Special Messages of Peace
Maki Saionji then introduced two messages from three guest speakers. The first message came from Mr. James O’Dea, former President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences. Maki remarked, “Although Mr. O’Dea is currently undergoing treatment in Creston, USA, due to illness, he delivered a powerful message. The mountains of Creston in the video are known as sacred places for religions around the world, and James’s story is filled with the thought, ‘From the sacred mountains of Creston to the sacred Mount Fuji.’”
The second message was from Prof. Alexander Schieffer and Dr. Lama Mani, co-founders of Home for Humanity, who visited Fuji Sanctuary in March of this year. Following this message was a reading of a poem by Dr. Barbara Fields, a longtime supporter of the Fuji Declaration and friend of Masami Saionji, who passed away in February.
James O’Dea, Former President, Institute of Noetic Sciences
We live at a time of abrupt change, some of which is necessary and progressive, some of which is chaotic and regressive. There is an epic assault on values based upon the eternal truth of universal oneness by forces dedicated to the promotion of crude self-interest.
Truth serves the good of all and is universally transparent. Falsehood relies on polarity and manipulation. We only feed polarities and fuel hostilities by putting energy into resistance and opposition. Peace must be embodied, and the substance which gives it universal embodiment and lasting nourishment is unconditional love. It is unconditional love felt in every human heart that will ignite sparks of divinity like stars in a new heaven guiding the ways of peace on a new Earth.
Peace will prevail because it is each and every person’s destiny to serve the well-being of all. Let us return to our most original, natural, and inspired state of peace, compassion, and love, for they are most assuredly all one.
Prof. Alexander Schieffer and Dr. Rama Mani, Co-founders, Home for Humanity
We are so honored to deliver this message for this year’s Symphony of Peace Prayers, commenting on the Fuji Declaration.
To our minds, and to our hearts, the Fuji Declaration, now in its tenth year, couldn’t be more relevant for our times. In this time of great division, and breaking down of systems, the unifying Declaration of Fuji, named after the holy mountain, Mount Fuji, is of importance for bringing humanity in a new light, in a higher light, together, to build a civilization that can last for the next seven generations and beyond.
As the co-founders of the Home For Humanity movement, and the initiators and lead catalysts of the One Home Journey of seven years for seven generations to every country on Earth to build exactly the goal of the Fuji Declaration—a harmonious human civilization which is based on the interconnected Oneness and wholeness of all of the family of life, we feel a deep resonance with the Fuji Declaration.
Our own humanity charter, which was developed at the founding of our movement with hundreds and thousands of our fellow future builders—peace builders of all ages, backgrounds, and cultures around the world—has almost exactly the same precepts and wholeness as the Fuji Declaration. And we truly feel like the Fuji Declaration is traveling with us together, with this beautiful mini peace pole that has already been held by thousands of people of all ages, cultures, and backgrounds as we travel to every country on Earth, working together to build a wholesome, interconnected, integrated future of harmony and peace for all life on Earth.
We are calling you here from Mexico. We are sitting in Mexico City, at Huerto Roma Verde, one of our by now over 70 homes for humanity around the world—a green oasis in the middle of Mexico City, where we went on March 30 to plant a peace pole—May Peace Prevail on Earth. Here, we are manifesting together the spirit of peace, the spirit of one humanity, the spirit of ‘every human being has a divine spark,’ the spirit of our interconnectedness as a family of life, humanity and all beings. This is the spirit in which we come together. This is the resonance we are feeling between the amazing work that the Fuji Declaration is doing and the One Home Journey to each and every country on the planet.
It is, as Rama said, the spirit that is traveling with us. We’re just coming from Japan. We have just been at Fuji Sanctuary—just worked, actually, with the origins of the peace pole, deeply steeped in the beautiful philosophy and spirituality of Goi Sensei and of Masami Sensei. And so, this spirit is fully in us, and we were delighted, and we felt augmented by the resonance and confluence by the work we are doing. And with this, we want to declare that the Fuji Declaration is going to continue to travel with us into each and every country on Earth, where we are also continuously looking for connection points deeply rooted in all our cultures between the core principles of the Fuji Declaration and the richness of our diverse cultures on Earth.
The Fuji Declaration ends by saying that all of us should dedicate everything we are doing towards creating this harmonious civilization, which is based on the interconnectedness of all life on Earth—the divinity and sacredness of all life on Earth. And what is the most resonant for us with the Fuji Declaration is, that’s exactly what our journey is about. It’s the realization that it is actually in every country, where we are working with those who have optimized their human potential in order to create these places.
This place where we are speaking from in Mexico—the middle of the city, where we will be planting this peace pole, which is a strong movement in Mexico itself—this very place was completely destroyed by an earthquake. You in Japan are familiar with earthquakes, as well as people joining the Symphony of Peace Prayers from around the world. This was a completely abandoned rubble, and now it has become a hub for culture. You can hear the storm that is brewing. There are hundreds of people right here today, celebrating, having a bazaar of locally produced artisanship.
So, it is living proof that we can [build this] from the rubble of an earthquake, or in the midst of war. Many of the countries we go to are at war. We go to refugee camps, we go to slums. These are where our partners are, our Homes for Humanity organizations, which have really shown that with no resources, but simply love and realizing our deepest divinity and human potential, we can create the future basis of an inclusive, peaceful civilization and Earth culture for all.
This is the message that we give you that, yes, the Fuji Declaration is not simply an aspiration. We are seeing, through the power of our Humanity Charter and our movement, that it is a reality, and it is connecting all those building the future together with whatever they can, with much love and peace.
In these crucial times, friends, we feel ever more called to connect our joint forces for building the future. This is no longer the time of networking and partnership. This is a time of confluence—of coming together, of stepping up all together as individuals and as movements.
Sacrifice
by Barbara Fields
In her eye I see the sacrifice of God
putting forth such effort to inhabit that body and sustain that Being;
Struggling to be contained in creature form,
though no doubt more at rest as a tree in its sentient stillness.
This is the gift the Divine brings to every embodiment:
Its own Herculean consent to be conformed,
articulated, individuated, personalized,
Defying the unbroken primacy of infinity.
Maya?
So that Being can experience
so that awareness dawns
so that cognizance will evolve…
Evolve and return.
The agony of containment, the antithesis of freedom,
is the sacrifice of God, through Life, to God.
Once I see You I always see You…
And You always see You looking back.
For the final segment of the Fuji Declaration Presentation, Maki Saionji introduced a 21-day challenge for inner transformation, inviting participants to take part if they wished. She explained:
It is said that people develop new habits in approximately three weeks. The 21-Day Challenge is a practical program designed to help us deepen our oneness with people, life, and the earth. Each of the seven themes is simple, yet deepens the consciousness of each one of us step by step, and leads us to the worldview of oneness and cosmic consciousness that all are connected as one. You can work on one theme for three days at a time.
We feel that by taking the 21-Day Challenge at our own pace, inner transformation will occur in us through our daily life. Each challenge can be completed at your convenience and in a way that is comfortable for you. I am confident that each practice will awaken the divine power within each of us, which will slowly and surely spread throughout the world.
I would like to explain the specific methods of approach. First, please take some quiet time on the first day and read the Fuji Declaration again. Then, please practice the 21-Day Challenge at your leisure. Please do the same one challenge for three days. At the end of the three days, we will ask you to make time to write and share your impressions and experiences of the three-day challenge in a journal or other form.
We hope that you will join us in taking the 21-Day Challenge, embody the principles of the Fuji Declaration in your daily lives, and spread this way of life to those around you.