WHAT WE DO
WALKING WATER is not a demonstration, it is not a march against something, instead it is a celebration of the possibilities we have when we come together.
Walking Water asks us to think together, feel together, work together, resolve together, create together and walk together. Walking Water refuses to be enemies, to judge or to take sides too quickly. Instead it chooses to create space where everyone involved in trying to deal with the situation that has been handed to them can share their vision, their dreams, their story, as well as their pain and grievances. We walk with those in seats of responsibility which ultimately is all of us.
Walking Water is about creating a new narrative, one based on both our common need and respect for water, our common endeavor to create meaning in our relationship with water and this world, and ultimately to live within our means.
Walking Water is about collaboration, common sense, cooperation and courage to think outside of what we know or think we know.
Walking Water is about contributing to a positive model of water usage, water management and complex, all-encompassing thinking and acting in how we use and treat the world’s resources. Walking Water recognizes and honors those that have come before us and those that continue to steward the land and the waters in ways that respect all of life.
PILGRIMAGE
“Walking is the great adventure, the first meditation, a practice of heartiness and soul primary to humankind. Walking is the exact balance of spirit and humility.”
Gary Snyder – “The Practice of the Wild”
Pilgrimage is the act of walking for something that also represents a journey to the soul of place and humanity. Pilgrimage is also walking toward something, toward the essence of the quest, the inquiry, sometimes a religious center, a place held sacred or our own selves. Many of the major religions, belief systems and indigenous tribes have used the Art of Pilgrimage as a means to come closer to the divine, god, spirit, earth – why we are here or the meaning of life – an essence that connects the human being with the world. Some examples of pilgrimage are journeys to Mount Kailash, Mecca, El Camino de Santiago, Machu Picchu and the Five Great Mountains.
Walking Water attempts to connect that spiritual path of pilgrimage – our internal relationship to ourselves – with our relationship to our external environment.
In this sense we walk for the issue of water, we walk with water and the communities along this path that are so affected by this issue, and we walk toward a change in our acting and thinking toward water on both a local and global level. We walk toward a vision of a regenerated environment, a healthy valley and a self-sufficient metropolis.
The nature of Pilgrimage is simplicity, allowing it to include diversity, have minimal ecological impact, and offer space to re-connect with place, people and prayer. We walk with an embodied experience of having ‘All we Need’ as a political prayer. Political in the sense of re-organizing/re-forming what we hold at the center of our lives and Prayer in the sense of allowing us to be guided by something greater than ourselves.
Walking Water is and will be such an essential part of my life. I think I still don’t grasp the impact it will have in my life. Right now there is deep gratitude and an inner growing power, an inner wisdom arising. Walking Water is empowering me to stand up and raise my voice. This is what our planet needs.