The coming together of the wisdom of the feminine and masculine is a crucial link in this shift and is elegantly portrayed in this interview. Alongside Marama’s potent voice of sacred activism and the deep feminine is Jon Winder who brings in the masculine perspective of our calling to sacred service.
This interview covers many aspects of what it is to involve oneself in sacred activism, from working with people, their rights, and justice for animals, the environment and our planet as a whole.
What are the principles of Sacred Activeness?
But first, what does the sacred mean?
“Something held in high regard, something beautiful and untarnished, something considered of worth and worthy of spiritual respect, something inspiring awe. All of these are sacred. The sacred can be described in exquisitely beautiful words like holy, blessed, revered, venerated, consecrated, sanctified and dedicated,” offers Marama Winder, sacred activist and global spiritual leader whose passionate love of people, planet and cosmos inspires hope and participation in the co-creation of a new world founded on compassion for all life.
So when we are out in nature, be it in a magnificent grove of trees, out amidst mountain peaks, in a deep valley or gorge, or somewhere on the magnificence of our planet, these are the words that instantly arise when engulfed with such grandeur.
We become humbled by such beauty and wonder, that we, in awe, in the depths of our being, realise that what surrounds us is something overly unique and special, that our inner knowing connects with what we call - sacred.
We also want to share the experience and also realise that we want to protect it.
In this context these words arise: truth, gratitude, authenticity, consciousness, forgiveness, a sense of willingness and an ability to meet when there is a need to meet and come together and to love as well.
Being authentic, translates to being in your truth – is speaking from that place of connection, the deep virtue of earnestness, centeredness and what values you represent.
Gratitude … to be aware of this word and what it represents – Such as NZ’s dawn chorus of birds, and being grateful that nature is so abundant, even in the cities and suburbs. To be thankful and even utter it, be it out loud or silently.
Certain Indigenous peoples have what are called the Original Instructions – that state that all of humankind are part of one large family and that we need to love each other as an extended family. That we are meant to share with one another and that we need to remember life’s breath and respect this invisible quality that enters our bodies and allows us to exist. As well as have a … respect for the land that sustains us all. And by embodying these values, we give hope to younger and future generations of the sacredness of our connection to all our surroundings.
We are born with a name, but deeper than our name there is something deeper that connects us to the possibility of the sense of our true identity and staying with the question of:
Who am I, why am I here, what am I to do? … The purpose of existence is to find out the purpose of existence?
These are very important questions and they a framed within the statement that we are all going to die at some point. … not put out as a morbid thought, but as the reality of our mortality … and to remind, us that in our journey to awaken and become more conscious, what can or what will we contribute to the betterment of all humans, all biota and the whole on this magnificent planet.
And our authenticity connects us via our thoughts to shape the community and the world we live in.
This interview covers:
Peace and all the contingencies to bring about peace and that world peace has to start within our own hearts, and in our own context of clearing our own field of shadow, so as to allow more light to reside within our being.
Starting with our inner self and expanded within our own localised field that then includes family, our neighbourhood, community, nation and then around our home planet. Peace being a ripple effect … and we encourage all people to be exponents.
Peace is a process, not an endpoint, and as we grow we deepen our inner connection to a more profound understanding of existence as well as ourselves. The transforming force of love is a process as well as peace is a process and they mutually coalesce into a spiritual unfoldment as our journey reveals more of who we are in relationship to the majestic, great mystery of life.
Cultural creatives are here to shift us away from exploiting our planet and its people and to find more co-operative and innovative ways to work towards more ecologically conscious actions that saves resources, halts our pollution and increase biodiversity. All this can be seen as a sacred act.
In ‘The Better Angels of our Nature, Why Violence Has Declined’ … by Steven Pinker, we are increasingly finding that MSM have a mantra that they follow. If it bleeds .. it leads …
However, inner peace begins within us all …
With the emergence of flower power in the 1960s and the Beatles make love and not war, hugs have now become ubiquitous.
And throughout the NZ educational system our curriculum is world class and underpinning it is a sense of wairua the sense of connection and next to that is our sense of values.
Unity of people, of culture, of faiths …
NZ’s grandeur and geography has much majesty and beauty that it is imbued with sacredness, and Maori inherently know this with the Wairua and Kaitiaki our holistic connection to caring and sharing.
Sacred activism can also be the act of weeping at the loss of the forests of Papatuanuku, (Mother Earth) her rivers being despoiled and crying for the dying fish – this is - connection - and standing out in the public arena as witnesses to the commercial destruction of ecosystems for example.
From schools in NZ to play, where children learn to play and navigate to be able to co-creatively meet the needs of each other … emotionally and practicality wise. Being more thoughtful and mindful of our words and actions. More aware and more considerate …
Another program that Jon and Marama have initiated is called The B-Cool for Boys … where young men are taught how to move through pain, trauma and grief and psychologically enable them to clear these hurts and traumas to then be able to operate at a more coherent level, without carrying the shadow of such damage in their aura and general disposition.
Also with Maori, Turangawaewae a sacred space, where in Maori translates to - I rest my feet, this is the place where I can stand.
In business the same mindful systems are being set up for resolving situations around conflict resolution, where we can grow leaders more synergistic and holistically. To become peaceful and coherent around all aspects of their lives.
Confront people, and be centred in love and stand up and state your case … Aroha in the playground. Boys to love themselves and their mates becoming aware of sacred activism is kaitiaki, stewardship and guardianship of the land
Consciousness what it is as an unfolding principle …
Prophetic statement – We are going to see the young over the next generation who are going to be very peaceable and that they will be more conscious of living together as peaceful neighbours, especially here in NZ, which is an excellent thing.
Covering Maori and Pacific Island values around living as whanau and family ... Gratitude …… contemplative and reflective state … Self-love, possibly one of the greatest challenges for us all ….
This interview covers many other interrelated qualities and virtues inherent in the sacred activist.
Within the great mystery and esoteric school we note that we are now well into the birth canal of the emergence of a new paradigm. That currently the veils are being lifted to new possibilities as we become more connected to the surrounded magnificence of nature that supports us with every breath.
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Marama Winder ~ is a contemporary interspiritual teacher, author and inspiring speaker. Her deep exploration of the world’s wisdom traditions, as well as science, medicine, psychology and the arts has carried her from the halls of hospitals, corporations and ashrams…to indigenous lands, Aotearoa and the UN. She has published numerous works on topics from healthcare to spirituality. Her work crosses hemispheres and cultures, serving those who long for greater harmony with the web of life and cosmos, a deeper experience of the sacred in the world, and the spiritual in the everyday. She can be reached at marama [at] aroha.net and at Marama Winder on Facebook.
www.facebook.com/diane.m.winder
Jon Winder ~ is an author, storyteller, and transformation guide. He has spent much of his life exploring and sharing the ways of learning mastery, conscious leadership and life transformation. He is a respected mentor and counsellor, educational change agent and leadership adviser. Jon has presented internationally on a vast range of topics in such fields as positive change and spiritual attunement, especially as those affect business, education, youth and the harmony of society and the planet. With his wife Marama Winder, Jon is Co-Founder/Director of the Sephira Institute and the Winder Foundation in Auckland. His website is www.jonwinder.com
Marama and Jon Winder will offer many programs featured at the 2015 VOICES of SACRED EARTH Festival ~ AWAKENING THE GLOBAL HEART: ANCIENT HEALING KNOWLEDGE FOR MODERN TIMES at Kawai Purapura Retreat Centre in February 2015. Read more at www.kawaipurapura.co.nz