what is happening. 
The river shares images and words, 
seeds for a future in which we all sow, plant and reap as one. 
The truth is in the land. 

​

May all the food, medicine and justice arrive to where it is needed. 
May our shared humanity be illuminated by the stars and recovered by the water. 
May we know the truth of our land and live it with grace. 
May we be mothers and fathers of peace.