Despite the imminence of war, or maybe because of it, dreams from the World
Dreams Peace Bridge activated many waking reality events during the month
of March.
Peace Making In India
Prior to the Association for the Study of Dreams conference in Boston last
summer, several members of the Peace Bridge discussion group agreed to
purchase tee shirts to wear to the conference. Members also agreed that a
$5 addition to each purchase would be used to support a peace project in
India.
Early in March, the following message came from Radhika:
"We used $100 to finance our first workshop with school principals. Since
then and based on feedback from them, our work has expanded. This first
interaction helped us know what we wanted to do--our theme was/is 'living
with differences' and we are now working with schools at all
levels--students, teachers, and parents on issues of violence, peace,
prejudice, history, multiculturalism, etc. Our efforts toward a peaceful
world. It feels good to know that the seeds for this work came from you
and the feeling of dreaming the world into peace."
Before the end of March, another $100 check from the World Dreams online
store will be given to the Women of Hope Project, a group which is
providing work and schooling for widows and children in Afghanistan.
Peace Trains Traveling
The work in India though is far from the only global activity spurred by
the dreamers of the World Dreams Peace Bridge. Based on the dream of
Jeremy Seligson of South Korea, the Peace Train Project has continued to
expand.
Jeremy's colleague, Professor Tim Watson, a Canadian working in South
Korea, took the Peace Train Project to the Fifth Annual Peace and
NonViolence Conference, held February 23-26 in India. This conference was
organized by the Anuvrat Global Organization and, according to Tim, after
the Peace Train workshop, several teachers took the idea back to their
schools.
Bridge member Ilkin, from Istanbul, Turkey, has prepared a paper and a
workshop for the International Forum for the Literature and Culture of
Peace (IFLAC) Conference, which was to have been held in Turkey in
April. Due to the current conditions in the Middle East, the conference
has been postponed until October. But in the meantime, Ilkin has been
collecting Train pictures, and plans a workshop for her nephew's
kindergarten class.
Additionally, IFLAC President, Professor Ada Aharoni of Israel, notified
the World Dreams Peace Bridge that IFLAC has endorsed the Peace Train
Project, and that the Peace Train will be listed in their newsletter, which
is sent to members around the world.
Peace Bridge member Victoria Quinton will conduct a Peace Train workshop on
April 6 for the conference of the Victoria (Australia) Association for
Philosophy in Schools (VAPS) in Amadale, Australia.
And, of course, Jeremy has continued to work with his students and others,
to create Peace Trains. A selection of some of the Peace Train drawings
can now be found on the World Dreams Peace Bridge web site at Korean Peace
Train Gallery
http://www.worlddreamspeacebridge.org/koreanpeacetraingallery.htm
Additionally, Jeremy has listed the project with UNICEF's Teachers Talking
about Learning site at http://www.unicef.org/teachers, and he has been
working with a local videographer, who has created documentaries focusing
on children, to create a Peace Train video.
Reservoir and Miracles
If all this activity were not enough, March saw the creation of the
Reservoir (a healing place just north of the Bridge) and a small miracle of
abundance.
The Reservoir was created from May Tung's dream when Kotaro wrote from
Japan that he'd been helping out a friend who was severely depressed from
the loss of his job. May suggested that we all send healing energy to the
Reservoir whenever we have any extra, and take out healing energy from the
Reservoir whenever we are in need. The group met there for a healing
meditation and dreaming on March 16th. Several Reservoir dreams were
recorded, the mutual dreaming process having become second nature by now
for some members of the Peace Bridge group.
And this healing place was just in time too, since that same weekend, Ilkin
had both a family crisis and a World Dreams miracle. Here's the story:
Ilkin has twin sons in their second year of college, and had no money to
pay their tuition of $4,000, needed by the end of the week. Since she lives
in Turkey, if the boys weren't in school, they'd be immediately conscripted.
She wrote this story to the Bridge on Friday, asking for prayers and
dreams, not believing that she'd be able to find enough money in the week,
because Turkey's economy has taken a plunge with all the war activities, so
that even though she was planning on selling her car to make the tuition
payments, nobody's buying anything.
But then the miracle. By Monday, even with the banks being closed on the
weekend in Istanbul, she had received enough gifts from members of the
Peace Bridge to pay all but $380 of the boys' tuition. People sent her
money from all four corners of the globe.
When she went to the University, she met with a member of the Board of the
University, to see about scholarships or loans. Turns out the man was
someone who'd been in university with Ilkin herself, at a time when they
were both peace activists. When he realized who she was, he guaranteed her
that he'd see that the boys finished with their degrees, because he didn't
want to see them go into the army either.
Of course, by that time, all of this miracle working had stunned Ilkin
almost as much as the initial event. On the way home from the university,
she happened to encounter an old friend, a woman who is now a widow with
three children. She told Ilkin that they had been really struggling, that
this winter they'd not had enough money for coal, and little to eat. They
were subsisting on olives and goat cheese. Well, life does have a way of
putting things in perspective. Ilkin asked if it would be all right to
pass along some of the group's gifts to this woman.
The work of the World Dreams Peace Bridge goes on, more important than ever
in this time of war.If you would like to join in the Peace Bridge discussion group, simply send a post to
worlddreams-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
http://www.worlddreamspeacebridge.org/monthyupdates.htm
The World Dreams Peace Bridge is a group that uses personal dreams for public world peace. You can find out more about the WDPB at:
http://www.worlddreamspeacebridge.org
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