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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us August 13, 2005 In the footsteps of St. Francis Seven local members of Beloved Community will re-enact 800-year-old walk By John Darling Tidings Correspondent Beloved Community members Nitya Richmond, Cathy Mary Rashin, Kim Keller, Julia Dekker, Ed Keller and Lynn Perkins will walk 110 miles in their quest for peace. Submitted photo Some believe loud protests and political action will bring peace. That’s not the case with seven Ashland-Talent residents who in September will re-enact the peace walk of St. Francis of Assisi eight centuries ago as he appealed to the pope to change humanity’s ways and bring about a more just and peaceful world. The seven — members of James Twyman’s nondenominational Beloved Community — will carry 144,000 signatures 110 miles to Pope Benedict XVI in Rome, asking that he, as the leader of the largest religious group in the world, use his position to work for world peace in the tradition of his predecessor. The walk is not a protest against the Iraq War, they noted, but rather in support of the search for truth, balance, love, compassion, grace, joy and peace toward a goal of “unity of all,” according to their mission statement. “It’s a peace walk. We’ll be walking and singing, not preaching,” said Kim Keller, administrator of the Beloved Community, which trains peace workers in Ashland. The eight-day march culminates in an audience with the pope Sept. 21. Twyman and members of the Beloved Community eschew political action, believing that the “high vibrational field of peace” in the individual person radiates out to all people and will balance the traditional masculine energy of power with the newly blooming feminine energy of love, said Keller. “I’m doing the walk because I believe what I do creates a world the way I want it,” said Keller. She, Twyman and five other locals “received the call from spirit” to do the peace walk. Some are paying their own way and others are gathering pledges. Twyman, organizer of the march, began his career as the “peace troubadour” two decades ago, composing and performing songs based on the prayers for peace of 12 religious leaders called to Assisi in 1986 by Pope John Paul II. Twyman wrote the popular “Emissary of Light” and other books, as well as the movie “Indigo,” about a new wave of gifted, peace-loving children in the world. The walk is modeled on St. Francis’ similar act, which also came at a time of great transition out of a dark age and into a renaissance, a return to “the basic principles of life,” Twyman said. “The world is ready, not that it won’t get darker before the light. Big paradigm shifts are like that, not sudden,” said Twyman. “Humanity stands at a point of decision about whether to continue the path of competitive and closed-minded energies or move into a more cooperative, open, peaceful time.” The marchers will be joined in their papal audience by Chris Decker, founder of another peace organization, Peacedance, to present the hoped-for 144,000 signatures gathered on the Internet. Peacedance is coordinating a round-the-world series of dances for peace the same week. It will be taken back to Assisi, where a United Nations group is holding a conference on peace. The petition says, “We, the people of planet Earth, in recognition of the interconnectedness of all life and the importance of the balance of nature, hereby acknowledge our interdependence and affirm our dedication to life-serving environmental stewardship, the fulfillment of universal human needs worldwide, economic and social well-being, and a culture of peace and nonviolence, to insure a sustainable and harmonious world for present and future generations.” Backers seek 144,000 signatures because the number 144 is a sacred set in many religions, including Hopi and Hindu — and is the square of a dozen, the number of Jesus’ disciples. Psychotherapist Nitya Richmond of Talent said she and other walkers bring their “peaceful intent, individually and collectively, through the voice of the Divine Feminine,” which is not about gender, but about the spirit of unconditional love “that has been silent for millennia.” The march will be supported by members of Beloved Community around the world, who will walk in their communities, including Ashland, said Sharon Williams, who is organizing events here. “The march has the energy of love, which has been dominated by the energy of power the last 2,000 years,” said Williams. “Power without love is destructive. Love without power can’t get energy to move. We’re moving out of the age of power domination and into balance.” Using a line from John Lennon’s “Imagine,” Williams noted, “You can say that I’m a dreamer, but we create our own reality and I’d rather help this dream than live in the nightmare most people get from the media.” Richmond said the march follows the core dictum of most religions, that love conquers all because there is no higher vibration than love. It dissolves all anger and hatred.” DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Generic Viagra Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Sportsbook Absinthe Supply Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Hammocks Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino King of Spirits ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams