Wealth and abundance dominate modern, industrialized cultures displaying mutual quest for material gain and possession. Impulsive desire for ownership is socially woven into the fabric of modern life fostering belief that materialism can deliver a paragon of Utopian euphoria. What causes this motivation to accumulate? Will a diamond necklace enhance personal, spiritual consciousness? Does a shiny new car lift one to a higher place of balance and bliss? When a socially revered object is acquired it arouses elation and as exhibition wanes elation subsides. Much that is in place today evolved over time using fiscal influence to achieve social positions and identities. The looming issue regarding consumption and materialism is a vivid absence of self-imposed limits resulting in misdirection and tangled fulfillment. How much is enough, and when and where do we cross the line of excess? Not an easy task to recognize this border as we are inundated with a river of gadgets, devices and the wrath of vogue oriented social animation.
Around 5000 BCE was the genesis of obsessive ownership compulsion as humankind made a giant step from hunter-gatherers forming a base for present day social design. During a seminal period of 500 years weaponry sophistication expanded manifested by the Bronze Age development. Agricultural production increased and animals were domesticated requiring commodity exchanges necessitating more intrusive and controlling governments. Warring and conquest grew exponentially remaining omnipresent. However, weaponry has moved far beyond bronze swords and armor.
History has also exposed a long list of sagacious teachers setting standards for personal inner development moving away from glut, anger, and control. Solutions are found in such teachings. These savants offered a more placid path, an ascetic structure of living identifying material possession secondary to inner consciousness, which is rooted in love and peace as opposed to aggression and dominance.
Rumi (1207-1273 CE) used poetry as a means of spreading his messages. Rumi was a theologian, poet and Sufi Mystic teaching music, dance and poetry to achieve enlightenment. All great historic sages embraced simplicity. Jesus and Buddha taught frugality. In modern times Gandhi moved India to independence with the power of love and non-violence. Gandhi personified frugality.
My most admired current era sage is Mildred Norman (1908-1981) known to her followers as Peace Pilgrim, a remarkable woman. In 1952 Mildred was the first woman to hike the entire Appalachian Trail in a single event. She did this hike alone allowing great blocks of meditative time surrounded by wildness and beauty. I have hiked sections of this trail and have a vicarious sense of her inspiration. This is a tough, very long trail and for those that have made this trek-a bond with Peace Pilgrim is formed by osmosis. One definition of a pilgrim is “a traveler” and Mildred was certainly a traveler.
Peace Pilgrim was distraught at the dysfunction of the world and its propensity for anger, war and killing. She felt an inner desire to find a method to promote peace. New Year’s Day 1953 Peace Pilgrim began her crusade for peace by walking the highways of America as a means of delivering her message. Peace Pilgrim wore a simple tunic with her worldly possessions in her tunic’s pockets, a few personal items and written notes that she distributed promoting her messages of peace. She had no money and would only accept food and lodging. She fasted until given food and early in her pilgrimage went long periods without food, sleeping in culverts and abandoned buildings. She vowed to remain a wanderer until humankind learned its way to inner peace. Peace Pilgrim did not write exquisite poetry or prose and did not speak to masses like Gandhi. Peace Pilgrim’s messages were simplistic, yet profoundly perfect in design. In time she became more known and others reached out to her, assisted her in gaining great respect and admiration for her mission. Peace Pilgrim spoke in schools and churches about the importance and need for harmony and personal, peaceful enlightenment. She did not sell books or audiotapes; only spoke in person and usually small groups.
Examples of Peace Pilgrim’s messages:
“Unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens. There is great freedom in simplistic living. It is those that have enough but not too much that are the happiest.”
“Pure love is a willingness to give without the thought of receiving anything in return.”
“When you find peace within yourself you become the kind of person that can live in peace with others.”
Peace Pilgrim walked over 25,000 miles during her 28-year journey for peace. She died in a car accident while being transported where she was scheduled to speak. Peace Pilgrim was a magnificent and courageous woman and it’s a safe conjecture that many were influenced by her life and messages. I am certainly one.
Considering current global disarray it seems insurmountable to unify and harmonize as Peace Pilgrim taught. Disparity and widespread, unimaginable poverty remains prominent. Indiscriminate exploitation, driven by dubious ambition is ubiquitous. Never in human history has there been greater need for a loving hand of peace and equality. Ancient cultures were much more efficient at peaceful coexistence. Modern society has distanced itself from the pulsations of the Earth, creating its own environment.
Inner awareness and understanding often is discovered in nature. The blooming wildflower, the glisten of morning dew on a green pasture and the blue sky mingling with white clouds speak a language that is becoming lost as contemporary social order is victimized by excessive consumption. We humans are intrinsically organic. As the butterfly and rhinoceros, we are direct descendents of the Earth, and as we detach from Earth we detach from ourselves. Nature is our looking glass… reflecting insightful images revealing who we are and where we came from. We are personal pilgrims of self-discovery. Solutions can be found within our hearts and minds discovering wisdom reaching beyond fabricated wealth.
Blissful, inner, spiritual growth can perform wonders that may transcend the dysfunction of the present day world. Some feel we are in the infancy of human evolution and will evolve beyond war and poverty. Peace pilgrim was an advanced thinker, a futurist teaching a pathway toward betterment. I will think of Peace Pilgrim the remainder of my years. (Hinterland)
Raymond Greiner
